The Enemy of Promise
25 January 2010
Poor old Cyril Connolly is not much read these days - in fact, he is probably best known for one piercing comment on literary life that he didn't actually say. Usually, the line is quoted as 'the pram in the hall is the enemy of promise', though Cyril went for the rather wordier 'There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall'. He was talking about the travesty of writers aiming for commercial success rather than striving for artistic originality. I have a different take on it. My hall has a pram; my son is four-and-a-half months old. Having spent years fitting in writing around work, I now have a more than full-time occupation - weekends, evenings, mornings, nights... and I fit in writing around that. It's not easy, but then neither writing nor motherhood is. One of these days, I will manage to write a thousand words without being interrupted. One of these days I might even spend a whole morning writing, never mind a day.
In the meantime, I'll just have to imagine it.