SURESH RAMPHUL
On the craft of writing, British writer Graham Greene states: “Writing is a form of therapy, sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”
Creative writing is potentially a healing experience. British writer Somerset Maugham (1874-1965; The Razor’s Edge, Collected Short Stories, The Moon and Sixpence) was acclaimed during his lifetime. But he was a secretive and aloof man because of a speech problem. His stutter caused him embarrassment. He was made fun of at school and one of his teachers treated him contemptuously as a fool in class for failing to answer a question properly. He was often bullied and brutalized.
Emotionally and psychologically affected, he found it difficult to enter into any kind of familiarity with people. He grew up with the pain of humiliation and rejection. Though trained as a physician, he devoted himself to writing instead. It was in writing that he found a voice. Withdrawn and shy, literature became his refuge. His books were popular and he credited his success to his defect. He was an avid and perceptive reader. This may have significantly influenced his writing career.
It is possible that his reticence could have developed his faculties of observation and insight. He focused on his duty as a writer rather than on his defect. He never allowed his defect to smother his talent or to diminish his accomplishments. He enjoyed what he was doing – travelling, meeting people and listening to them.
About his plight he wrote in chapter 17 of his novel “Of Human Bondage”: “As long as you accept it rebelliously it can cause you shame. But if you looked upon it as a cross that was given you to bear only because your shoulders were strong enough to bear it, a sign of God’s favour, then it would be a source of happiness to you instead of misery.”
Someone has remarked that “The ability to be productive is good for my mental health. It’s always better for me to be writing than vegetating on some couch.” At some point Somerset Maugham must have realized the futility of moping over his impairment. No amount of recriminations or breast-beating would ever change a natural defect. Learning to accept it is the first step in the adaptation process. He must have seen that doing what he liked the most was a fitting way to overcome his pains. Writing gave him optimism and a high sense of resilience.
Blood disorder
Catherine Cookson (1906-1998; The Long Corridor, The Gambling Man) has written numerous successful books. This British writer was well regarded by both critics and readers in general. Some of her novels were adapted for film and television. Her mother was an alcoholic. In her youth she performed laundry jobs and domestic tasks to survive. She grew up in a poverty-stricken environment. She left school at the age of 13.
She married when she was 34 and was appalled to discover that she was suffering from a rare disease causing bleeding from the nose, the fingers, the stomach, and it resulted in anemia. Several miscarriages led to mental breakdown. She adopted writing as therapy. She drew inspiration from her earlier experiences and observations. Writing stories with plenty of imagination helped her tackle her depressive moods and suicidal tendencies.
Researchers have found that the key to writing’s effectiveness is in the way people interpret their experiences. Venting emotions alone is far from adequate to deal with tension. To tap writing’s healing power, people must be willing to better understand their situation and to learn from their emotions. An impediment can be looked at positively or negatively. It’s all a question of psychology. Finding a larger meaning in one’s suffering can be a motivating and life-affirming factor. Our experiences, no matter how bad or agonizing, can be a rich source of personal growth and change.
Catherine Cookson wrote many of her books from her sickbed. She faced her despondency through philanthropic activities. She helped impoverished patients as well as struggling writers. Satisfying her readers and assisting the needy gave her life a purpose.
Self-knowledge
Writing gives writers with impediments confidence and a greater depth of self-knowledge. The ability to overcome personal hardships or ordeals is a testimony to their extraordinary courage and determination. The ability to turn a painful situation into an opportunity is in itself a gift.
Much before his recent attack in which Salman Rushdie, British writer, Booker Prize Winner, has reportedly lost sight in one eye, he was suffering from ptosis, a disease causing drooping of the upper eyelids. This caused him immense embarrassment. He had difficulty to open his eyes. He sometimes had to use his finger to hold one eye open because the muscle had become weak. If he went to the cinema he would start feeling a headache after 15 minutes. He underwent an operation to correct the drooping eyelids. Without an operation he would not have been able to see at all. Salman Rushdie is a man who sees life through stories. So despite his delicate situation, he kept writing, he kept being productive.
Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) became blind from a genetic disorder. Did this discourage him? Did he allow his tragedy to bog him down? Far from it. He viewed his plight with detachment. He adopted a logical approach. He knew all along that that one day he was going to be plagued by blindness since the disease was hereditary. He did not spend his time wallowing in self-pity or ranting against anybody. His stoical acceptance of the situation may have helped him in his serenity. He could not write. But he could dictate. Instead of taking his blindness as a barrier, he allowed it to inspire his writing.
On June 19, 1999, Stephen King (It, The Shining, Misery) was hit by a car. “I went out like a light,” he recalls. It took him 3 long years to recover. He had a collapsed lung from the accident and developed pneumonia. He could neither walk right nor breathe right. He was constantly under pain and drugs. The serene environment to write was no longer there. He told himself that maybe it was time to hang it up. But he gradually recovered. He took up writing again and started to enjoy what he was doing. His mind was brimming with ideas and stories. He felt that he was lucky that he was still alive. His book “Duma Key” is about a construction site accident and the ordeals of rehabilitation.
When Lapierre beat cancer
The French best-selling author Dominique Lapierre (Cette nuit la liberté, La Cité de joie, Il était minuit à Bhopal) had several chapters to finish concerning his book “Plus grands que l’amour”) that was meant to be a tribute to scientists, health-care providers and humanitarian workers involved in the struggle to find a cure for AIDS, when he discovered that he was suffering from cancer of the prostate. Mother Teresa sent him a simple but compassionate message the day he was to be operated on. “Mes prières et celles de mes Soeurs et de nos Pauvres sont avec vous. Remercions Dieu pour ce grand amour qu’IL a pour nous.” (Editions Robert Laffont, 1990, page 525).
The author taped the letter to the window of his room, certain he was going to survive. And he did beat cancer. He confessed that his brush with death helped him to improve the remaining chapters by making him more sympathetic to the anguish of AIDS. He survived to go on with his literary and charitable works.
Whether in literature, the arts or sports, it is always fascinating and amazing to see people managing to give the best of themselves in spite of their handicaps.