Fiction for a cause

JE D'Este Clark
Opinion - Books Thursday, 16th November 2017

JE D'Este Clark believes Britain should return the Elgin Marbles. So she wrote a novel about it


Authors ranging from Harriet Beecher Stowe to Louise O'Neill have used fiction to tell the truth and expose causes that were close to their hearts.

Harriet Beecher Stowe used fiction in Uncle Tom's Cabin to uncover the cruelty of slavery in 19th-century America, giving fire to the abolitionist cause. In Asking For It, O'Neill used fiction to start a dialogue about rape culture, sexism and social media abuse.

I have chosen to tell the truth - clothed in fiction – because there seems no other option. In the early 19th century, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin, removed numerous beautiful marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Greece. These stolen artefacts are now housed in the British Museum, many miles from their rightful home.

The continuing debate concerning the fate of the Parthenon Marbles needs to be taken outside the realm of the academically invested, the political arena. Neither the academics nor the politicians are capable of reaching an agreement, and there is a stalemate. Litigation is not working either, and never will. Therefore, I believe we should let the people decide. It is time that people realised that the plunder of the Parthenon isn't just a topic for the history books, but a human story, and the terrible truth needs to be told.

By telling this human story I hope to inspire a populist movement. The marbles cannot speak for themselves. Plunder With Intent has romance, scandal, passion and drama, and aims to capture readers' imaginations, pull at their heartstrings and inspire an army of activists to bang on the door of the British Museum shouting, "Let the Marbles go free! They want to go home to Athens where they belong!"

This is more than just a rebranding of a 200-year-old struggle. This is about creating a consensus outside the world of the academically invested. If the roots of democracy lie in Ancient Greece, it's time to use democratic content as our catalyst for change.

In the West, we have championed the liberty of man through autonomous reasoning. But we need to use fiction to capture hearts. Through Plunder With Intent I can share my passion, anger, frustration and most importantly my belief that it is time to tell the truth about the Parthenon Marbles.

Plunder With Intent by JE D'Este Clark is out now from Ember Press.