shewhomust | Other sea-birds are also available (Reply)

Leafing through the stacks of old - very old - copies of The Guardian, I found two irresistibly quotable pieces about seagulls in as many days. The first comes from a regular column in which guests were asked to talk about a book they wish they had written. Chris Petit (December 5th 1996) could think of no such book, but contributed instead thirteen sentences he would be happy claim. Here's what he says about number 3:

"To write about seagulls, not necessary to go to Normandy." (Alain Robbe-Grillet, Towards a New Novel). Actually, this quote, carried in my head for years, turns out to be false and on checking bears little resemblance to the original, though my (improved) version still illustrates the man's point that things can be more real for being transformed by the imaginary.

Such magnificent self-assurance, to accept the assignment and then decline the rules of the game, to envy no writer their book, and only to reach the quota of sentences by including something which you did, however unconsciously, write. I wonder what the original is? My curiosity goes as far as Google (which suggests that Petit's improvements include substituting Normandy for Brittany), but will probably stop short of reading Pour un nouveau roman.

You'd be listening to a Sligo accent for some time before the phrase "soft Irish brogue" occurred to you. It is more like being hit over the head with a seagull in a bucket.

- Nancy Banks-Smith, of course, on November 28th 1996.