The Same Language: A Memoir by Ben Duncan
John Howard, University of London
Overview:
On November 2, 2005, John Howard spoke at Outwrite
Books in Atlanta about the new edition of The Same Language,
a memoir written by Alabama native Ben Duncan. First published in England
in 1962, The Same Language chronicled Duncan's life from his
birth in Birmingham through his experiences as an orphan in Depression-era
foster homes, his military service, his education at Oxford University,
and his career as a writer and commentator in England. As a gay man living
in Great Britain at a time when homosexuality was aggressively prosecuted
in the courts, Duncan was unable to tell his whole story when his memoir
first appeared. Prof. Howard, who edited the new edition (University of
Alabama Press, 2005), and wrote the Afterword, talks of working with Duncan
on this project and reads excerpts from the memoir. Shifting from past
to present and using italicized passages to indicate new additions, The
Same Language now includes Duncan's account of his evolving sexuality,
the many masks he was forced to contrive for survival and acceptance,
and a vivid rendering of the underground world of gay life in 1950s and
1960s Britain.
Video:
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Part 1 (6:14 min.)
John Howard reads from his Afterword to Ben Duncan's
The Same Language, discussing how the book is not just
a revised edition but an "accessible postmodern experiment in memory"
and in the memoir or "life-writing" form. Duncan's themes include
the complexities of the idea of "home," his restlessness and geographical
migrations, his search for friendship and love, and his encounters
with England's Home Office. |
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Part 2 (4:40 min.)
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"Who on earth is that young man, and what
is he doing here?" Howard reads the short opening chapter from the
original edition of The Same Language. |
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Part 3 (8:35 min.)
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An example of the material Duncan was unable to publish in
the early 1960s is his account of meeting Dick Chapman. "The
single moment in your life which most changes all that follows
should be easy to record. But . . ."
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Excerpts from the Question and Answer Session:
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Part 1 (2:45 min.)
"So I plunged back into the Deep South where I
was born in 1927." Prof. Howard discusses Ben Duncan's Alabama boyhood.
Both parents died when Duncan was young, but he writes of the camaraderie
he found in foster homes.
Part 2 (1:45 min.)
"What an unburdening and a joy it was to feel
free, at last, to tell the truth." John Howard discusses the catalyst
for Duncan's revisiting and revising The Same Language.
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About the Presenter:
A native of Mississippi, John Howard is an alumnus of
the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where he received an MA in American
Studies. He completed his PhD at the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts
at Emory University. Prof. Howard currently teaches in the Department
of American Studies at King's College, University of London. He is the
author of Men
Like That: A Southern Queer History
(University of Chicago Press, 1999) and editor of Carryin'
On in the Lesbian and Gay South (New York University Press, 1997).
About Ben Duncan:
A native of Alabama, Ben Duncan is a writer and broadcaster based in England. He is the author of the novel Little Friends and numerous articles in The Guardian, New Society, Punch, The Spectator, and The Times Literary Supplement.
About Ben Duncan:
A native of Alabama, Ben Duncan is a writer and broadcaster based in England. He is the author of the novel Little Friends and numerous articles in The Guardian, New Society, Punch, The Spectator, and The Times Literary Supplement.
