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Untold Stories
By Alan Bennett
658 pages
Jointly published by Faber and Faber and Profile Books at £20
Dateline: 12th October, 2005
This is the book that Alan Bennett had never expected to see in published
form. The successor to Writing Home was only started after he
was diagnosed with a cancer that seemed likely to prove terminal relatively
quickly.
He covers this very movingly in the final piece An Average Rock
Bun, the title referring to the polyp discovered in his bowel in
1997. The happy ending is that eight years on he has defied the 4-1
odds against survival. His experience and musings on the subject may
also prove valuable to other members of the "growing aristocracy"
of cancer sufferers.
As Bennett identifies, Untold Stories is something of a mish-mash,
containing different elements of his writing but together, they build
to a far finer portrait of the man and the writer than most biographies
could hope to achieve.
The title piece stretches to over 100 pages and covers the writer's
youth and the weird and wonderful family from which he came. He also
unburdens himself of dark secrets including a mother and aunt both of
whom suffered from mental illness and spent considerable time in institutions;
and a maternal grandfather who committed suicide.
This last fact did not become known to his grandson until he had passed
the age of 40. This novella-length section provides some sources for
the work and also impressions of the man, in particular the shyness
that his parents bred into him but was probably genetic anyway.
After a short piece on sexuality and more particularly homosexuality,
his diaries for the period 1996-2004 prove quirky but fascinating. They
also say a great deal about Bennett with innate left-wing views tempered
by his religious beliefs and love of the Royal Family, art and ancient
churches.
This means that the writing contains a combination of trips that could
have come directly from the diaries of that great lover of dignified
buildings James Lees-Milne, though with a little more emphasis on churches,
together with observations about life and art that are very definitely
those of Alan Bennett.
The section on Theatre and Plays is a little bit of a disappointment.
It consists of three essays, each previously published. Two are the
prefaces to The Lady in the Van and The History Boys and
the third gives a personal view of the National Theatre. If one hasn't
read these before though, they will delight. In many ways, the diaries
and throwaway comments throughout give as good a picture of the theatrical
works, including Beyond the Fringe as these pieces.
Radio and TV is dominated by Thora Hird, that archetypal Talking
Head. There is also a nice essay on different types of comedy and Bennett's
abhorrence of cheeky chappies like Tommy Trinder and Tommy Handley,
his preference being for natural, Northern comedians such as George
Formby.
Art, Architecture and Authors are also interestingly represented
by this trustee of the National Gallery. His ability to write about
art intelligibly is greatly to his credit. The assistance offered to
his words by tiny black-and-white reproductions of his chosen favourites
is however minimal.
Throughout, Bennett relates life and his observations to the writing
and characters that appear in his plays and he is never able to suppress
his great, understated sense of humour for very long. This is perfectly
exemplified not only by extracts from his plays and his very funny diaries
but also in the most unexpected sections. He was the victim of queer-bashing
in Italy that led to reflections on his history of disastrous birthdays
in A Common Assault. As often as not, he was ill or in hospital
or like his family, just ignoring the passage of time.
He really was unlucky. On his 40th birthday, he attended a funeral,
on his 50th while filming A Private Function, he was served a
salad liberally sprinkled with glass. When Miss Shepherd, The Lady in
the Van died, the undertaker's choice of May the 9th for her funeral
provoked the classic Bennett response "'Why not?' I said. I was
only surprised that I hadn't thought of it myself".
There is little doubt that Bennett's illness has affected the way in
which he sees both himself and his writing. Previously, this intensely
private man would only allow insights into his life from the oblique
angle of his writing.
In Untold Stories, he enters the confessional and allows his
devoted readership to find out much they had previously been hidden,
for example with regard to his sexuality, his illness and also the reason
why he has never been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen.
This is a wonderful book about a tremendous character whose authentic
voice permeates it throughout. At only £20 for over 650 pages
it is also a bit of a bargain.
We must all feel very grateful that not only is so much of a life put
together within a single, gargantuan volume but also that its writer
is still with us to read extracts following publication.
Philip Fisher
Articles from 2005
Articles from 2004
Articles from 2003
Articles from 2002
Articles from 2001
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Articles from 1997
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