Common Things That Are Suddenly Special

Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse.

Common Things That Are Suddenly Special

When I was studying for my teaching degree at the University of Ulster, in 2007, I came across a wonderful book called The Pillow Book, by Sei Shōnagon. I was in the university library at York Street and I was supposed to be working on one of my assignments on learning styles and VAK self-assessment questionnaires. I decided to browse the bookshelves and I just happened to pick up Shōnagon’s book.  She was a Japanese author who served as a court lady to the Empress Teishi in the mid-Heian period around the year 1,000 during which time she composed her pillow book which was in effect a collection of observations, impressions, opinions on everyday life in the court, including the highs and lows of aristocratic life. You might say Sei with her witty and sometimes pithy, sometimes unflattering remarks was a kind of early modern tweeter!

The description on the back of the book said:

The Pillow Book is one of the greatest works of Japanese literature. A fascinating exploration of life amongst the nobility at the height of the idyllic Heian period, it describes the exquisite pleasures of a confined world in which poetry, love, fashion and whim dominated, and harsh reality was kept firmly at a distance. And sections ranging in size from brief reflections to longer, lyrical tales, Shōnaghan moves elegantly across a wide range of themes including nature, society and her own flirtations and frustrations, to provide a witty, unique and deeply personal insight into a woman’s life at court and classical Japan.

After reading the book a few times, I decided I would write a memoir based on Sei Shōnagon’s Pillow Book. I loved her witty headings and I decided to use them as prompts for my own reflections. My memoir is called Common Things That are Suddenly Special. These are a few excerpts from my book:

116

Deeply Irritating Things

Sei chastises men for heading off to the Kamo festival, and not asking a young woman to accompany him. She considers their behaviour crass.

I find it irritating when people change dates of events at short notice. This happened recently and I was annoyed. I hate when people lose the invoices and paperwork I have sent them and then I do not get paid. I am still waiting to be paid for work I did in December.

117

Miserable-looking Things

Sei displays a lack of sympathy for a traveller in a drab place, riding in a dowdy carriage, being pulled by a dowdy ox. She cannot abide the sight of an aged beggar. I never could describe anything as looking miserable. I tend to be an optimist. When I had the flu last week I felt really miserable. Recently I went to see a film, Les Miserables. It was a wonderful film. The hero, Jean Valjean had been sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread. When he gets out, he is pursued by Inspector Javert. 

118

Things That Look Stiflingly Hot

In this country it is rarely Stiflingly Hot. However, if it is a hot summer's day, and I am driving, it can become extremely hot. If I park the car and then return to it, the steering wheel can feel like a hot poker. 

The memoir, like Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is full of infinite variety and moves from an early modern Japanese world of sliding screens and reed blinds where women lived in the shadows, to the hustle and bustle of a 21st century post-conflict Belfast where women are equal partners in public life and for the most part have obtained their independence.

In my memoir, I hoped to inspire readers to see the ordinary things and events in their lives as special and extraordinary. It is what Thomas Larson defines as sudden memoir, which helps the writer to cope, get through, get past. Freud claimed that our memories are stored in our brains as static entities, but recent neurological discoveries show that our memories are in a state of flux and are continually being updated or refashioned. 

It starts with a reflection on the four seasons. Basho’s spring haiku where he celebrates the cherry blossoms is reflected on and we learn that the poet felt as if he was in a Noh play. I tried to adhere to the  ‘sudden memory’ style throughout the book as one moment you are in the Empress Teishi’s Japanese court where the full-moon gruel festival is in full swing, and women are chasing each other with gruel sticks and the next moment you are reading about a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Belfast where young men are wearing green glitter newsboy hats and are sporting red curly beards, and women are wearing green tinsel wigs, long 80s style neon fishnet gloves and trailing green and white turkey feather boas round their necks. Or one moment Sei Shonagon recalls going to the palace to see a procession of blue horses and the next moment, I recalled a TV programme where the horses were parading around before the start of the Qatar Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. The reader was then taken a walk down memory lane, which could sometimes be the Waterworks in north Belfast where the mute swans glide along elegantly to the snow-capped Slemish mountain where St. Patrick herded sheep. 

I was so glad that I stumbled upon Sei Shōnagon’s book that afternoon in the university library as it inspired me to write and reflect on my life.  Shonagon’s book gave me a framework to reflect events that have shaped my life. 

Prior to writing the memoir, I had written two academic books on women's drama, which were aimed at a scholarly readership. But I decided to leave the academic ivory tower and start teaching creative writing in community settings. I was often asked for examples of my own writing.  So writing the memoir was my first experience of personal writing and I never looked back.