It was the opening session of 2012 for me and I was full of the joys of Charlotte Square. Then Andrew Motion turns all existential, predicting humankind’s demise within the next 200 years. What brought on this gloom? The research into his next book which led him to the realities concerning the extinction of the bison in America. I’m sorry, he said, but that’s what I believe.
Sarah Crown and Andrew Motion courtesy of @edbookfest
So what’s the point of literature?, asked chairperson Sarah Crown, in a moment of brilliance, pulling us right back to the purpose of the afternoon. To remember what we have lost, to celebrate what we have and to warn us about the dangers of the future, replied Motion.
One could add to eat, drink and have fun for in 200 years we die because that is what Motion does in Silver, his sequel to Treasure Island, a novel he thought about for 20 years before writing. He didn’t want to fall into the perils of the failed sequel, he said, by staying too close to the original and thus putting himself in competition with the original, a competition he was bound to lose. For this reason he moved the story forward a generation into a post French revolution world where sensibilities are much changed and Long John Silver is a decrepit old husk who sends his daughter Nattie on a voyage with Jim Hawkins II (the son of Stevenson’s Jim) to find the silver that was left behind.
This change allows Motion to retain many elements of the original (the treasure hunt), to play with others (Long John Silver’s parrot has died but there is a new bird named Spot, the open ending
- a literal cliffhanger) and to insert an entirely new political subplot (slavery). He pays homage to Stevenson, though at the same time ensuring that this sequel remains his own. He gives Stevenson a cameo role, as the lookout. For most of the voyage the character inhabits the crow’s nest of the ship, retaining an overview of proceedings. But once the ship approached the island, Mr Stevenson is brought down on deck. The underlying message, Motion said, is that this is my island, not Stevenson’s.
The big question: Is the book any good?
Relevant section of the EIBF Mindmap
Not such good value for money on the price of a ticket if he does spoilers and no signing. What a shame.
silver does seem one of the better takes on classics ,all the best stu
How come everyone writes one great novel, and everyone else tries to imitate it?
I need to pick up Master of Ballantrae again someday and finish it. Who needs sequels when there is so much of greatness in Stevens to cherish on a rainy day?
Then I might start on the sequel. : ) (Ballantrae is the sequel within a sequel narrative as you’ll ever read/need. Scary stuff as you turn the pages and find the villain coming back from the dead so many times. Oh dear, I can’t remember a thing of the plot line. I’m sure it had nothing to do with pirates. I’ll have to start the sequels from the first page to get back into it!!!)
was also slightly put out by Motion’s rushing off to catch a train to London and the assertion that he’d signed loads of books in advance. well..- not the same mate!
more interesting was Motion’s hints at his relationship with his father , etc.. showed him to be more vulnerable than otherwise imagined.