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One of Glasgow’s best-known tourist highlights is its Victorian Necropolis, a dramatic complex of Victorian funerary sculpture in all its grandeur and variety. Christian and pagan symbols, obelisks, urns, broken columns and overgrown mortuary chapels in classical, Gothic, and Byzantine styles convey the hope that those who are buried there—the great and the good of 19^th century Glasgow—will not be forgotten.

But, of course, they are mostly forgotten and even the conspicuous consumption expressed in this extraordinary array of great and costly monuments has not been enough to keep their names alive. And, of course, we, the living, will soon enough go the same way: ‘As you are now, so once was I’, to recall a once-popular gravestone inscription.

Is this the last word on human life? Religion often claims to offer a different perspective on death since (it is said) the business of religion is not with time, but with eternity. But what, if anything, does this mean?

‘Eternal love’ and ‘eternal memory’ are phrases that spring to the lips of lovers and mourners. Even in secular France, some friends of the recently murdered journalists talked about the ‘immortality’ of their work. But surely that is just a way of talking, a way of expressing our especially high esteem for those described in these terms? And even when talk of eternity and immortality is meant seriously, what would a human life that had ‘put on immortality’ be like? Would it be recognizably human at all? As to God, can we really conceive of what it would be for God (or any other being) to somehow be above or outside of time? Isn’t time the condition for anything at all to be?

If we really take seriously the way in which time pervades all our experiences, all our thinking, and (for that matter) the basic structures of the physical universe, won’t it follow that the religious appeal to eternity is really just a primitive attempt to ward off the spectre of transience, whilst declarations of eternal love and eternal memory are little more than gestures of feeble defiance and that if, in the end, there is anything truly ‘eternal’ it is eternal oblivion—annihilation?

Human beings have a strong track record when it comes to denying reality.

One fashionable book of the post-war period was dramatically entitled The Denial of Death and it argued that our entire civilization was built on the inevitably futile attempt to deny the ineluctable reality of death. But if there is nothing we can do about death, must we always think of time in negative terms—the old man with the hour-glass and scythe, so like the figure of the grim reaper?

And instead of thinking of eternity as somehow beyond or above time, might not time itself offer clues as to the presence of eternity, as in the experiences that mystics and meditators say report as being momentary experiences of eternity in, with, and under the conditions of time? But such experiences, valuable as they are to those who have them, remain marginal unless they can be brought into fruitful connection with the weave of past and future.

From the beginnings of philosophy, recollection has been valued as an important clue to finding the tracks of eternity in time, as in Augustine’s search for God in the treasure-house of memory. But the past can only ever give us so much (or so little) eternity.

A recent French philosopher has proposed that time cannot undo our having-been and that the fact that the unknown slave of ancient times or the forgotten victim of the Nazi death-camps really existed means that the tyrants have failed in their attempt to make them non-human. But this is a meagre consolation if we have no hope for the future and for the flourishing of all that is good and true in time to come. Really affirming the enduring value of human lives and loves therefore presupposes the possibility of hope.

One Jewish sage taught that ‘In remembering lies redemption; in forgetfulness lies exile’ but perhaps what we it is most important to remember is the possibility of hope itself and of going on saying ‘Yes’ to the common, shared reality of human life and of reconciling the multiple broken relationships that mortality leaves unresolved.

Pindar, an ancient poet of hope, wrote that ‘modesty befits mortals’ and if we cannot escape time (which we probably cannot), it is maybe time we have to thank for the possibility of hope and for visions of a better and more blessed life. And perhaps this is also the message that a contemporary graffiti-artist has added to one of the Necropolis’s more ruined monuments. ‘Life goes on’, either extreme cynicism or, perhaps, real hope.

Featured image credit: ‘Life goes on.’ Photo by George Pattison. Used with permission.

The post Thoughts in the necropolis appeared first on OUPblog.

        

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NECROPOLIS, NEW YORK AND A QUESTION: SHOULD I SUE DARREN SHAN?

So here’s the latest news from the world of Anthony Horowitz…or Antoine Horwitzer as it seems I should now call myself. We’ll get to that in a moment.

But with Halloween just a week away, I’m about to hit the road as we launch NECROPOLIS, the fourth book in my Power of Five series. As you may know from my earlier blogs, this wasn’t an easy book to write…in fact I had to tear it up completely and start again. Yes, this is the book with my first heroine instead of a hero – Scarlett Adams – but that wasn’t the problem. The story takes place in Peru, London and Hong Kong as well as the mysterious dream world. All five of the main characters are present (that is – Matt, Pedro, Scott and Jamie as well as Scarlett). It was really difficult weaving all the action together what with explosions, chases, betrayals, fireworks, monsters, major criminal organisations, the sword ladder and all the rest of it.

That said though, I really do think it works and the first reviews have been great. If you haven’t read the first three books in the series – RAVEN’S GATE, EVIL STAR and NIGHTRISE – this one does stand more or less on its own as everything is explained in the first chapter. But for those of you who have read all the ALEX books and are waiting for the next one…do give this series a try. Strange to think that there’s only one more title and it will all be over.

Since I mention ALEX RIDER, you may have noticed that my publishers have produced a sort of Christmas special, THE MISSION FILES which will fit neatly into your stocking…if, that is, your stocking is large and rectangular. It’s quite a hefty book, full of envelopes, posters, code books and further information about some of the characters in Alex’s world. I also threw in a story that I originally wrote for a newspaper, CHRISTMAS AT GUNPOINT. It’s an early incident in Alex’s life before he became a spy and I’m glad that it’s now in book form.

And again, on the subject of Alex, I’ve finally started work on the eighth novel although I don’t think it’ll be out for quite a while. After much thought, I’ve decided to leave YASSEN (the book I was planning) to the very end of the series. This follows a whole series of school visits where people have been a bit half-hearted about the idea…and I do try to listen to what my readers say! So instead, I’m going to write a full-blooded Alex adventure which begins straight after SNAKEHEAD with Alex on a skiing holiday with Sabina, then moves to England and finally to Africa with a plot that includes GM crops, international aid and…well, I’m probably giving away too much already. Annoyingly, a school in East Croydon (I won’t mention its name) threw out the title which was going to be ENDURANCE POINT. But if anyone reading this likes the title, please let me know. I was quite fond of it…and titles are the hardest thing to think up.

Next week I’m touring York, Leeds and Manchester and looking forward to heading north. I was at university at York but don’t ask what I got up to there as it’s all lost, fortunately, in the haze of time. All I can remember now is that it had the world’s biggest duck pond and you could be expelled – or sent down or whatever – if you killed and/or cooked a duck. Not that they were particularly tasty. I was once told off by the Archbishop of York for climbing half-way up the Minster (it was in scaffolding at the time) but I hope they’ve forgotten and forgiven this by now.

Immediately after that, I’m off to New York where a play of mine, MINDGAME, is opening. I hope no parents will bring their children, thinking it will be the theatrical equivalent of an Alex Rider book as it’s full of bad language and insanely violent. One of the characters actually gets killed twice. The play stars Keith Carradine who was great as the detective in DEXTER 2 (one of my favourite TV programmes). It’s being directed by a man called Ken Russell who was the UK’s most famous film director when I was in my teens…I absolutely loved his films. He’s now about seventy, very eccentric (you may have spotted him on Celebrity Big Brother for a short time) and I have absolutely no idea how the play will do. It opens the day after the American elections…so fingers crossed.

And finally to Darren Shan. I don’t know how many of you have been reading his DEMONATA series. I must say I’ve been enjoying it. But Volume 8, WOLF ISLAND, has just come out and I notice that there is a character in it called Antoine Horwitzer. Any ideas who that could be? In the story, he’s a sort of mad scientist type and at first (page 64) he seems pleasant enough. Shan describes him as: “a tall, handsome, tanned man…his hair looks like a film star’s, thick and carefully waxed into shape.” But it soon becomes clear that he’s untrustworthy and arrogant and by the time you get to page 194…well, I won’t spoil the ending but it looks unlikely that Antoine will be appearing in Volume 9.

Anyway, my lawyers have studied the book and the bad news for Darren Shan is that they agree it’s definitely defamatory…which is to say that I could win millions from him in court. The good news is that I’ve decided not to sue. If there’s one piece of advice that everyone should stick to in their life it’s AVOID LAWYERS. This is good advice even for lawyers. However, I will be having my revenge. Next year, I have a third collection of horror stories coming out. The title (at the moment) is: AAAGH: TEN UNUSUAL WAYS TO DIE and one of the stories is called THE MAN WHO KILLED DARREN SHAN. I have started re-writing it. Out go all the compliments about CIRQUE DU FREAK and THE DEMONATA. And instead…

Next Halloween, Darren. Wait and see.

Anthony Horowitz

28 October 2008

Technorati Tags: alex rider, Power of Five

Here’s a quick blog to wish everyone a happy summer holiday with, hopefully, a bit of sunshine (and, of course, a good book…but that goes without saying).

So far I’ve managed a week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which might well crop up one day in an Alex Rider novel. It’s a horrible place. Boiling hot but no real sun due to the clouds of sand blowing in from the desert. Too much concrete. And a couple of skyscrapers that could have come straight out of someone’s bad dream. I was there as a journalist to visit a weird “prison for terrorists” where I drank tea with a suicide bomber who had managed to blow himself, and nine other people, apart. Somehow he survived. You can read all about it in the Sunday Telegraph on-line.

Then I went up to the West Coast of Scotland and stayed on a tiny island called Eilean Shona which would also make a good setting for a bad guy in an Alex book…complete with ruined castle, caves and basking sharks. It’s very private. Trespassers could be shot and nobody would know. During my time there I managed to kayak a reasonably impressive 14kms in three hours and swam every morning in water which must have been about zero degrees. My voice is now very high.

I’m writing this back in London and here’s what I’m doing for the rest of the summer…

COLLISION is a five-part TV series which I’ve written for ITV and which will be shot this September. It’s going to feature the largest road accident ever filmed and I’ve asked the producer (ie my wife) if I can feature as one of the victims. We’ll see.

NECROPOLIS is now being printed and it’s a bit of a monster at 105,000 words. It was fairly exhausting to write and when it was finished I decided it wasn’t good enough and wrote the whole thing again. It comes out in October and it looks as if I’ll be in Manchester, Leeds and York promoting it.

FOYLE’S WAR is returning. This is my other TV series which got cancelled last year by some idiot at ITV but which is being brought back “by public demand”. More murder mysteries set during the second world war.

HORROR STORIES. There’s another set on the way. My publishers have come up with a great idea for the look of the book which will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before, but so far we haven’t got a title. Their suggestion: DIAL H FOR HORROR. But that’s a bit lame. I wanted to call it: AAAAGH! At least it would come first on any alphabetical list. But perhaps you can do better. Twelve stories incuding a psychopathic massage chair, a lethal TV reality game show, a bloody French exchange, the murder of Darren Shan and a snake in a bed. Do send in any thoughts!

And ALEX 8…

I’ve had second thoughts about telling Yassen’s story, which was going to be the subject of this book. I’m thinking of leaving that to number nine. Instead, I’ve got the beginnings of an idea set partly in the UK and partly in Africa. Alex hasn’t been there yet. But it’s very early days. I plan to start writing in October/November for delivery in spring 2009. The challenge is always the same. How to make the book better than the last one. Only two more Alex Riders after this one and that’s it!

Finally, a goodbye to Horowitz HQ. This site has been run for the past three years by my assistant, Cat Taylor, who- for her own, mad reasons – has decided to leave. She says that working for me is something she will never forget…at least, that’s what her therapist tells her. But the website will continue. And I will still look in from time to time and answer questions as they arise.

That’s it. Have a fantastic summer.

Anthony Horowitz