The Novel - sources of inspiration

I grew up in the East End of London and experienced many incidents of
anti-Semitism. Then I went to Cambridge University and did a PhD in
chemistry, graduating in 1964. In 1963 I organized a trip thru Europe
from London to Israel and back with a group of strange people in a mini-
bus. Then, in 1964 my wife and I moved to Israel for 2 years. We had
many interesting , unusual and exciting experiences during that time.
During the 1970s I started to write short stories about my experiences,
both about the East End, Cambridge and living in Israel. Then I took
some writing courses. Over time, it became clear to me that this writing
was therapeutic in nature, and some of the stories I produced related to
my personal life and they gradually cohered into a novel.

I would like to mention that there is a disease or rather a condition
called hypergraphia in which a person is driven to write compulsively.
One person who supposedly had this condition was Vincent Van Gogh who
wrote letters every day, sometimes 2 or 3, to his brother Theo. I don’t
say that I have this condition, only that I felt compelled to write.
The plot of the novel was autobiographical, ostensibly about a Jewish boy
growing up in the East End of London, experiencing powerful incidents of
anti-Semitism, then going to Cambridge University, which many of you will
realize was a great cultural trauma. But, while this is the overt plot,
the underlying story is a tragic personal family secret that I needed to
come to terms with. This involved the death in birth of an elder
brother, still-born two years before me, under particularly difficult
circumstances. My mother was left in labor for 5 days, and when my
father challenged the young Irish woman doctor she made an anti-Semitic
comment to him. This is described in the book, although the incident is
imagined. When I had finally put this novel together and searched for a
suitable name I came up with the title “Amanuensis” which some think is a
difficult and obscure title. An amanuensis is a scribe.

Now I’d like to play a piece of music, it is “Song before sunrise” by
Frederick Delius, a famous English composer. What then is the
connection between this piece of music and my autobiographical novel?
Some years ago I happened to see a beautiful movie entitled “Song of
summer” by Ken Russell, the well-known and often controversial movie
director, known for such films as “The Devils” and “Altered States,” as
well as a series of movies about composers. But, I was particularly
struck by this movie “Song of summer” about Frederick Delius (made in
1968). The story is quite amazing.

Frederick Delius was born in Britain of German parents, but went to
Florida in his teens and ran an Orange Plantation. He took music lessons
and on returning to England showed great promise as a composer. A young
graduate student at Birmingham Music school who had heard and been
impressed by Delius’s early works decided to write his Thesis on him, but
was unable to locate him, it seemed Delius had vanished.

The student, Eric Fenby, eventually found Delius living in a small French
village, but he was paralyzed by syphilis. He was unable to use his
hands or legs and could hardly speak and was going blind. He sat for
days on end staring out at the lovely garden ministered to by his wife
and a German servant. The two men worked out a means of communication and
Delius told Fenby that although he was unable to write he had composed
many works in his head. So Fenby agreed to help Delius write his music
down, he became his amanuensis.

But, he not only wrote the works down, but he took them back to England
and corrected them and had them printed, and then returned for 5 summers
to France to finalize each piece of music. Then he set about having the
music performed and he became not only the chief expert on Delius’s music
but also a well-known conductor.

In the sixth year, Delius was dying and Fenby asked him what was his last
wish and Delius said he would like to see the sunrise from the top of a
mountain. So Fenby took him in a wheelchair on a boat to Norway and
then carried him on his back up to the top of a mountain to see the
sunrise. This is what a true amanuensis is is, not just a mere passive
scribe. I felt symbolically as if I had been carrying the burden of my
dead brother for a long time, and writing this story allowed me to
finally ease the psychological burden.
________________________________________
This talk was presented at WIZO-Netanya, 3/2/10. "Amanuensis" is
available from Amazon.com (search for "Amanuensis Jack Cohen"), also see
www.jackcohenart.com
PS. This was originally sent last Friday, but many were returned
undelivered, so if this is a duplicate I apologise.