Talking Movies: Remembering Barry – Final Episode
Welcome to Talking Movies, I’m Spling. This week we embark on the final episode of Remembering Barry, with an exciting announcement.
So, Albertus, it is just wonderful to see you as always, and our friendship endures. We are speaking about Remembering Barry, and the series now has a bonus episode, because we are here to speak about the culmination of Remembering Barry, and the series was geared around finding a place for his 1,700 film book collection. Now we are ensuring that it’s going to be looked after in such a beautiful and respectful way. We found a place, and I’m going to let you be the one to announce the place. What’s quite funny is we are now speaking from the Copper Kettle, which is in Raithby, not far from Somerset West, and you mentioned that it’s on the R44, which is interesting.
It is interesting, and we have come full circle, in my mystical way. Where you saw Barry and we didn’t interact was at the R44, at the strawberry farm, and now we’ve lived a life. We are remembering Barry, and we spoke about the books, and the books are going to Grahamstown, the culture hub for English and literature, and that will be a wonderful place for Barry. So here we are now, concluding it all, and making an announcement that the books have a home, not far from where we met initially.
And that place, if you don’t mind me saying, is the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, which we were recommended or referred to by two separate people, and when we contacted them, they took a little while to come back to us… it was with amazing news, which is that they’ve got space for the collection, and this previously known as the National English Literary Museum is a museum that houses archival material relating to South Africa’s literary heritage. And it’s in Makhanda, which was formerly Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, so it’s a very central place as well. I think it’s so special.
It is so special, and Barry would be smiling because it’s culture, it’s English, it’s the arts in Grahamstown.
So it is a place of mystery, it’s a place of learning, an education hub for South Africa, and where the National Arts Festival happens.
And that is such a beautiful center for Barry as remembrance, also because of the English and culture, and many journalists come from that area, having trained at the university.
Yes, so it’s the perfect place for Barry, and he did go to the festival a couple of times. In fact, that’s where my parents met him. But we are talking about the Amazwi National Literary Museum. I had the pleasure of going through to do a little investigation of it, and it is a wonderful space. It’s got a modern feel, it’s got all sorts of wonderful literary artifacts that are stored. It’s like walking down the halls of the X-Files, because you’ve got these massive repositories where they have books and manuscripts, all sorts of things that are related to literary figures.
Herman Charles Bosman’s typewriter is there, which he said had a natural aura to it, and helped him write his books. J.M. Coetzee’s air rifle, someone’s flippers, someone else’s used art paints. It’s just a magical space, and I just find it very refreshing. Such a wonderful place to be celebrated as someone that contributed so widely and prolifically to the South African media landscape. So I think it’s the perfect place for Barry’s book collection.
Absolutely, and I’m so grateful that they’re accepting Barry’s books. It might be more than what we anticipate, but they’re ready for Barry’s books, and that’s a great honour. Thank you.
That town itself is just such a strange place. I think it’s got about 50 churches within this five-kilometer radius, and I’ve got so many fun memories of growing up there and going to school there. So for me, it’s also a special place. That’s why I know that it is a great place for Barry’s books and for people that are wanting to go and have a look at them.
We are also planning on doing a documentary, which involves actually getting the last few books to the museum. So there’s a lot of exciting news on the go, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story plays out. This radio documentary is just the beginning.
That’s it.
If you are in Makhanda and you are at the National Arts Festival, then I would recommend that you actually go and pay a visit to this space… and the next time that you go there, you will be able to request one of Barry’s many books. And I know that they are working on their interface to make it much more user-friendly. What a wonderful treat to be able to go in there and read a book that Barry paged through and immerse yourself in the wonder and magic that is film and cinema.
Absolutely. So I don’t think it will be this current season. It will most probably be ready for next year.
And hopefully, as part of the documentary, we’ll have a couple of books that will be even more focused, and you can be a part of that story. So I think it’s a wonderful celebration and way to cherish Barry and all that he meant to everyone. It’s an emotional thing, but I think treasuring it in this physical way and preserving that legacy as well…
Absolutely. And I’ll even be taking books from the Cape Town house where I am now. I’ve been here for three months since we did that recording in Gauteng before I closed the house to say, “goodbye house, I’m now in my new life”.
