/ 11 February 2011

History in words, craziness in poems

History In Words

I’m busy working on my third novel, typing away on my laptop. My books really take form only once the writing’s done and I start editing.

Now, it’s just a stream of consciousness about the little world I’ve created. It’s hard to escape outside reality though. I don’t have a decent desk, so I sit at a coffee table in my lounge. I’ll be watching TV, reading a newspaper, on Twitter—

My wife loves reality television and celebrity shows. I love sport. Often, I have to swap my wife a Stormers-Sharks game for a Keeping up with the Kardashians. It’s popular culture.

I have the complete works of William Shakespeare next to my bed. It’s been there forever. I’m trying to chip away at it. The comedies are great. The histories are heavy going. You manage to get through Henry VI part one. And then you still have to read part two. And part three. I keep a notebook of quotations so that when I find one I like, I can write it down. Shakespeare has such a great turn of phrase and he’s so concise.

I’m also trying to get through The Steppe by Anton Chekhov. There’s such a backlog of classics I want to read. I’m not very good at reading contemporary fiction. At least with the classics, you know they’re good.

Feast of books
At the Exclusive Books sale, I bought about 15 coffee-table books. One of them was a history of the 20th century. It’s meant to be dipped into, but I just started reading it. It’s such a feast. I get scared I’ll miss something.

I also bought a copy of By Hook or by Crook by David Crystal. It’s a history of language. The title, and the saying, comes from a concession in which peasants were permitted to collect firewood from the ground or use a blunt tool like a shepherd’s crook to pull down a dry branch from a tree. I’m fascinated by the stories behind words, the provenance of words and phrases.

Music sort of flows from that. It’s all about words and rhythm. I started as a columnist. Then I put the columns together to make little books. I added some poetry. Then I started jamming and saying my poems over music.

Poetry is a crazy scene. It happens for only three months. You’ll go every Thursday night to this one place. Then all of a sudden it’s not there, it has just stopped, vanished.

I used to play songs with Toast Coetzer. He doesn’t want to memorise the words, he just reads them. He’s a legend. I might have swung a U2 ticket this weekend. I don’t particularly like them, but they’re good at putting on big concerts.

I sometimes suffer from open-mindedness. I find it hard to dislike anything. Except for this one CD by Glaskas. I was listening to it in my car. I took it out, put it back in the CD case and chucked it out the window. My friend was driving behind me. He said: “Did you see that thing flying down Grayston Drive?”

Hagen Engler is the editor of FHM magazine. For more on his books and music go to www.hagenshouse.co.za