同别的关于人物传记的纪录片相比,正如其名字《英国小说家们的自述》(In their own words:British novelists),本片较少夹杂制片方和导演的主观猜测和臆想(当然也会有当代作家对其的评论),大多数情节和画面都是根据现存极为珍贵的关于小说家们影像、声音资料或者采访了目前仍在世的小说家而组合在一起的。真实性多了许多,可以让我们这些对英国文坛泰斗或者奇才、怪才充满好奇和疑问的普通人有一个大致的了解。本片根据年代划分,一共有三集,个人感觉第一集最棒,接着是第二集,可能是因为对某个特定代的作家更感兴趣吧。
刚开始看第一集《1919--1939:废墟之中》(Among the ruins)就有点小激动。开篇就是弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫(Virginia ·Woof)的视频画面,她说道:“Words, English words, are full of echoes, memories, associations, naturally they’ve been out and about on people’s lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries. And that is one of the chief difficulties in writing today, they’re stored …