Waterland begins with the body of teenage boy found floating in a Fenland weir, and spans multiple generations of family history interwoven with the (occasionally fantastical) life story of the narrator.
The novel is set against a backdrop of budget cuts leading to the closure of the protagonist’s history department, making him reflect on his personal history and the importance of history in the broadest sense.
The narrator tells his forward-looking students that history is relevant because: “We are one-tenth living tissue, nine-tenths water; life is one-tenth Here and Now, nine-tenths a history lesson. For most of the time the Here and Now is neither now nor here.”
Waterland was published in 1983 during the last recession. Many of the questions Swift posed in this novel are relevant today, particularly for those of us who deal in the past and are facing cuts to our services.
For me, the novel’s most absorbing aspect is its exploration of the relationship between storytelling and the past. The telling of personal histories is an aspect I find endlessly fascinating in working with social history collections.
I value the conversations held with donors of objects about the significance of each collection to their families, teasing out strands of personal meaning.
Even when objects are turned down for not meeting collecting requirements, this sharing of stories represents an important aspect of the work of museums. It is one of the many reasons that I find my role as a curator so rewarding.
Catriona Smellie is the collections Officer at Guildford Borough Council
The novel is set against a backdrop of budget cuts leading to the closure of the protagonist’s history department, making him reflect on his personal history and the importance of history in the broadest sense.
The narrator tells his forward-looking students that history is relevant because: “We are one-tenth living tissue, nine-tenths water; life is one-tenth Here and Now, nine-tenths a history lesson. For most of the time the Here and Now is neither now nor here.”
Waterland was published in 1983 during the last recession. Many of the questions Swift posed in this novel are relevant today, particularly for those of us who deal in the past and are facing cuts to our services.
For me, the novel’s most absorbing aspect is its exploration of the relationship between storytelling and the past. The telling of personal histories is an aspect I find endlessly fascinating in working with social history collections.
I value the conversations held with donors of objects about the significance of each collection to their families, teasing out strands of personal meaning.
Even when objects are turned down for not meeting collecting requirements, this sharing of stories represents an important aspect of the work of museums. It is one of the many reasons that I find my role as a curator so rewarding.
Catriona Smellie is the collections Officer at Guildford Borough Council
