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Thom Gunn's comments on my writing style
Oliver Sacks
Scientist
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| 272. Uncle Tungsten: I want my work delivered in full, not... | 176 | 01:30 | |
| 273. My handsome mug | 1 | 261 | 01:10 |
| 274. My love of Kew Gardens | 238 | 01:10 | |
| 275. The Sense of Movement by Thom Gunn | 319 | 02:08 | |
| 276. Thom Gunn's comments on my writing style | 250 | 01:44 | |
| 277. A scary first experience of steep Filbert Street, San Francisco | 205 | 01:14 | |
| 278. My last meeting with Thom Gunn and his death | 1 | 528 | 03:59 |
| 279. Thom Gunn's unique style of poetry | 306 | 01:34 | |
| 280. Thom Gunn was an excellent teacher | 250 | 00:53 |
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Thom liked some of my writing, and some of it he hated, and told me so, and why, in no uncertain terms. He liked my travel writing, and the description of landscapes and events and... and people as they passed. He did not at all like the portraits, the verbal portraits, I made of various people in San Francisco. And he upbraided me for what he called my sarcasms and grotesqueries. To jump ahead a dozen years, when Awakenings came out in 1973, I sent a copy to Thom, and he was astounded. He said, 'What was most conspicuously absent in you a dozen years ago – sympathy, humanity, feeling for other people – is now the very centre and foundation of this book. What happened? How did you change?' He said, 'Was it drugs? Did you fall in love? Was it your analyst? Or did it just occur as... a form of maturation?' I... I was obsessed by this letter of his and these questions, and I... I finally wrote back and said, 'All of the above'.
Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) was born in England. Having obtained his medical degree at Oxford University, he moved to the USA. There he worked as a consultant neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital where in 1966, he encountered a group of survivors of the global sleepy sickness of 1916-1927. Sacks treated these patients with the then-experimental drug L-Dopa producing astounding results which he described in his book Awakenings. Further cases of neurological disorders were described by Sacks with exceptional sympathy in another major book entitled The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat which became an instant best seller on its publication in 1985. His other books drew on his rich experiences as a neurologist gleaned over almost five decades of professional practice. Sacks's work was recognized by prestigious institutions which awarded him numerous honours and prizes. These included the Lewis Thomas Prize given by Rockefeller University, which recognizes the scientist as poet. He was an honorary fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and held honorary degrees from many universities, including Oxford, the Karolinska Institute, Georgetown, Bard, Gallaudet, Tufts, and the Catholic University of Peru.
Title: Thom Gunn's comments on my writing style
Listeners: Kate Edgar
Kate Edgar, previously Managing Editor at the Summit Books division of Simon and Schuster, began working with Oliver Sacks in 1983. She has served as editor and researcher on all of his books, and has been closely involved with various films and adaptations based on his work. As friend, assistant, and collaborator, she has accompanied Dr Sacks on many adventures around the world, clinical and otherwise.
Tags: San Francisco, Awakenings, Thom Gunn
Duration: 1 minute, 44 seconds
Date story recorded: September 2011
Date story went live: 02 October 2012
