Terry Deary

An Interview with Terry Deary

by Mehrdad Tooyserkani

· Some publishers in the field and their editors argue that subjects like politics, power, ideology, terrorism, etc. (in short, presumably horrible and boring subjects) are just suitable for adult audience and have got nothing to do with the world of children and young adults and they would reject Text or illustrations with such contains. What is your opinion on this?

I do not think children should be treated differently to adults when it comes to discussing important subjects. They must be treated with honesty. Sometimes the language used to young readers may be simplified but it is important for young people to know the sort of world they are growing into. It is also very important that children are not given opinions – e.g. “Iran is evil, the USA is good.” They should be given facts and both sides of an argument.

· In Horrible Histories books you have repeatedly dealt with the mentioned matters and more. Do you believe that humour is the best or only way to effectively discuss them with youths?

Humour is a way of engaging a reader – young readers and old readers alike. I want to inform young people of some facts. If they do not read my books then I will have failed. My first task is to get them to read. The humour makes them pick up the books. Once they are laughing they read on and discover the more serious issues behind the jokes.

· In your opinion what details must be considered for expanding the children and youth literature (fiction and non-fiction) to the world of politics?

Only one. Humanity. People. There are only questions we all must answer. “Why do people behave the way they do?” When we have studied that then we must ask, “Why do I behave the way I do?” When we understand the answer to that question we will put an end to war, poverty and a million unhappinesses. “Politics”, or “History” or “Mathematics” or “Science” are just labels and they do not matter. All that matters is “understanding”.

· How is the condition of political and ideological matters for children and youth in UK literature? Do the young readers show interest? And how is the position of publishers, school and public libraries? Is there any resistance from them?

Politics and ideology is of very little interest to anyone in the UK and of even less interest in literature. The only books that sell are the biographies of politicians because they have human interest. But the ideologies that the politician follows are of no interest. There is no “resistance” to publishing books on politics but publishers will not do it because the books will not sell and they will not make money.

· Who will benefit from an active political literature for children and youth? Writer, Readers, Politicians, or anyone else? And why?

No one will benefit. Our aim should be to create a world where politics no longer exist. When everyone sees everyone else as a fellow human being, not as a Conservative, a Liberal, a Socialist or a Fascist. Politics and organised religion have brought misery to countless billions of people and we have to move away from the confrontations they cause.

· Which other British writers do you know who have worked successfully in writing about politics and its history for youth?

None.

· One of the things you continuously remind to your young readers of Horrible Histories is how the warlords always use hatred of enemy as a gruesome weapon by spreading it among their own people. But it seems the tide is turning. Even American people, who act politically simplistic, can not be fooled by their politicians as easily as before. I guess you are trying to persuade the young generation to negotiate, rather than to open fire. Am I right?

Not so much “negotiate” as “listen” to the enemy. We are taught to hate the enemy when we should be taught to “understand” the enemy. After all the enemy believes he is right. Even the Nazis believed they were right to persecute and torture certain groups of people. We have a choice – we can fight them and say, “Do NOT believe that or I will kill you!” or we can talk to them and say, “Why do you believe that? Will YOU (my enemy) listen to the people you are persecuting?” In Britain and America there are arguments for and against attacking Saddam Hussein. But no one is asking “Why do Saddam and his people behave the way they do?” I have heard Mr Bush and Mr Blair explaining why they want to destroy Saddam. I have not been allowed to hear why Mr Saddam’s people have to say in their defence.

· The most important question I have asked myself about Rowdy Revolutions is that how come you have never mentioned any slightest thing about the Islamic Revolution, anywhere in the book? Is it because our revolution has not been bloody and horrible enough? Is it “Salman Roshdi Style” jitters? Is it the decision of publisher and editor? Or is it anything else?

(a) Rowdy Revolutions stops at 1945 (b) It is a short book and there are a million other revolutions that have not been mentioned. It is not possible to include everything in a single book. I am sure the Islamic Revolution has had many bloody and horrible moments!

· You once mentioned that you are not satisfied with the current edition of Rowdy Revolutions. Why is that? (NOTE: You have answered me that. If you like, I can paste it as answer as it is.)

I wrote Rowdy Revolutions with a specific structure in mind. There is a chronology of revolutions from earliest history to the 20^th Century. From each of the revolutions “lessons” could be drawn. I drew these “lessons” together into chapter on “How to win a revolution”. These chapters alternated with the chronological ones. The publisher did not like that structure and reverted to a simple chronology. I find it boring and the result is not the book I wanted to write.

· Sometimes your narrating style of the events obviously becomes cinematic; for example, the story of German Amateur Spy, Herman Bushman in Frightful First World War. But, my favorite is the section of Dresden air raid. Propaganda always shouts about evil Nazis bombing London without mercy. But no one counts Allies evil, even though the casualties in Dresden were more than even Hiroshima. You tell the story and suddenly in the end… Boom! The bad guys are Allies and the victims are Germans! It seems like a screenplay structure. Does it have anything got to do with your experience in acting and dramatics?

All my writing is to do with my acting experience. I have worked in front of audiences and (unlike the writer of a book) the actor can “feel” the response of an audience. S/he can “feel” what is gripping them and what is sending them to sleep. The actor does not want his/her audience to fall asleep! So he uses all the dramatic devices of surprise, suspense and plot “twists” to sustain interest. As you say I carry that over into my writing.

· One of your repetitive themes in Horrible History is making jokes on history teacher – student relations, and reminding again how and why they refuse to answer some questions. You used to be a teacher. Do the history teachers in Britain generally prefer to stay in boundaries of the textbooks? How is the situation in British schools?

I was never a history teacher. I was a Drama teacher and my job was to get my students to explore human relationships through role-play and improvisations. I used historical incidents as the subject matter for the improvisations. I do not know how History teachers operate as I have never seen a history lesson since I left school. But I do know how teachers operate in most classes and I do not like it. It is simply not natural to put 30 young people into one room and teach them all the same thing at the same time when all they have in common is their age. Schools are finished as an educational medium and within 50 years there will be no schools.

· Scholastic Publication has published some other series similar to Horrible Histories, including Horrible Geography, Horrible Science, Knowledge, and Top Ten. Which one became first? Have you participated in forming their general template?

Horrible Histories came first in 1993 and this year is the 10^th anniversary. Everything else is an attempt to make money on the back of the Horrible Histories success. But the science and geography books of Scholastic (and the history books published by other publishers) do NOT sell as well as Horrible Histories. They (like you) seem to THINK there is a format and that is a huge mistake! There is NO “format” to my Horrible Histories books. I am a creative writer. I decide what I want to say and I say it in a variety of narrative styles. Other writers do not understand this. They compose a variety of narrative styles and then find something to put into them. This is stupidity. A true writer has something to say. HOW s/he says it is secondary. After ten years no one has realised that fact. Horrible Histories are selling as strongly as ever while the “copies” are disappearing,

· How come The Awesome Egyptians is the only title in the series that is written by you and a collaborator?

There was no collaborator on Awesome Egyptians. The other name on the cover is that of the researcher. It was a big mistake to credit the researcher as he then thought he had legal rights to the concept of Horrible Histories and that has caused me a lot of trouble!

· Is there anything special that you want tell us?

I am not interested in politics or history, in education or children’s books. I have only one ambition and that is to change the world. I want to create a revolution but not an American revolution or an Islamic Revolution; I want to create a revolution of the human heart. Books are only ONE way of doing this and books do not matter. People matter. Writers like me do not matter. Readers matter.

That’s all

Terry Deary

اين وب‌پيج آخرين بار در تاريخ 2008/03/12 روزآمد يا ويرايش شده است.