Spinning into focus

Interview with Barbara Erasmus

Kaleidoscope by Barbara Erasmus
Published by Penguin SA 2004, ISBN: 0143024485
204 pages, softcover
R90.00

“Fine powers of observation, sensitive and accurate - a poignant account of Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome”

— Dr JC Lombard, Psychologist, Unica School for Learners with Autism.

1. What inspired you to craft a novel about autism?

   Most novels set in South Africa have political undertones, but I really wanted to get away from that in view of the progress the country has made over the last decade. I’ve seen a number of excellent Australian movies where the setting is incidental rather than an integral part of the plot and that’s what I’ve aimed for in Kaleidoscope. I chose to write around autism because it’s a topical issue — there’s been a global surge in the number of cases diagnosed over the last decade — a great number of people are affected by the disorder, either directly or by association. One seldom hears about autistic adults — as if autistic children fall off the planet when they get older — but they have a normal lifespan and many require long-term treatment. The Autism Society of America estimates the treatment of the disorder in America alone will cost billions of dollars over the next decade, so you can imagine how dire the situation is in South Africa where past disparities have already placed huge demands on the education budget.

2. Have you read Annelie Botes’s Raaiselkind, which caused a major stir in South African literature after its release in 2001? It is also about autism and the complicated handling of this sensitive subject; it helped many people to take a good look at themselves and consider the world around them.
   What other good fiction or non-fiction can you recommend on the subject of autism?

   I’ve read the English translation, Riddle Child, and found it very moving — it focuses on the lowest end of the autistic spectrum, with a harrowing account of a severely affected child who exhibited autistic traits from birth. I was also most impressed with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction in 2003) — an absorbing book written from the perspective of a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome — high-functioning, highly verbal, near normal people at the upper end of the autistic spectrum who were often not diagnosed as autistic in the past — they were dismissed as odd, isolated misfits.

3. Can you tell us about your journey through the creation of Kaleidoscope?

   I started by researching the topic through the library and the internet. There is a great volume of information available — autism is the most researched of all developmental disorders, despite the fact that there is as yet no universally recognised cause or cure or treatment programme. I wanted to get some insight into autistic children, so I spent a year working as a volunteer at the Key School for Autistic Children in Westcliff — through the school, I was able to talk to parents, teachers, doctors and academics and attended the international conference on autism which was fortuitously held in Pretoria while I was working on the book. There were experts from all over the world and it gave me some insight into the complexity of the disorder. I realised I’d have to choose a particular aspect for my story and became interested in the genetic aspects of autism and the extraordinary splinter skills which some autistic people display. The skill in my story relates to drawing and was inspired by a drawing of a little boy shown to me by one of the doctors I interviewed — I could hardly believe that a child of his age could produce such sophisticated work.

4. You did a lot of research for this book. Did it ever get to a point when you thought you were in too deep?

   I am certainly not an authority on autism — all the information I give is drawn from reading and interviews. I was concerned that my work might contain inaccuracies and am greatly indebted to Jill Stacey, the National Convenor of SA Autism, and Dr Cobie Lombard, the psychologist at Unica School for Learners with Autism in Pretoria, who both read an early draft of the novel and gave me very constructive advice about the credibility of the behaviour patterns I’d described.

5. What was your aim when you created Amy? What did you want your readers to feel?

   My aim was to try to give my perspective of the world as it I think it might appear to an autistic child. The title of the book summarises that perspective — it reflects the bewildering jumble of sensations experienced by an autistic child who lacks the normal person’s capacity for coherence — like living in a dream where nothing makes sense.

6. Some of your research must have taken you to places you never expected to go. Tell us about some of your experiences.

   I remember my first day at the school. It was break when I arrived and the children were in the playground under watchful supervision. They looked like any other kids in shorts and T-shirts — but the normal interaction you’d expect in a playground was missing. It wasn’t gloomy or unhappy — but it seemed so quiet. There was a boy on a swing — backwards and forwards; higher and higher - all alone. Another boy lay on top of the slide, completely still and curved in towards himself. A little girl was walking around on tiptoe, twirling a plant in her fingers. A boy was pouring sand from one cup into another. The entire playground seemed self-absorbed. It was very disconcerting. I learned that you can’t generalise about autistic children, any more than you can about normal children. Each was highly individual, despite the autistic traits they share. Some days I’d feel we’d made progress — their eye contact was encouraging and they’d complete all the exercises I’d set them — but the next day could be entirely different. It was as if they’d never seen me before. Thomas might curl away from me in a ball under the table and scream uncontrollably if I tried to touch him. Annie was suddenly unbearably sad — quite out of the blue. I had no idea what caused it or how to make it better. Thairu, a beautiful little boy with huge brown eyes, would stare past me at the wall - like the boy from the faraway tree. I couldn’t reach him — and then I’d watch him with the music therapist and see his face light up as he stamped and clapped and sang along. I could never anticipate how the day would go and it gave me some insight into how stressful it must be to live with an autistic child — and how I’d taken my normal children for granted. It put the issues I’d worried about as a mother in perspective.

7. How long did it take you to write Kaleidoscope?

   I wrote it during the year I worked at the school.

8. How has writing this novel changed your life?

   It hasn’t changed it — but I’m hoping to sell enough copies to fund a few overseas trips to visit my children!

9. You wrote a stunning first novel; where to from here? Are there any new works in the pipeline?

   I’ve written another novel. Insecticides is about choice — random decisions that determine the path that life will follow. It is set in scenic Cape Town in the new, post-election South Africa, a country in a state of transformation. Retrenchment, affirmative action, technological change, AIDS and emigration are some of the issues that complicate the lives and loves of three close friends — an insect trio linked by their discordant proportions. Ann is too tall — a lanky mosquito of a girl .She is a successful journalist with a high-tech husband. Sophie is too fat - a bee of royal proportions. She has a strong soprano voice and follows a career in music. Jacqueline is too small — the fine-boned, sensual firefly of the team. She holds a masters degree in social anthropology, and dabbles with sangomas and holistic healing. Their career choices lead them to the eastern and western corners of the globe. The story chronicles the evolution of their careers and lifestyles as they move through an insect cycle of metamorphosis to migration, reproduction and — perhaps — extinction.

10. You created such spatially different, high-maintenance and completely convincing characters to tell, essentially, one story — how did you maintain the shape, colour and energy of your characters throughout?

    I chose the title Kaleidoscope because I wanted to show the same incidents from different perspectives and so I tried to create characters who would do this. I’m interested in people with special talents and the way in which the same family background can produce very contrasted siblings. I wanted both sisters to be exceptional in some way and I chose Tony’s character in an attempt to show that the communication difficulties experienced by an autistic person are not the same as those of a normal person who is socially withdrawn due to shyness or a lack of confidence.

11. Who is your favourite character in Kaleidoscope? And who was the most difficult character to part with?

    I’m not sure how to answer this question — it would be like choosing which of your children you prefer.

12. Who is your favourite fictional character of all time?

    It’s hard to make a choice because it varies according to the genre. I identify with heroines who make mistakes — I’m a specialist in the art of wrong decisions. As a child, I thought Anne of Green Gables was a personal friend.

13. What do you do to unwind at the end of a hectic week? And who would you read to clear your mind and just relax?

    I never underestimate the effect of a nice hot bath — and a novel that keeps you guessing. I loved The Secret History by Donna Tartt — even though you know who did it on the first page.

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