Black Dog, my first novel, was inspired by the knowledge that many young people are so deep in despair that they consider suicide. I’ve been there myself, and in writing the novel I have drawn on my own experience of depression to try to give the reader a new perspective, and through that, hope.
As a friend of mine once put it, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I’ve been so low that the problems seem overwhelming—and suicide seems like an attractive answer. It’s not. It’s devastating for those left behind and it leaves many questions unanswered. To put it bluntly, suicide creates more problems than it solves.
Often, a sympathetic ear and an understanding heart are all that’s needed to reassure a depressed person that they are special and loved. It’s my hope that Black Dog might provide that ear and heart for someone who needs it.
I am Australian, and my writing includes words, expressions and terms that might not be familiar to readers from other countries. The glossary lists and explains these. There are links at the top and bottom of each chapter.
"The black dog" is the name Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s prime minister during World War II, gave to his depression. Although this is probably the best-known use of the term, the term itself didn’t originate with Churchill. In his essay ‘Black dog’ as a metaphor for depression: a brief history, Paul Foley[1] examines the origins of the expression, and concludes that it is unlikely that ‘black dog’ was a specific term for depression before being used as such by Churchill—it was more “a vague reference to anything which rendered someone less than congenial, whether ill temper, fear, guilt or … melancholy”.
I am an Australian dad of two sons and two daughters, and a foster son. I have five granddaughters and two grandsons. I live in a rural area of New South Wales; the kids have spread themselves around Victoria and Queensland.
I hate to see people hurting, particularly kids. One day I was reading a newspaper article about the problems that some young people—particularly gay and lesbian teenagers—face, and it got me thinking. The suicide statistics for young people are alarming, and gays and lesbians are over-represented in those figures. I had always loved writing; perhaps I could write a story that would encourage a person thinking about suicide to reconsider. Because I suffer from depression, and have many times felt like taking my life, I would be writing from experience. I gave it a go, and Black Dog is the result. If the story helps even one young person it will be worth the time and effort it took to write.
Alien Son is the title of an autobiographical work by Judah Waten, about a Russian Jewish boy growing up in Australia after his family migrated here in 1914.[2] He was an alien in a strange land. I suspect that some of my readers feel like that at times, as I do myself, so it seemed an appropriate pen name.
~ Alien Son
[1] Paul Foley’s essay can be downloaded here.
[2] Judah L Waten, 1952: Alien Son. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, NSW, 186pp.
Copyright © 2008-2009 Alien Son