The Art of Not Falling Apart: New Statesman Books of the Year 2018

by Christina Patterson

Every day, even on a bad day, there are small pleasures scattered throughout the day, small pleasures that you could, if you wanted, make yourself notice and count up.

I’ve interviewed some of the world’s leading poets and very few of them talk about being poets. They talk about writing poems. Art is about making something, not being something.

But I’m with Antonio Gramsci, from beautiful Sardinia, in his belief in ‘pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will’. Pessimism of the intellect means that you see the world as it is, not as it would be if you were king of it. You understand that the laws of gravity, economics and cancer reproduction are not subject to your whims. Optimism of the will means that you have the courage to do difficult things, because you can probably do more than you think. It means that when your world has fallen apart you get out of bed anyway.

I believe in laughter. I believe in friends. I believe in wine. I believe in crisps. I believe in coffee. I believe in beauty. I believe in art. I believe in grace. I believe in kindness. I believe in wit. I believe in doubt. I believe in cake. I believe in moving your body, since it’s the only one you get. I believe in hard work. I believe in lie-ins. I believe in candles, and canapés, and champagne. I believe that the world works an awful lot better if people are nice. I believe there are usually some reasons to be cheerful, but sometimes it would be weird not to feel sad. I believe in learning. I believe in curiosity. Oh my God, I believe in curiosity. I believe it’s the best way to remind ourselves that we’re tiny specks in a big world. And I believe in anger. Yes, I do believe in anger, but the kind of anger that gives you the energy to fight back.