There are those who open the Atlas and touch a place to dream with their index finger. Gavin Francis, a Scottish doctor and writer, started doing it as a child and has never stopped. He has traveled extensively, pursuing a passion for the islands. A passion, or perhaps an obsession, which has now become a book, “Isole. Cartography of a dream “(Edt), where traveling through the meridians and parallels of ancient maps, literature (” Books are portable islands “), psychology and philosophy tries to give an answer to why islands continue to fascinate us and where it goes as far as the boundaries between isolation and “isolation”.
«The concept comes from a psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicot, who believed that it was very useful for the psyche to experience periods of emptiness and silence, of isolation in short. Useful to get away from parents, to develop oneself, to prepare to return to the crowded life … And the islands offer to those who do not belong perhaps that type of healing that Winnicot thought of. They offer the reduction of opportunities, the time for an inner journey ».
A bit of isolation, then, is good. What about isolation instead?
“It happens when you are completely separated from other people, when there are no connecting lines, no ways of communicating. There is also a further reading, which is that of the true face and the mask we wear: isolation preserves the truth, isolation is bewilderment, when we no longer know which is the true and the false face. We always have to find a balance between the connection and a little bit of isolation ».
It’s hard to be isolated in the age of hyper-connectedness.
“But smartphones, PCs, can also be turned off”.
Or, you can take refuge on an island.
“Well, that’s the dream. Is it possible that we continue to talk about Robinson Crusoe, a novel that is 300 years old? We still read it because it talks about an aspect of the human mind. Of a dream that fascinates us and that is always alive. The films confirm this, even reality shows. We want to know what it might be like to live without the connections that bother us every day. We all need an opportunity to separate ».
With the pandemic, we have been forced to do so. Was the lockdown isolation or isolation?
“For many people it was isolation. I see it in my patients: they are depressed, anxious. Especially the young. They weren’t in much danger from the virus, but their lives changed completely. In my opinion, as a society, we should now compensate for what they paid, also to protect us older adults ».
In “Isole” he says that he had a passion for travel since he was a child. Why then study medicine?
“I come from a family where it was important to have a secure job. Then I wanted to understand how the human body works. I said to myself: I can study Geography or Medicine and then travel. The first ten years I traveled a lot, also to do internships, from Latin America to the Indian Ocean, from the Arctic to Antarctica, I was for 14 months in a British science base. I was leaving, to then return ».
Why come back?
“Because I like the city life, the university, the cinemas, the theaters of Edinburgh, where I live. But I have also always had the need to leave for isolated, silent, empty, distant places. I tried to find a balance between the two worlds ».
Is it possible to be a doctor and then leave every now and then?
“It’s possible. On the other hand, it becomes more difficult with children. I have three children between 10 and 12 years old. Before having them, I spent months traveling, even with my wife. I am more settled now and take shorter trips. For example, I go to Orkney three times a year to be a doctor on a very small island for a week. In the city, on the other hand, I work three days a week as a general practitioner and the rest I stay with my children. And I write when they are at school ».
The choice to work less is also a reduction …
«I see 25-30 patients a day, it’s an interesting, satisfying job, but in the evening I’m exhausted. That’s why I work as a doctor three days a week: I’m also better because I work less ».
Not everyone can afford it, though.
«Working half the week, I also earn half. They are the decisions of life, balance is a continuous choice: you have to understand what kind of holidays, house, car you want. However, I also see many patients who fall ill due to work ».
She is not a workaholic.
“In a way, I always work, because I have the books. As for the doctor, I work a lot in a more concentrated way and then I take the time to read, study, write. If I didn’t write, I might have a garage with motorcycles to repair or where to carve wood. I need to regenerate ».
The pandemic has made many think about it.
“Yes, there are many of my patients who have made big changes, they have found their priority in life. Many in Scotland have moved home, leaving the cities for the countryside, work, they have returned to study. The pandemic has illuminated the important things in life. It has been a terrible year, if we can learn anything from all of this it is a good thing. We will be able to face life more wisely ».
What islands would you still like to see?
“There are still a lot of them in the world. I would like to go to Grimsey, a small island in the north of Iceland, which is crossed by the Arctic Circle. But also in Samoa, Hawaii, in the Caribbean… “.
Where will it go this summer?
“I will go to Orkney and the islands of Skye and Mull.”
Do we dream of them, but then in reality it is not difficult to live on an island?
“There are so many problems, it depends on how frequent the ferries and flights are, how are the neighbors you can’t escape from and if there is work. On the Scottish islands it is difficult to find doctors, nurses, teachers. But in this book I had to make a choice: to talk about problems too or only about dreams. I chose the latter solution, maybe I will address the problems in another book. Stay there for a year? Not at this stage of my life ”.
The risk is isolation.
«The paradox is that the communities living on an island must be very connected to each other. You have to work, live with your neighbors, while maybe in Genoa or Edinburgh in a building you don’t know the family next door ».
Is there an island that feels more hers?
“Yes, the Isle of May, near Fife. Very small, 2 km by half a km, uninhabited but with 100,000 gulls, puffins and other sea birds. I go there when I can. There is a ferry that leaves near my house ».
Does the Atlas still open?
«I still prefer to ‘read’ an Atlas rather than a novel».
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