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Saturday, Nov 22, 2008
When a writing student accused England's poet laureate of sexual harassment, the tepid peccadilloes of a nation's literati were laid bare.
Aug 7, 2001 | Everyone knows that you should never sleep with your teacher. I had an aunt who also recommended that you should never sleep with a writer, or anyone who has been on the stage. And anyone in the writing business knows that a writer should never sleep with, nor fall in love with, another writer. A worst-case scenario, then, would be sleeping with your writing teacher. You would find yourself hellbent on a desperate struggle for control of the narrative. Imagine. Two competing storytellers trying to plot an epic Russian drama. (With two writers involved, it's not going to be a small affair, is it?)
Now, I'm not saying that Andrew Motion, England's poet laureate, slept with his creative writing pupil Laura Fish, or she with him. As a matter of fact, what actually happened between these two people is a subject about which a really titanic struggle for the narrative is going on. For one thing, there are more than just two combatants; while it's starting to look like Motion's recent indiscretions with his student at the University of East Anglia are a story after all about not very much, it's also clear that the British press have a competing interest and would like to shape a more salacious tale for their readers.
Traditionally, the post of England's laureate goes to the cuddly poets, the relentlessly establishment Oxford and Cambridge types who mind their pens and quips when the queen is around. The laureate before the present incumbent, Andrew Motion, was Ted Hughes, an appointment that surprised everyone because Hughes was a caveman, and some sort of shaman to boot. When Hughes died, it was back to the cuddly, the safe, the reliable; and the eminently polite chap got the job. But oh dear. A sex scandal. Well, nearly a sex scandal. All right, a scandal about sex but with no sex. Certainly no Blue Dress. Please.
Motion teaches creative writing at the University of East Anglia, on an M.A. course until recently considered to be the finest in the country. He stands accused of harassment by Fish. He in turn says that Fish has been slandering him to the press, and counterclaims harassment by her. The case bubbled as the university tried to establish who did what and to whom. Meanwhile, Motion continued to give his tutorials to Laura Fish, watched over by the dear old dean of the university. Well, God bless the dean. I'll bet you could strike a match on that atmosphere as the two politely disagree on the effectiveness or otherwise of a subordinate clause.
Neither Motion nor Fish denies that they exchanged some 40 intimate e-mails in the course of just a few weeks. Neither party denied that tutorials were concluded with a "kiss and a hug." Also not denied was that Motion, married with three children, visited the student at her apartment. It seems that this flirtation went on for some considerable time, and to the apparent satisfaction of both parties.
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