Curriculum Vitae by Muriel Spark

Author:Muriel Spark [Muriel Spark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784100919
Publisher: Carcanet
Published: 2014-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOUR

It was in Africa that I learned to cope with life. It was there that I learned to keep in mind – in the front of my mind – the essentials of our human destiny, our responsibilities, and to put in a peripheral place the personal sorrows, frights and horrors that came my way. I knew my troubles to be temporary if I decided so. There was an element of primitive truth and wisdom, in that existence in a great tropical zone of the earth, that gave me strength.

The boat trip from Southampton to Cape Town took fourteen vividly memorable days. I was a third-class passenger, as were most of the young people on the boat. The older ones were part of family groups. There were students or brides-to-be like myself. There were a few valets or lady’s maids (whose employers were up in first class). It was an all-white cast of characters.

The younger set had intense fun for two days and nights, dancing to the band and eating quantities of elaborate food at the long tables in the dining-room. I was already dodging the amorous engineer. Then we entered the dreaded Bay of Biscay. In those days few ships had stabilizers to balance them in rough seas; we had none. I knew that the Bay was a terror to cross, and it lived up to its reputation. I rocked and rolled in my bunk, hardly caring whether I lived or died. I staggered up on deck out of curiosity and desire for air. The decks were deserted except for a few sailor hands, who, themselves, looked pretty green in the face. The golden boys and girls of the first nights out were nowhere to be seen. Where had all the flowers gone? I arrived at a bathroom and fetched up everything I had eaten for the whole of my life. In the cabin, my two room-mates were lying feebly supine, having taken some seasickness remedy prescribed by the ship’s doctor. The bottle was on the chest of drawers and, urged by my two suffering, weak companions, I poured out a substantial swig of the near-lethal draught. I suppose I swallowed it, for I woke up thickly a day later, when we were clear of the Bay of Biscay and life on the Windor Castle had begun to resume its cheerful noise.

Most of the memorable experiences of my life I have celebrated, or used for a background in a short story or novel. It strikes me only now to wonder why I have never written about life on board a passenger ship. Perhaps one day I will do so, it’s a good idea. I can think of no better setting for a story or a novel than that fourteen-day trip between Southampton and Cape Town, with our mixed and bohemian crowd. Numerous privileged young first-and second-class passengers used to slink down daily to join us in third where the action was.

I remembered, years later, that doctor’s overloaded brew during a crossing of the Atlantic in the early ’sixties on the Queen Mary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.