New Feature: FASS invites students to contribute their perspectives on FASS-related activities. Linda Bolton, a forth-year major in the College of the Humanities, is the first student contributor.
On Becoming a Writer… A student’s perspective
by Linda Bolton, fourth-year major, College of the Humanities
On Friday, February 10, nearly 200 people gathered at Carleton University to hear the annual Munro Beattie lecture. This year’s presenter was Shani Mootoo, an accomplished visual and video artist, and writer of novels, short stories, and poetry. The lecture was entitled, “In the Temple of the Recurring Dream: Notes on Becoming a Writer.”
Shani Mootoo is a particularly interesting speaker because she transcends many of the boundaries which scholars and critics assign with regard to nationality, gender, and race. Mootoo stated that “there are many ways of being” within herself.
As the lecture was centred on becoming a writer, Mootoo recounted childhood experiences of getting in trouble for expressing herself through words. One example was being reprimanded for reporting that she was being abused. This caused Mootoo to turn from words to art because art allowed her to express herself without making her vulnerable to criticism.
Well into her adult career, Mootoo returned to writing in the form of cathartic journal entries. This lead to an unexpected publishing contract, and resulted in her first novel, Cereus Blooms at Night.
Mootoo spoke several times of difficult personal experiences having a role in the course of her life as well as in her writing, because for her, “stories [and] poetry reside in contradictions, not Disney neatness.” After the lecture I had the opportunity to speak with Mootoo. I asked if crossing or defying boundaries of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, as components of identity, affect her writing or her life. Mootoo replied with a laugh, and then answered that she tries not to think about it. Rather than assume that Mootoo simply dismissed these ideas, I believe that the implication of her statement was that labels are confining for individuals and for creative endeavours.
After the lecture, I thought about Mootoo’s words. I remembered the number of times that Mootoo was, for various reasons, silenced, and I was struck with the awareness of the importance and preciousness of words. Upon further reflection, I found that while Mootoo was creating art, she was speaking, and that although for many years Mootoo was afraid to speak, it is impossible to silence a strong voice.