DEBORAH BROOKS LANGFORD

SONGSOPTOK: Do you think literature is really essential in our life? If so why? In your opinion, what is the true relationship between life and literature? What is your own experience? And how does this relationship relate to the general history of mankind?

DEBORAH: Literature has always been essential in our life, in case we forget what It really means to us, of written works, especially those considered of superior r lasting artistic merit. A great work of literature is the truest form of life. Books and writings published has kept us up to date of years past. If we did not have published writings to tell us about our general history, mankind wouldn’t know how to exist.

SONGSOPTOK: We would like to know the beginning of the story, i.e. how your upbringing contributed to your own writing. Who were your favorite literary figures during the early period of your life? How they have paved your early routes in literature?

DEBORAH: When I was in fourth grade I had a wonderful teacher she handed me a book to read. As I opened the book called Jane Eyre, I fell in love, a spell came on me and I started reading and I couldn’t quit. I was on one adventure after another. And then I knew I wanted to write adventures.  After I started being published I realized so many children didn’t understand about the adventures that books could bring and they had no idea about the wonderful classic authors and poets in our past. My favorite Authors Jane Austin and her sisters. I have worshiped them. They are the ones that have lead the way of the way I think and write especially my poetry, I am called the Queen of romantic poetry. Ha ha.. I don’t agree I know there are so many that write so romantic that I adore..

SONGSOPTOK:  Do you think that literature also bridges the human world with the Mother Nature? As well as with the present time of our surroundings?

DEBORAH: Oh yes, literature is such a brilliance of human nature, there are so many poems and writing about the presence of our world, it brings it front fold so others can understand and know what Mother Nature can enforced.

SONGSOPTOK: What are the main events that you think are the major issues that have influenced present day literature?

DEBORAH: The main events have to be the classics, William Shakespeare is a major one. Born in 1564 he was widely regarded as the greatest writer of all time. With his play and writing and poetry,  he built a  bridge between the world and the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been repeatedly adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His remain highly popular, and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

SONGSOPTOK:  Do you think in this age of information and technology the dimensions of literature has largely been extended beyond our preconceived ideas about literature in general? Now in this changing scenario we would like to know from your own life experiences as a poet, writer and a creative soul; how do you respond to this present time

DEBORAH: I think about the classics writing with pen in hand sitting looking out a window, writing about experiences or life in general. With their fantasies running wild. What a time it must have been., But now days we have a computer, our laptops and I Pads we write on as we sit in our chair and look into our windows on the computer..ha ha.. yess we still have those windows. But when I was young we didn’t have computers and I would hold my pen in hand and write my heart. The hurt and the happiness. It never stopped. It’s easier now days, to write but you still have to have a heart and a muse to write..

SONGSOPTOK: Now if we try to understand tradition and modernism in literature, do you think poetry can play a pivotal role relating the two? If so, how? What are your opinions about the role of the poet in bridging the gap, if any, between tradition and modernism?

DEBORAH: To understand the Modernist Period in English Literature occupied the years from shortly after the beginning of the twentieth century through roughly 1965. In broad terms, the period was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. Experimentation and individualism became virtues, where in the past they were often heartily discouraged. Modernism was set in motion, in one sense, through a series of cultural shocks. The first of these great shocks was the Great War, which ravaged Europe from 1914 through 1918, known now as World War One. At the time, this “War to End All Wars” was looked upon with such ghastly horror that many people simply could not imagine what the world seemed to be plunging towards. The first hints of that particular way of thinking called Modernism stretch back into the nineteenth century. As literary periods go, Modernism displays a relatively strong sense of cohesion and similarity across genres and locales. As poets and writers we can write about this, and the bridge has been built and so we move on and learn from it and write.

                                    

SONGSOPTOK: Do you think that society is the key factor in shaping you up as a writer. What about your own country? What is the influence of your country & your culture in your writing? Do you believe that all writers are by and large the product of their nationality?  Is it an incentive or an obstacle for becoming a truly international writer?

DEBORAH: Well yes, I am a southern girl from the south USA. It has influenced everything I do, although I have traveled and lived all over the world. That helped me write about other countries and adventures I might have had. But as writers we have imaginations and reading everything we can get our hands on no telling what our imaginations can write…

SONGSOPTOK:  Do you believe creative souls flourish more in turmoil than in peace? Why? Are you a protagonist of "art for art's sake"? Can you please present us with your point of view?

DEBORAH: Yes I do think that creative souls flourish more in turmoil, I know the things that happened to me in my past that was very hurtful, that was my best writings.  I am a protagonist of Art, I can write poetry looking at a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination. It really influences me to this day.. The various visual arts exist within a continuum that ranges from purely aesthetic purposes at one end to purely utilitarian purposes at the other. Such a polarity of purpose is reflected in the commonly used terms artist and artisan,

SONGSOPTOK:  Do you think people in general actually bother about literature in general?  Do you think this consumerist world is turning the average man away from serious literature? And do you think poetry or literature can solve any problems in our everyday life? Why should we adhere to it?

DEBORAH: Literature as in books that turn into movies have led the way of change in the world. True stories in the protection or promotion of the interests in this consumers world has yes turned people away.. Us writers are trying to reach out to the world. I have noticed this in the schools the children would rather play a video game then read.  I believe if the schools would push the literature world it could make a come back.

SONGSOPTOK:  Are you a feminist? Can literature play any decisive role in feminism at all? What role can literature play to make our lives better on a day to day basis?

DEBORAH: Well I am woman..ha ha.. I support a lot that feminist attributes to. in simple terms, feminist theory is a theory on women’s rights and gender equality. It involves the study of women’s roles in society, which include their rights, privileges, interests, and concerns. It serves as an extension to feminism which evaluates the rightful place of women in the society. So yes I am a feminist. Of course Literature can play a role being a feminist I have wrote quite a bit about this and at first surprised by so many men, people was on the same wave link.

SONGSOPTOK: Now if we want to look ahead, do you think that there is an oncoming crisis for literature in general? Will it bring new dimensions in our life ahead? Or do you think that the future of literature is not as bright as it should be?

DEBORAH: Talking to other poets this same subject has come up, and yes there is a fear of this happening.  I once was told to prepare for the worst and hope fir the best, in literature. It’s a shame because the world needs literature books, poetry. It will be a very dull world in my opinion. Books will probably be gone in a decade, though if we ask politely we may be permitted to keep the ones we already own; après nous le deluge. A brave new genre of e-lit with symphonic multimedia stimuli — new and improved, not just words! — will set our tablets buzzing. But this makes me very unhappy, and I hope the world will feel the same way.

POETESS DEBORAH BROOKS LANGFORD, has 43 books to her credit. They range from poetry, novels, cookbooks and children’s books.. You can find her on Lulu.com and amazon and Kindle fire. She is a grandmother and very blessed.

We sincerely thank you for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.

Aparajita Sen

(EDITOR)

 Songsoptok