|
|
|
|
|
|
"Being wholly and completely yourself is one of the great tasks of life …"Michelle McGrane in conversation with Norah Vincent, the author of Self-Made Man
Norah Vincent is a freelance journalist working in New York City. For the purposes of researching her first book, Self-Made Man, Norah disguised herself as a man for a year in order to explore the male world and discover how men communicate and interact with one another and why they sometimes behave the way they do. As her alter ego, “Ned”, Norah joined a men's bowling league, dated women, visited strip clubs, infiltrated a monastery and joined a men's therapy group. Norah, tell me something of your family origins and what you were like as a child.I was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1968. My father was a lawyer for Ford Motor Company, so I spent my first ten years growing up in an upper middle-class suburb of Detroit. Then he was transferred to Ford’s European headquarters just outside of London, so I spent the next seven years living in England. My mother was an actress, so I spent my summers backstage with her, and there, I suppose, I developed my love of the dramatic arts. I was an incorrigible tomboy and rather feral in appearance. I didn’t like to comb my hair, and I was always wearing something half-ripped at the edges. I had two older brothers whose every move I watched with awe and fascination and whose footsteps I was constantly dogging. I thought at the time that being a boy must be the best thing in the world. While you were growing up, what did you believe about your future? When I was very young I used to try to picture myself at 16 or 32, which at the time seemed very old. But it was impossible for me to imagine what I would be like. I lived so completely in the present then. I did, however, used to dream of owning a van and living in it, driving it around the country having adventures. I never thought of having any other occupation. I think I thought I would be a travelling minstrel, which in a way I suppose I am. When did your passion for words develop? Which writers have inspired and influenced you? I wrote poetry from a very early age - very bad poetry, but I felt an affinity for language then, albeit a very romantic and purple one. The first book that blew me sideways was Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. I was a seeker from the start, fascinated by wild things and the woods and the mystical tradition of my then Catholic faith. George Orwell’s non-fiction has influenced me tremendously, especially its method of immersion journalism that I have since adopted for myself. Other big favourites would have to be Herman Hesse, Graham Greene, Joan Didion, Iris Murdoch, and Somerset Maugham – among many others. What made you decide to become a journalist? I wanted to be a writer and I wasn’t ready to write a book, so instead I started small, with 1 000-word opinion pieces and book reviews. I always knew that fiction wasn’t for me. I’m far more interested in real people and real situations than in anything I could make up.
I realised it in March of 2003. I still have the receipt for a copy of Black Like Me, which I bought as a kind of inspiration. My aim was singular: to go forward almost blindly into the experience, with as few preconceptions as possible, and to write as honestly and brazenly as I could about what I found. I wanted to approach a very old conversation - about the differences between men and women - in an entirely new way, and thereby I hoped to get people talking afresh. Did you begin writing the book when you went "undercover" or only after you had accumulated all the research that you required? How long did it take to write the book? It took a year and a half to write the book, almost two with revisions. I wrote while I was living the experiences, sometimes taking two or three week breaks from doing Ned in order to recount the events of the previous month. What important things did the experience teach you about yourself? I learned that I am much more deeply feminine than I knew and that I love that about myself. Also I learned that being wholly and completely yourself is one of the great tasks of life. It’s much harder than we think, and it takes constant vigilance, a constant stripping away of all the various masks we wear, whether they be gender masks, racial masks, masks of class, vocation, or family position. Being yourself is a full-time pursuit and catching yourself in your own lies takes a lot of effort, but it’s worth it. Definitely well worth it. What does feminism mean to you? Do you still consider yourself a feminist after your experiences as an undercover man? Do you think there is a need for feminism in the society in which we live? I have never really been comfortable with the word feminist, because in my view it indicates that I am on the side of women first and always, no matter what. And that is not true. I am on the side of human beings. In that sense I’m a humanist. I think feminism was a political stage of growth that was necessary once. Now I believe that women can win their remaining battles on libertarian, not feminist terms. How did you feel when you held a copy of Self-Made Man in your hands for the first time? Pretty amazed. I never thought I’d finish it. Of course I hate to see images of myself, so it was and still is hard to look at the cover. I flinch every time. But as for a piece of work that I finished, I feel very proud of that. What would you like people to walk away with after reading Self-Made Man? My greatest hope is that men and women will start talking again in a new way, with more sympathy and humour and generosity, and at best, perhaps, think about their own lives and relationships in new ways as well. Are you happy with the reviews and public response you've received so far? Have any of the responses surprised you? I’ve stayed away from most of the reviews because I am very thin-skinned. Sometimes it has come down to me through the grapevine that people have been surprised by the seriousness of the book, and that troubles me. I think a lot of people probably think, “Oh, there’s a dyke in drag; this isn’t for me.” But of course it’s a book about men and women, not about being a dyke or being in drag. I had hoped it might reach a wider audience, and maybe by word of mouth it will. What can we look forward to next, Norah? Are you working on something new? Yes I am, but it’s top secret at present. What are you reading at the moment? The Wonder House by Justine Hardy, a marvellous novel about Kashmir. Norah, what are you passionate about? What moves you, what inspires you, what brings you joy? I’m passionate about spiritual growth, artistic and intellectual originality and nonconformism. I am moved by the stunning integrity of animals and the fragility of my fellow creatures. Human and animal connection brings me joy. Do you think age is a factor in becoming more confident, more accepting of oneself? As you get older, have you found yourself mellowing to a certain extent? Do you ever find yourself worrying about ageing? Ageing can be very helpful in personal growth simply because the more experience you have the more informed you are and therefore the more self-aware. But I have seen many people stagnate emotionally and spiritually in old age, even in middle age, and that is something I never want for myself. Do you have a life philosophy? To be the best human being I can possibly be, to fulfil my potential, to use whatever gifts I have to change other people’s lives or minds for the better. For what would you like to be remembered? With any luck, for some or all of the above. * Self-Made Man by Norah Vincent (ISBN 1-84354-503-9) is published by Atlantic Books, and can be purchased from all good bookstores. Click here to purchase Self-Made Man from kalahari.net.
Have your say! To comment on this interview write to webvoet@litnet.co.za, and become a part of our interactive opinion page.
|
||||
© Kopiereg in die ontwerp en inhoud van hierdie webruimte behoort aan LitNet, uitgesluit die kopiereg in bydraes wat berus by die outeurs wat sodanige bydraes verskaf. LitNet streef na die plasing van oorspronklike materiaal en na die oop en onbeperkte uitruil van idees en menings. Die menings van bydraers tot hierdie werftuiste is dus hul eie en weerspieël nie noodwendig die mening van die redaksie en bestuur van LitNet nie. LitNet kan ongelukkig ook nie waarborg dat hierdie diens ononderbroke of foutloos sal wees nie en gebruikers wat steun op inligting wat hier verskaf word, doen dit op hul eie risiko. Media24, M-Web, Ligitprops 3042 BK en die bestuur en redaksie van LitNet aanvaar derhalwe geen aanspreeklikheid vir enige regstreekse of onregstreekse verlies of skade wat uit sodanige bydraes of die verskaffing van hierdie diens spruit nie. LitNet is ’n onafhanklike joernaal op die Internet, en word as gesamentlike onderneming deur Ligitprops 3042 BK en Media24 bedryf. |
|||||
Click here and subscribe to our fantastic free newsletter - for your
weekly cultural fix!