Q&A with Paul Ibell
Q: You’ve written poems about the room in which Oscar Wilde died, about the Duchess of Windsor choosing a Louis Vuitton bag as her coffin, about Napoleon retreating from Moscow. "Doom and glory march together” as Napoleon says. Is “Taking Tennessee to the Coast” a variation on this? If so, how so?
Paul Ibell: There certainly is a fascination with the downward trajectory of many glittering figures: a real-life tragedy in each case. Oscar Wilde’s life of laughter, applause and high society ended, in poverty, in a cheap hotel room. Napoleon ruled Europe only to die in a cramped house on a forsaken little island in the middle of the Atlantic, bullied by the British general who was his gaoler. The Duchess of Windsor thought she had won a King only for him to throw his crown away, condemning her to life of (admittedly luxurious) exile and stultifying boredom…
What inspired my writing “Taking Tennessee To The Coast” was my sense of indignation, on his behalf, that his wishes for a burial at sea were not only disregarded, but that his funeral was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Not a life thwarted, in his case, but a dying wish contemptuously dismissed: a beautiful end to existence replaced by a willfully inappropriate one that contrasted with everything the writer stood for in his life and work.
Playwrights, poets and novelists can create their own reality through their art, so I wanted, via the poem, to give him the final resting place he desired, even if only on paper and, at this year’s festival, on stage.
Q: Which came first? Your biography of Williams or the poem?
Paul Ibell: My biography came first. It was commissioned by Reaktion books as they knew of my love of theatre. There have been many other books on Tennessee Williams, so I wanted, in the course of the relatively short book, to look at his skill as a poet as well as his stage plays. My own poem came later.
Q: What was your first encounter with Williams’ writing?
Paul Ibell: My first encounter with Williams’ writing was through the film of A Streetcar Named Desire. Most people are immediately taken with Brando, but I was mesmerized by Vivien Leigh. It was such a powerful story, the language so elegant and poetic, despite the strength of the central tragedy - Blanche’s descent into madness, all youth and hope now lost.
Since then, I have seen many of his plays in London, including Streetcar. However, I think an equal masterpiece is his novel, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. I write a lot about it in the biography. It has been filmed twice (starring Vivien Leigh and later Helen Mirren) and deserves to be far better known.
Q: What is it about “famous” “historical” people that invites/prods you to write a poem about them?
Paul Ibell: Historical figures are almost by definition interesting - that’s why they’ve gone down in history! So if there is something about the events they found themselves in, or when their character lends itself to a fictional situation, then you have a ready-made short cut to the reader’s imagination. Just the words ‘Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow‘ immediately conjures up an image, a scenario, in the reader’s mind and you can start from there…
