New writing MAN & BOY Guest Editor HILARY MANTEL introduces her pick of poetry and prose written from the point of view of a man WHEN I was a small child I went armed. I was a Knight of the Round Table and an Indian brave. More pacifically, I was a railway guard, working the same shifts as my granddad. I was expecting to become a boy any day. I thought you could choose it; I was four when they broke it to me that what you're born is (usually) what you stay. But as soon as you learn to read, you can live at second-hand. As for those male indentities, still lurking around the street corners of my psyche: I decided to put them to work. For me, writing is a Job Creation Scheme for the unemployed aspects of myself. I don't think my case is unusual. Ivy Compton Burnett, who is my favourite novelist, pointed out that there is more difference within the sexes than between them. The essence of fiction is the escape from the prison of your own skin. For the complete essay, and for Hilary's full selection of poetry and prose written from the point of view of a man, read issue 3 • Subscribe! Read a poem chosen by Hilary Mantel: The butcher's boy falls in love by Carole Bromley For more on HILARY MANTEL, go to www.contemporarywriters.com
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