Rose Tremain, the bestselling novelist, has reflected on aging and creativity as her latest book, The Housekeeper, is published. At 83, she says she has no plans to stop writing, despite acknowledging that many of her contemporaries from the literary world have died or are facing serious illness.
A Generation of Writers Facing Mortality
Tremain notes that her generation of novelists is dying. Of Granta's 1983 list of 20 Best of Young British Novelists, six are gone, including Martin Amis. She mentions that Salman Rushdie was wounded by an attacker's knife, and Julian Barnes lives with blood cancer. She wonders if readers still love them, or if younger generations have heard enough from those who were young when Sean Connery had dimples and David Hockney first colored his hair yellow.
Despite these concerns, Tremain believes that serious writers do not think obsessively about readers, sales, royalties, or prizes. Instead, they focus on the work itself. She recalls a terrifying procedure for pancreatic cancer in 2019, when she spent sleepless nights mourning not only loved ones and places but also the end of storytelling. Ideas for stories have populated her life since age 12, when she wrote her first play at boarding school.
Inspiration from Hockney and Late-Life Creativity
Tremain draws inspiration from artist David Hockney, who remained committed to his art until the end of his 88 years. Hockney's philosophy, "I wake up. And I go to work," enabled him to rival Picasso in output. Tremain agrees with this approach, arguing that while some artists and writers may decline with age, it is not inevitable.
She explains that ideas for novels and stories still arrive in her head constantly, like supplicants at the gate, begging to be let in. She does not believe the work done in the last third of her life is inferior to earlier work. Critical reaction to her later novels, including The Gustav Sonata (2016), Islands of Mercy (2020), Lily (2021), and Absolutely and Forever (2023), was very positive, and these books were written on a creative high she never experienced in her early writing days.
Early Career and Breakthrough
Tremain recalls that some writers on the Granta 1983 list, like Amis, McEwan, and Rushdie, seemed to arrive as fully formed geniuses. She, however, had published only two books and felt uncertain about her understanding of the novel form. She retreated to play writing for BBC radio drama and won an award for Temporary Shelter in 1984, starring Roy Kinnear.
In 1988, she had the idea for her breakthrough novel, Restoration, drawing on themes from Temporary Shelter. She inclined toward the epic rather than the miniature, and believed historical research must be thorough but then almost abandoned to let imagination work. Humor had to be part of the storytelling mix, and one must love a work passionately to live with it for months.
New Project and Continuing Passion
Tremain's latest project, The Housekeeper, is a reimagining of the inspiration behind Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. It began as a short story in 2014 and is now both a novel and a screenplay for a film directed by Richard Eyre, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter. Tremain says the script work enthralls her and takes her back to standing in the wings of the school stage, hearing her own words spoken aloud for the first time.
The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain is published by Chatto & Windus.
