Letters to Mr. Harper
Who writes letters anymore? Today’s tweets, Facebook postings and abbreviated emails are as far as most people get in putting words to “paper” — or to cyberspace.
Thinking about all the great books made up of letters written by great men and women — actors, artists, authors, politicians — makes me wonder whether we’ll enjoy such literary pearls in the future.
So it’s reassuring to see we still have letter writers among us.
Yann Martel, the Canadian author of Life of Pi and other marvellous books, set out in 2007 to send a book to Prime Minister Harper every two weeks. With each book (used, by the way) he sent a warm and chatty letter discussing its ideas, or reflecting on thoughts it brought to mind. The letters are a delight to read, and point us to a title that if one hasn’t read, one certainly should.
He’s published the letters in What is Stephen Harper Reading ? (Vintage Canada). A small trade paperback, it’s filled with delightful observations and ironic comments.
In his first letter to Mr. Harper, discussing Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych, Yann points out the continuing relevance and enduring quality of great literature. Of this book, he says
That is the greatness of literature, and its paradox, that in reading about fictional others we end up reading about ourselves.
Martel has wisely made no assumptions about Mr. Harper’s reading habits. He concedes the PM is a busy man. It would be nice, he thinks, if he could find a little space “for a few minutes, a few pages, before we fall asleep.”
But he’s never had any indication whether Mr. Harper has even seen any of the 55 books he’s sent, let alone read any. He’s had two responses from officials in the PM’s Office, to his first and fifty-fourth books. Bare bureaucratic thank-you notes, no suggestion as to what’s become of them.
Martel admits to a political motive in sending the books. He got the idea when he was among a group of artists and writers at a 50th anniversary event for the Canada Council. They all trooped over to the House of Commons where the Heritage minister of the day acknowledged their presence. Mr. Harper didn’t even look up to the Speaker’s gallery when Martel and the others stood to receive the respect of Parliament.
So he decided to send books to the Prime Minister. “As a citizen of the arts, I have a right to know what my elected leader thinks about reading.”
Meanwhile, books of letters continue to come to market. Over a million letters were sent to Jackie Kennedy following the assassination of the President. Letters to Jackie: Condolences From a Grieving Nation (HarperCollins) contains 240 of the most touching of these notes.
Another book of Van Gogh letters will be in book stores next month. The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters (Royal Academy Publications), offers fresh insights into our understanding of this troubled figure. It’s in books like this that we gain a fuller understanding of the society in which these memorable charactersa lived and worked.
Closer to home, British Columbia’s Caitlin press has published The Railroader’s Wife. It’s a collection of letters written between 1912 and 1914 by Bernice Martin to her family back in Wisconsin. She wrote of her husband’s work in the building of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway through central B.C.
Then, there’s David Staines’ charming work, The Letters of Stephen Leacock (Oxford University Press). He talks about the book here:
Letters like these always make good reading, especially when they’re meant for someone else. In Leacock’s case, Staines says, his letters were mostly to his publishers, his “real family” and his “life line to the real world.”
So write a letter today. It might end up in a book!
