42. Nourishment
They lard their lean books with the fat of others' works … We can say nothing but what hath been said ... Our poets steal from Homer … our story dressers do as much, he that comes last is commonly best.
So says Robert Burton, author of the remarkable Anatomy of Melancholy.
When Greg and I started the Labyrinth website, we invited
visitors to send in the names of books that they thought had a connection
with my research. Many were submitted, but I started
the ball rolling with some of my own.
Every one of these titles had taken root in my imagination – although they weren't necessarily the best, most entertaining or most authoritative examples of their genres.
Among these books was a fascinating history work that detailed the treatment
of witches throughout European history. Although many women heretics
were condemned as witches, none of that found a
place in Labyrinth.
I read several fantastically exhaustive historical works on the progress of the military campaign against the Albigensians. I hope that I digested all of that and reproduced one or two details accurately – but I went no further along that road.
I thought both the Templar and
the Scottish connections would blossom, but they didn't.
Do we - should we – 'lard our lean works' with stuff we steal or borrow from others? Or are we obliged to find new ways to say 'what hath been said'? Is it just an appearance of modernity that means that 'he that comes last is commonly best'?
I have a different point of view to offer.
I believe that, for creative writers, our reading – and our enjoyment
of art, film, music or the web – is nourishment.
We need to feed our imaginations.
That – of course – was why we created www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk in the first place.
