Visual Instincts

For someone who has lived with deafness all my life, I found myself in two frames of mind when I was writing The Idol-Maker: David Lodge – Deaf Sentence, [originally for All The Young Dudes]. I was, still am, in agreement with David Lodge’s descriptions of his deafness and the shenanigans resulting from misunderstandings, not hearing certain sounds, and communication breakdowns. However, upon reading The following pronouncement:

However, deafness restricts and thins out the supply of new ideas and experience on which the novelist depends to create his fictions. That former nun’s life story might have been priceless “material” and I regret its loss. I miss opportunities to eavesdrop on humanly revealing conversations on buses and in shops and to keep up with new idioms, coinages and catch-phrases that give flavour and authenticity to dialogue in a novel of contemporary life. Living under a deaf sentence

my eyes turned bloodshot, and I began to metamorphose into a raging fiend. All I needed was a full moon and the transformation would have been complete.

I have grown up with deafness, and I can refute this statement. As an artist, who has grown up with deafness, I can refute this statement. Indeed, there are many more Deaf artists, who can also refute this statement.

David Lodge is a well regarded writer, critic and Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Birmingham, England. My difficulty lies with the fact that the man is experienced, talented, well read and erudite, and for all his worldly knowledge and experience, his observations are very much informed by the Hearing view of deafness. The Medical Model. The Disability Model. An unyielding, hegemonic, view that emphasises the lack of, and does not see any other possibility of being, or any other experience that is the equal of Hearing.

David’s deafness is a personal experience [as it is for the rest of us] and his journey is a personal one [as it is for the rest of us]. Where some people seek counselling, and others remain stoic in the face of adversity, David has chosen to explore his experience via the medium of writing [literature].

This I can understand, because one of the reasons I blog/ write, is to explore ideas, situations, and scenarios, in a private space that is unseen by outsiders, lest what I have chosen to reveal. More than an act of expression, more than an act of creation, more than an act of communication, and more than an addition to the cultural oeuvre, writing [or indeed, the act of creation], allows us, the author [artist], to understand ourselves, our world and other people better. Even come to terms with things or events beyond our control. For some of us, it is simply therapy. Vent, vent, rage and vent!

The question then is, what is the source material for an artist’s work? The source and the inspiration are varied. For many, we, ourselves, are our source. We choose our own lives, background, interests, culture, et al, as our source material. And to this end, deafness, is ripe for artistic treatment. To this end, I’m not exactly a fan of “the becoming deaf rites of passage” story. They do serve their purpose, I don’t disagree. But as a Deaf person, I crave for more, which is why I am extremely ambivalent about purchasing a copy of Deaf Sentence, thought I may cave in at some point.

For David, the exploration of his deafness, in his new book, Deaf Sentence, would be a natural progression of his work as a writer. For fans of his books, and especially those who follow his work assiduously, the subject would be interesting, regardless of which model or view of deafness prevails. Or whether the subject has been done justice. The interest is in the artist’s next book, song, record, sculpture, painting, photograph, blog post, et al.

Unfortunately, David does the craft of writing, and the act of creation a great disservice when he opines that:

“……deafness restricts and thins out the supply of new ideas and experience on which the novelist depends to create his fictions.”

If anything, life would have taught him to every ying, there is a yang, and to every yang, there is a ying. The statement betrays an ignorance that is quite breathtaking, but not unusual for hearing people to make. To be fair, unless you have experienced deafness, indeed, Deafness, how can you know otherwise.

I was there too, once! I like where I am now, better!

While deafness, does cut us off from the hearing world, or more accurately, the aural world, it does not, as David seems to believe, restrict or thins out the supply of new ideas. Far from it. The source of material, and inspiration for works, are only as limited as the limits the artist themselves impose. Yes, an artist’s chosen material presents problems and issues they must grapple with, in order to create a work that can be enjoyed, but that is different to the idea that deafness restricts and thins out the supply of ideas.

What deafness does is, it proposes a re-orientation of the world as described by hearing people. It provides insights unseen by the hearing. It provides experiences hitherto accessible. It debunks the long held belief of calamity and sorrow that befalls those who lose their hearing. And it lays down a challenge to the hegemony of one sense [hearing] over the other four [sight, touch, smell, and taste]. Pertinent, deafness [indeed, becoming deaf] presents new knowledge. From this new knowledge, comes new ideas, and new material, and new works.

David becoming deaf, does not detract from his life as a hearing person. The knowledge and experience that he has accumulated over the course of his life, is not rendered meaningless by his deafness. As I have said in the previous paragraph, his deafness presents him with new knowledge and new experiences. Indeed, new challenges, both as an artist and as a person.

And that is the challenge for David the writer [artist], and the person. Once he has expressed the angst the sea change that deafness engenders, will he remain within the medical/ disability model? Will his explorations lead him down paths hitherto untravelled? Will he come to a better understanding of deafness? Will he come to view the hearing world differently? Will he come to see alternatives other than technology for deafness? Will he come to see deafness as a viable state of being? Or will he and his artistry, languish in the echoes of a time long gone?

Further Reading:

The Idol-Maker: David Lodge – Deaf Sentence
David Lodge: Deaf Sentence