Our sort of author

David Lodge

For some inexplicable reason, celebrated writers are not falling over themselves to visit the Bermuda triangle that is Mid-Devon - well, not its three three main market towns: Tiverton, Crediton and Cullompton. So, if the authors won't come to us, we must go to the authors. And that's what the Dear Daughter and I did on Thursday night. From her home in the Chilterns, it's a journey involving only, let me see, a car ride and three different trains, interspersed with a couple of quick hikes, to the London Review Bookshop to hear one of our favourite authors, David Lodge, reading from and talking about his new novel, Deaf Sentence.

As the critics have already got stuck into Deaf Sentence, not to mention any number of book-reviewing bloggers, I won't. For a start, I don't think I could be objective enough; like David Lodge (and the main character in the book), I started to lose my hearing in my mid-40s. It was the higher-frequency sounds that I lost; everybody does eventually but not necessarily as early in life. With this type of hearing loss, it's difficult to make out the beginnings and ends of words, so you come adrift in conversations, learn to nod here and there as if you have understood everything that has been uttered, and you try to avoid situations where there is a cacophony in the background - restaurants, receptions, that sort of thing. Hearing aids can help but not always; my experience, and that of a good many people, with the NHS digital variety has been little short of farcical. So unless we can afford to splash out for those very tiny top-of-the-range digital versions, we're rather stuck. (These, I am reliably informed, change people's lives.)

From the extracts that David Lodge read to the audience (and what a very pleasant setting the London Review Bookshop is), he has more than accurately captured the tragi-comic nature of hearing loss. So, once the Dear Daughter has finished reading her pristine, hardback, author-signed copy of Deaf Sentence, I'll be lapping up every word.

David Lodge is very serious about this whole business of writing, as you would expect from a master of the craft. He is, thankfully, someone who neither needs nor wants endless hype and ballyhoo for his books to be noticed and read, although he takes part in events such as this with good grace. For a deaf writer, they must be something of a trial but he gave thoughtful, considerate answers to the questions that were put to him and we were both tremendously impressed.

At the end of the formal part of the evening, a woman in the audience gave a very personal account of why David Lodge's books have meant so much to her and why, although the subject matter of Deaf Sentence, was going to be extremely difficult for her, she now felt - having heard the author read from it - that she could read it. "I now know I will feel so much better for reading it. That's what your books do for me and I just want to thank you for the great pleasure they have given me for so many years."

Loud applause and not a few stifled sniffs from the audience at this point.

The Daughter and I reflected that it was years since we had managed to get to an author event together; the last time was in the mid 1990s, when we went to the ICA in London to hear Isabel Allende - another writer for whom we might possibly cross continents. We don't always share the same literary tastes but, when we do, there's nothing we enjoy more than the privilege of hearing and meeting an author for whom we have unbridled admiration.

Background reading . . .
The Observer (April 20) ran an excellent feature on David Lodge and his new book. You'll find it here. And if you'd like a quick look at the room in which he writes, you can see it here, courtesy of the Guardian.

Comments

[Maureen]

My sort of author too, D. He was The Last Word in Lit Crit when I was a student and I imagine his authority remains unquestioned. I'm looking forward to reading this book; I doubt that anyone else could get away with treating this sensitive subject with humour but I feel sure he will have written with his usual intelligent and funny thoughtfulness.

[dovegreyreader]

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to the David Lodge event in Fowey on Saturday!

[60 Going on 16]

I don't think you'll be disappointed dgr and I know you enjoyed the book. It's been interesting to read what has been written about it elsewhere; some of the critics have been pretty merciless and opinion among deaf readers/bloggers has been divided. But, the extracts that David Lodge read (end of the first and beginning of the second chapter) sounded pretty good to us. Hope the sun gets back to shining on you all on Saturday!