| Ralph Goodman is a retired professor of literature with a passion for interaction with other people. He recently started hosting life-writing workshops in which participants have the opportunity to do some intense self-reflection while learning more about the nuts and bolts of writing. Ralph spoke to Bibi Slippers about the importance of storytelling and the role of the writer in society. |
Hi Ralph. Do you mind telling our readers more about the storytelling workshops you are offering?
These workshops were born out of my academic articles and papers, most of which deal with socio-political issues through a literary lens which highlighted the toll that 40 years of apartheid took on our society. When I retired in December 2010 I felt a need somehow to embody these issues using both my right brain, with its academic function, and my left brain, with its divergent quality of thinking. I took stock of my assets, and found that I had a bundle of qualifications in English literature, which I preferred to approach from a cultural studies perspective. I also have a persistent concern with healing, expressed as a deep interest in psychology, and an eight-year stint with Hospice as a bereavement counsellor. Finally, I have a passion for interaction with other people, especially in a democratically based teaching situation which allows the teacher to participate as an ordinary member of the group.
I decided to combine these interests and offer what I called life-writing workshops to the general public, persuading people that writing stories was not just for established writers, and that ordinary people could learn to write stories – particularly their own story, which they could use to discover more about themselves, in their own way and at their own pace. We also look at the nuts and bolts of writing: How do good writers write? What is their advice on writing – and what is their own practice? Also, participants write short pieces on various themes, which are discussed in a positive and creative way. Participants generally gain more confidence through their writing, develop their ability to self-reflect and find new perspectives on their past.
Did you have a favourite story growing up, and do you think the stories we are exposed to as children have an influence on the way we make sense of our lives as adults?
As a very young boy I had an older sister who in her younger years had a commanding manner, so my stories about myself as a child were loosely modelled around the Peanuts cartoon strips, which feature such a brother and sister. I was also exposed to the usual boys’ novels of the time, such as The Hardy Boys, as well as stories about World War II, from which my father had returned with an inoperable – and always painful – piece of shrapnel in his leg, as well as suffering from PTSD. As to the influence of those stories on my adult personality, I get on very well with my sister now, though I may have learned something about power issues from my childhood stories. As for the war stories, I think I dissociated them from my father: some stories can be too close to home, and I am only now beginning to come to terms with this issue. In general, the stories we make about ourselves in our childhood, as well as those we are exposed to by others, can influence the rest of our lives.
Have you experienced personal breakthroughs through storytelling?
I am continually experiencing personal breakthroughs by writing poems about individual issues in my life and then combining them into a story, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It’s usually a midnight business for me, as that is the time when I have most access to subterranean aspects of my past which can be quite scary in their energy and depth of emotional truth. The trouble is that in order to access these levels you in fact regress emotionally, and it’s not always possible to surface again when you want to, so you occasionally end up behaving oddly towards other people. It couldn’t be too bad, though: I haven’t lost any friends yet.
16 May is International day for Sharing Life Stories. Why do you reckon it is important to share stories, especially in a South African context?
I originally thought of my workshops as riding the wave of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose proceedings, broadcast as they were, had a major effect on the South African public – both those who approved and those who did not. Since then many more people have written or spoken publicly about their lives, and this has become a feature of South African life. As Fr Michael Lapsley has said, “If we were to become one nation living together in peace and harmony we would have to listen to one another's stories.” The past is not fixed. It is matter for interpretation and negotiation, and stories are among the most important tools for such negotiation. However, in these workshops personal stories remain private, and participants choose how much or how little to share with the group.
Your workshops have a therapeutic element, but also focus on creative output. Do you differentiate between writing as therapy and writing as art form? Can it be both things at the same time? And in the light of your answer, how do you see the writer's role in society?
What I hope is that these workshops will be a kind of adventure for us, a process of self- discovery, which is both serious and playful. I’m also hoping that we will be creatively challenged in ways that make us reconsider who we are. A large number of well-known writers have commented on the healing power of writing, often after the fact, and I do not distinguish between writing as therapy and writing as an art form. One of the possible meanings of the word psychoanalysis is “release the butterfly”. That is about informing us, entertaining us, making us think, helping us to be freer – arguably all part of the role of the writer in society.
When will you be hosting your next workshop and where can interested readers get more information about upcoming workshops?
Date for my next workshop: 9h00–12h00 on Saturday, 2nd June.
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Contact me at 072 2110521; email unicorn2009@gmail.com.