Beware the Blunted Needle!

Blunt stylus damaging a collectors issue recording

Professor Joe Goldblatt

We have found both an old and a new solution to distract us from the dreary political times within our troubled world. Each evening, following our dinner, we avoid the evening news bulletin and instead settle in together on the sofa and listen to one side of a spoken word record album. We began with Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Maggie Smith, and Sir Derek Jacobi perfoming Shakespere’s Othello and this was soon followed by George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (the play that inspired the musical My Fair Lady) featuring Sir Michael Redrgave, his daughter Lynn Redgrave, and Donald Pleasance.

The Olivier album cover also contains in its notes this stern warning “Beware the Blunted Needle” to caution the listener to continually keep our needle / stylus fresh so as to refrain from damaging the collectors issue recording that is in our safekeeping for the present time. I believe this warning should also be more widely applied to the media we consume during the frightening times we are facing right now.

As we listen to these brilliant voices reading classic texts, we are constantly reminded of the strange and difficult times within which we now find ourselves and some may wonder what does it all mean?

When the American humourist Dorothy Parker (1893 – 1967) was asked about her views regarding the new literary phenomenon known as the Beat poets of the 1950’s she replied, “I don’t think the Beat Generation is worth much worrying about. I should say, oh very soon, the very near future will be forgotten as [mah-jong?].” So what does the present turbulent era mean to our generation and what might we do to better understand and cope with these dramatic societal changes?

As our greatest playwrights wrote and talented actors nightly perform readings with themes of unrestrained power in our lounge, theey explore the fluid complexity of gender identity and savour perhaps the most deadly of all sins, human greed, we also hear in their poetic words and classically trained eloquent voices the familiar fears, pains, and confusions we are now facing in the 21st century.

We are living in a dispiriting time where the US President elect has been convicted of multiple felonies and therefore is banned from visiting 37 countries and the current US President has used his Presidential powers to provide a full and unconditional pardon for his son from a conviction regarding breaking tax and gun laws. Indeed, these are the times when sometimes the news is so bizarre and troubling that it is helpful to seek poets to best help us contextualise and hopefully better understand this strange era.

Last evening I listened to Olivier recite the moving lines from Henry V and suddenly felt chills race up my spine as he invoked his troops by thundering “Cry God for Harry, England, and St George!” In this great tragedy King Hal is euolgised as a “King of a life without sport; a prince of all men loved that both lived and died a pattern in princehood, a lodestar in honour, and mirror of magnificence.”

This is directly in contrast to many of our modern leaders who are often remembered as Enoch Powell MP said by “Political careers that all end in failure.” As we listen to these tales of struggles and triumphs from hundreds of years ago and now filling our lounge with poetic context we must remember that indeed these events and behaviours have all happened before and if we listen intently and learn from these historic examples we just might improve our lives in the future.

Therefore, I am searching frantically for more voices from the past to help me sort out, understand, and hopefully find new hope during these tremulous times. Occassionally and briefly, I may even revert to current media coverage to touch base with the present, however, I shall still in greater measure seek the poets of the past to best help me reflect, understand, and perhaps even triumph over our present struggles.

After all, Dorothy Parker was indeed correct when she was asked when the new writers would emerge and where would they come from and wisely replied “I don’t know. Perhaps they will come along in a group. After all, it all happened before and may happen again.” However, unless we pay attention and listen to wiser voices than our own it may be a long time coming and in the mean time, we may be wearing out the needle that was kept sharp for us by many previous generations.

Therefore, I believe it is time to re – sharpen our diamond needle and apply intense pressure where needed to insure that we are able to contribute our own wisened voices for future generations to benefit.

Professor Joe Goldblatt is Emeritus Professor of Planned Events at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland. His views are his hown. For more information about his vews visit www.joegoldblatt.scot.