Writing Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Carolyne J Montgomery

Many of us were shaken this week, Andrea Robin Skinner, (ARS), revealed in a first-person piece in the Toronto Star, that she had been sexually abused as a nine-year-old when visiting her mother and stepfather, Alice Munro’s second husband, Gerald Fremlin in 1976. And worse, when ARS told her parents, she received no support.

I wondered what was up when Munro Books in Victoria (started by Jim Munro in 1963, but with independent owners since 2014) cancelled an Alice Munro celebration in support of ARS. You can read their statement here.

In 2005, when ARS was in her thirties, Gerald Fremlin was charged with indecent assault and received two years probation in a court ruling in Clinton, Ontario.

After decades of isolation from her family in her late forties, after her divorce, ARS began therapy with The Gatehouse, a therapeutic centre for victims of childhood sexual abuse, in Etobicoke. The Gatehouse’s vision is “a future where those impacted by childhood sexual abuse can heal and reclaim their voices. Her piece survivor’s story from Oct 22nd, Andrea: To heal is truth and peace can be found here. There is also a video, So Let’s Talk About This, by ARS, crediting her sister Jenny Munro with production and Rebecca Garrett, who runs a media company, for camera, editing and direction. Subsequently, The Toronto Star published her story on July 7th. This article and several others by Deborah Dundas, Betsy Powel, Heather Mallick, Stephan Marche of the Star and Marsha Lederman of The Globe and Mail are behind paywalls.

The Writing versus the Writer

Learning that AM did not act to protect her daughter is a bitter pill to swallow. Can and should one separate the writer’s morality from the greatness of their work?

While it would be a tragedy to erase her work from literary study, it is appropriate to examine what she wrote in light of this new knowledge—A mother who failed to protect her daughter and who remained married to the man who was abusing her youngest daughter. A mother, living with the knowledge that she failed to protect her daughter. A mother, whose actions led to her estrangement from her daughter.

But why was Andrea not protected?

We can only speculate as to why AM made these choices. Fear? Fear of damage to her reputation and career? Fear of Financial loss? Fear of rejection or abuse by her husband?

Blame? Her daughter’s behaviour and not her husband’s. Blame the victim.

Shame? And thus denial of the implications of the abuse?

Impotence? A sense that she was powerless to change the situation?

We don’t know AM’s story. Was she a victim of abuse? Is this an intergenerational story?

We can only speculate on the complicity of the CanLit world in protecting AM’s reputation. Who knew this secret but did nothing to help Andrea or AM?

Family matters—Fear, denial, diminishment, and impotence to justify doing nothing.

The literary community is re-examining her work, particularly the last story “Vandals”, published in her 1994 collection, Open Secrets. See Laura Miller’s piece, “The Writer and the Brute” in The Slate where she examines the story as possible atonement by AM.

Are there connections between the stories and the timeline of Andrea’s story? Are there clues as to why AM refused or could not help or protect her youngest daughter?

Our LIterary Heroines are not Saints

Sadly our literary heroines are not saints. We needily and blithely project our needs and wants onto them to be so. There is a crushing sense of loss, betrayal and disappointment when they are found out to be fallible, flawed and messy like the rest of us.

I have deep compassion for Andrea Robin Skinner and her recovery journey after the immoral and unambiguous denial of her needs and safety by her family and society. I wish her, her siblings and her family all the best in their recovery journey.

And many thanks to my friends who forwarded me the various articles over the last few days.

A Letter to My Daughters

In 2013 after AM was awarded the Nobel Prize, I wrote a short piece about unexpected moral frailty. I’m sharing it below. Of course, it would have been different, if I knew then what I know now!

A-Letter-to-My-Daughters-Google-Docs Download

I am back at my writing desk thanks to the relentless deluges of the past few days. It’s that wonderful time of the year when the moon is full when you can see it during the cloud break and the mornings are dark and cool. I have three modestly-sized burnt-orange pumpkins emerging from the withering canopy of vines. I am negotiating with the deer whether it is worthwhile planting a few daffodils or not. They look at me quizzically when I bring up the subject.

It is the time to atone for the indulgences of the summer. I have made a list of penances: The outdoor furniture must be cleaned and stored. My summer whites, after all, it is well past Labour Day need to be properly folded and put out of sight. It is time to find all the woollen, fleecy, puffy and waterproof items that were stuffed in old suitcases last Spring.

It is time to make a realistic plan to maintain all that hard-earned fitness from tennis, swimming and riding. Oh God, that might have to include spinning. It is time for the soups and stews that I never make in the Summer.

It is time to start finishing some of my short stories instead of just blasting out a new idea and abandoning it in a fetal form. It is time to start the harder work of revision and the follow-through of submission. It is time to set a realistic deadline for the completion of a collection of stories that can be discussed with a publisher. Sigh…

How to make all these things happen? Many of you have been enjoying the successes of our new national heroine, Bianca Andreescu – the teenaged winner of the Women’s US Open – who, in a two-set thriller conquered (sorry for the battle metaphor here) Serena Williams who is completing her athletic-comeback campaign from her difficult childbirth.

#shethenorth doesn’t really resonate with me so I call her Bianca Borealis. She is a nineteen-year-old athlete who didn’t qualify for last year’s US Open and is now ranked number five in the world. Her composure and maturity under both athletic and media pressures are extraordinary. She attributes her successes to her habit of visualization, the mental rehearsal of successful outcomes.

What exactly visualization means is variable and not as yet scientifically defined. Visualization can mean creating a multi-modal cognitive simulation (mental video) of something that is not actually happening but that you would like to accomplish in the future. Like writing, this can be done from the point-of-view of first person or the third. (where you are a spectator of your performance)

Performance characteristics that can be modified include such things such as how you actually do the whole task or a specific component of the task. Aidan Moran, an Irish psychologist lists the areas where visualization may improve task outcomes: learning, practising, planning, arousal control (anxiety), confidence, (reprogramming of negative beliefs), attention focusing, error correction, interpersonal issues and recovery and healing. While this video link is golf based, the concepts are generalizable to any area where you can set a target. I liked having to think about what is a positive routine versus a superstition. Some limited studies in specific sports (golf was easy to find) show increased confidence, more rapid and comprehensive mastery. The neurophysiological mechanism of these positive effects has not been defined but that has never held us up before. ( think about counselling psychology) Repetitive mental rehearsal of tasks can improve the actual performance in areas as diverse as surgery (simulator performance) or golf.

The keys to a successful practice are to be in a relaxed state and in a detailed and positive way rehearse and visualize a positive outcome. Like writing, the realistic state is achieved by using all five senses and to monitor for and substitute any negative emotions such as doubt, fear, and futility with feelings competence, confidence and purpose. It helps if your visualizations are underpinned by the extraordinary competencies that come from talent and years of practice. Bianca’s detailed and positive visualization allows her to use her competencies and not be shackled by self-doubt.

Me, I’m still at the Skill Acquisition Phase but the takeaways are to be positive, stay in the present, have a routine and have an immediate target. (word count, small task completion and so on)

And back to reading. Here is a list of the Guardian’s 100 Best Books of the 21st century. It’s always fun to see what’s in and what’s out. The list includes both fiction and non-fiction. Do you agree with the choices? Have you read #1?