With a weekend of literary events focused on Thatcher-era Politics and Spirituality, there's lots to self-interest you
The Rest Is Noise season at the Southbank Centre in London has been getting going again after a long summer break. Last week the investigation of the cultural and political currents of the 20th century moved into the 1960s counterculture and revolution, where the event programmers set the Beats against the Profumo affair. Like so many others I'm sad to say that the 1960s have been and gone – but the coming weekend promises some equally interesting juxtapositions.
Now the season is moving into the 1970s and 1980s, looking at Politics and Spirituality, the closing stages of the cold war, and Thatcherite economics. I'm especially curious about a talk Alain de Botton will be giving on how spirituality fitted into an increasingly consumerist world. Do we see all this fluffy thinking as a reaction to the hard-edged politics brought in by Mrs Thatcher? Or might the brands of spirituality that began to grow ever stronger in the 1970s and 1980s represent a continuation of the me-first politics that so shaped the latter years of the 20th century?
A devil's advocate could easily suggest that the introspective, inner-self brand of yoghurt-weaving that arose during this period was just another sort of consumerism, even if it emerged smelling of patchouli. If the advocate were feeling particularly naughty, he might even suggest that Alain de Botton, with his gentle eloquence and curious attempt to turn Proust into a self-help manual might himself be a symptom of this trend. mind, body And spirit books, self-help manuals and management theory guides always seem to me to cater to similarly selfish impulses.
Less cynically, I should note the probability that De Botton will talk about plenty of other forms of spirituality, and that plenty of them will be far less selfish. It could also easily be argued that rather than a reaction to Thatcherism and consumerism, the growing interest in spirituality during this time was a natural result of a lessening interest in conventional religion. At least if we stay on the western side of the Iron Curtain. The writer Karen Armstrong (author of The Case for God, among many others) will be looking at this decline. Just as interestingly, she'll also show the reverse side of the coin and the return to more traditional religious values in the Communist bloc.
Back on the ground, historians, journalists and social theorists Alwyn Turner and Bea Campbell will be discussing the impact of the Iron Lady's politics while Robert Winston will discuss the scientific miracle of test-tube babies. Peering behind the Iron Curtain, meanwhile, the poets Elaine Feinstein and George Szirtes will be discussing a generation of Polish poets active in the 1970s and 1980s, led by Wisława Szymborska and Zbigniew Herbert. I wish I could tell you more about that, but have to confess near total ignorance. This lack of knowledge only makes me more inclined to find out more. As does the fact that I've never been to a dull event featuring George Szirtes.
One other point of interest from a literary point of view. The book-based strands over the weekend are good - but it seems to me that the film events will far outshine them. The curators are showing the entirety of Krzysztof Kieślowski's mighty Dekalog series for a start. There's a possibly even greater treat in the form of an illustrated talk on Andrei Tarkovsky by Layla Alexander-Garrett, who worked with the Russian director on set, during his great last film, The Sacrifice. I wouldn't hesitate to say that both Kieślowski and Tarkovsky were both geniuses. The latter one of the greatest, fiercest and emotionally overwhelming artists of any age. I'd be hard pressed to name two writers from the era of similar stature. I wonder in fact, if film was actually more vital in those days? Did literature produce anyone able to go head to head with Tarkovsky when he was at the peak of his powers? Or any novel as intense and powerful as Stalker and Solaris? If there is one, I want to hear about it! So please do post suggestions below.
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