Speaking from Memory: Thoughts and Recollections from a Life with Andrea Levy

Abstract:In this article, I look afresh at the novelist Andrea Levy's work from two points of view. First, the political message that is present in all her writing. By looking at the various adaptations of her novels for stage and screen I track the slippage that can occur between her political intent and her sometimes more simplified reception amongst white British audiences. Is her work polemical, conciliatory, or both? I also highlight the changes in attitude that have occurred amongst the professionals involved in the different adaptations of her novels and what this can tell us about shifts in wider British society around issues of race and Britain's colonial history. Second, I look at Andrea's literary style. By exploring the issues of child abandonment and adoption that occur in several of her works I try to clarify her motives and intentions around the use of these plot lines. I argue that there is no overt symbolism intended in those works or in any of her writing, but that these events grow out of her essentially realistic use of fiction to document events and attitudes that were commonplace in the times and places she was writing about. My approach in writing this article is unique in the sense that it is personal rather than academic. As Andrea's husband, I witnessed the creation of all her works. My approach is part memoir and part insight based on my close knowledge of Andrea. In my opinion, her background and ancestry are key to understanding her work and I explain something of what we know of them. My aim is to provide an informed contribution to the existing scholarship around her work.