A Necessary Distance: Confessions of a Scriptwriter's Daughter

by Julie Salverson

312 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2024

Reviews

[Doc Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Necessary Distance is an attempt at a description of the delicate balance between proximity and detachment in the pursuit of truthful storytelling. As in her first wonderful biographical tale "Lines of Flight" Ms. Salverson blends historical events with the personal history of her friends and family over her lifetime. Using her father's notes and journals Salverson attempts to tell a story that not only encompasses a significant time in the newly discovered realms of east-west press relations, but attempts to find the "truthiness" in her father's accounts. She takes on the almost impossible task of looking past her feelings about father and family to judge which part of the journals represent fact, and which part reflect the lens of the western gaze of privilege. During this journey we not only meet George Salverson, award winning radio and documentary writer, but we are immersed in his world: We see the day to day life of being (in his words) a "CBC hack" and how important is work and the work of others like him became to the country. We meet some of the cream of the world of early Canadian talent: Sandra Scott, Peter Ustinofff, Alfred Scopp, John Drainie, Robert Christie, Brian Dunlevey, Lorned Greene and the remarkable producer/director Andrew Allen. Indeed, nothing says Canada like the TV cut away to "The Secret Hunger" as a voice over thanking "Don Messer's Jubilee for surrendering its' time slot".
The anecdotes about George's (and the CBC) early struggles are worth the price of the book alone. But more importantly, Ms. Salverson reflects not only on her father's influence, but on his struggles, his experiences, marked by war, generational and family trauma, fluctuating poverty and a drive to confront the problems of the world through words. Salverson's attempt to understand her father's pain and creative process lead her to ask the difficult questions memory, responsibility and the act of story telling herself. It is a process where writers (and other artists) bear witness to trauma and suffering, attempting to keep that : "necessary distance" so as not to be consumed by it. The book is also a roller-coaster as George and company rocket through a country odyssey trying to create this documentary for the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization to gather material for the documentary. Impressions are recorded from the "newness" of the papaya fruit to the boredom of dealing with foreign bureaucracies. There is again the abundant richness of anecdotal history mixed with Julie's family stories that shift about in time. There is the tension between communism and capitalism that defined Indonesia. The poverty and growing pains of India, Pakistan and Kashmir. Trips into Africa and the emerging state of Kenya. The comedic horror of a Wildebeest hunt. Then on to Brazil, Peru, Bolivia: Altitude sickness and food poisoning! Julie's accompanying stories become further and further ranging-they cover a remarkable number of years, generations and occasions. Yet they are woven together with the deft skill of a magician, always interesting, always poignantly relevant. Ms. Salverson acknowledges her dilemma: a willingness to confront the possibility that her beloved father may, in these note books, not live up to the ideals she herself has embraced as a social activist.
She hesitates, waffles; acknowledging the potential trauma of the process upon which she has embarked. A Fellow writer helps to to the state of mind articulated by author Ruth Behar: "The Vulnerable Observer". In this state, Julie is able to complete the journey with her father. It is a measure of her skill as a story teller that we, the reader, feel the same relief that she expresses: Her pride in his elegant storytelling, the way he makes his characters recognizable and sympathetic. And although the resulting film does fall short in challenging the then current clichés about poverty the writing itself shows real characters, "People who work with their hands to feed their families" people (like us!) " who are ordinary in their anxieties"
Ms. Salverson concludes her book with some final stories of George and many of his contemporaries in their final years. But most wisely, she leaves the final word to George himself; closing, without comment George's last unpublished autobiographical play " The Lost Kiss". Simple words of elegance as beautiful and timely as they were when first put to paper over two decades ago.

[Lucy Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie Salverson’s fascinating memoir, A Necessary Distance: Confessions of a Scriptwriter’s Daughter documents her study of travel kept by her father when he was compiling research for a film about world hunger in 1963. George Salverson wrote scripts for radio and television, and documentary films for the CBC, as well as being its first television drama editor. In turn, his mother Laura Salverson won the Governor General’s Award twice for her work writing about women, poverty and the immigrant experience. From these sources, Julie Salverson has inherited a rich legacy of story-telling, and in this memoir, she interrogates the historical, political and cultural moment that her father documented, as he struggled to reconcile his values and understanding of the world with the people and experiences he encountered. As Salverson probes his notes, she endeavours to filter out his privilege in an attempt to reach a deep understanding of who he really was and how he chose to move forward. Salverson manages to balance her own experience of family history with her father’s accounts in a way that celebrates his contributions while acknowledging the importance of thinking critically about the issues that define and challenge us. Highly recommended.