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Library Of Romance - Vol. 1 - House Of Shadows / Old Flames [1993]
Carlton Visual Entertainment Ltd (
24 May, 1993 )
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Written from a very unusual perspective  |
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A Glastonbury Romance is set in inter-war Britain. It follows the lives of the inhabitants of Glastonbury over the course of a few eventful years in that towns history, and focuses largely on the love lives and political machinations of the Crow family. It begins with the reading of the elder Crows will, in which a large sum of money is given wholly to the slightly odd Mr. John Geard. This sets up the rest of the book, in which the various characters and their creeds (spiritualism, paganism, capitalism, communism, cynicism, anarchism, aesthetism) all battle for the soul of the town, lead by Geards attempts to install Glastonbury as the spiritual home of a new religion.
What sets this book apart is that the characters involved are not the ones in charge of this battle (though they think they are). Cowper Powys world is affected by a great many unseen forces, primal elements that shape destiny. Prayers, meant or otherwise, may be answered by God, Christ, the Sun, the Moon, the Grail, and any number of such elements that control the actors below like puppets. The whole thread of the book is shot through with paganism, making the actions of the characters seem somewhat absurd. We as readers know that it doesnt matter whether Glastonbury becomes a commune or a hive of capitalism, because the destiny of the people living there is in the hands of these forces that cant be controlled. Cowper Powys makes all human struggles seem strangely irrelevant, because no-one is struggling with the things that actually make a difference, only with politics, religion and each other. It was certainly odd to read a book written from this perspective, and makes it worth reading in itself. It makes it seem as if only the reader and author (and the invisible naturalists watching the characters every move) have the secret to life itself, whereas everybody in the book is just wrong; puppets jerking on celestial strings.
The narrative is undoubtedly slow, and I was more than ready for the book to end. The central idea of the book makes it a little harder to empathise with the characters (because you are wiser to what is happening than all of them) and to care too much how a particular plot will unravel. However, some of the chapters are magnificent (particularly one December night when the townsfolk rebel against the unseen elements whilst asleep) and Cowper Powys is occassionally superb. It is a long book, and, for me, didnt justify the time I took to wade through some of the slower parts. However, it is a very unusual book written from a very unusual perspective, and I would recommend it to anyone with a little patience and time on their hands.
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Unique  |
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Powys must be one of the strangest authors ever to have written in the English language. Like Dickens, he revels in character, but unlike Dickens, his baroque, time-slowed flights of literary fancy occasionaly take us into the thoughts of a passing insect or nearby tree — even into the ‘superhuman vibrations’ of ‘the soul of the great blazing sun’. But what is strangest of all is that this is not in any way affected. I’m convinced Powys did experienece the world in this way — everything connected, conscious and alive. As to what actually happens in the book, I can’t remember! But it’s far less important anyway than the strange intensity with which his characters live their everyday lives.
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A maze of different believes more up to date than ever  |
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25 years ago I bought this book, more on account of the beautiful cover than on the content, and on the somewhat cryptic summary that this would be the Lord of the Rings for a new generation. As noticed by others it was difficult to get through the first pages and I laid aside my brand new edition for a while - 25 years. After some maturation Ive picked it up again this year and Im surprised how complex and intriguing this Fellowship of Glastonbury inhabitants actually is. A mixture of pagan, druidic, christian and arthurian believes with a large portion of greek mythology and the most complex of mental states, namely being in love, makes this book a stunning adventure and more up to date in a world that contemplates these issues more intensly than ever. Its also fascinating that all these thoughts were concentrated in the mind of one writer and that this mind could focus them within the environment of some old ruins coming to life through these eternal questions that his characters are possesed by. Through the increasing strength of TV-satellites and IT websites many of these different and dispersed believes of our world come together today, but they will not get a much better setting than the one of John Cowper Powys Glastonbury. Highly recommended!!
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