"Not My Best Work...."
Two of my favourite books when I was growing up were "The Weirdstone of Brisengamen" and "The Moon of Gomrath", the story of two children who get caught up is a mystical struggle between good and evil on Alderiey Edge in Cheshire. They were I suppose my first introduction to myths and legends of this land, rooted as they were in the folklore of the British Isles. Garner went on to write other books, "Owl Service" and "Elidor", but I never cared much for those, those first two were pure magic to me.
Garner however didn't like them. There were early work and he thought his later books had much more merit. They weren't "his best work".
I get annoyed when an artist of some description says that. It is surely up to their audience, not them, to decide if something they produce has merit. It's like they're telling you you shouldn't enjoy it because they don't think it's good enough. Alec Guinness is another one. He disliked intensely the popularity he gained from being Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films because he didn't think they were very good films and that others he was in were far more important. Not your call matey! You play the role to the best of your ability, whatever it is, you're an actor, the audience is what's important. Fact is he played the role with consumate skill and gravitas, making it believable. An archetypal fairytale, magic swords, young hero, captured princess, dark lord, loyal companions and a wise old mentor. That sort of character is often referred to nowadays as "the Obi Wan", a reference that would be understood world wide. For Pete's sake Guinness, what do you want? Blood?
As for Garner, you'd have thought any author would have been delighted to have written two such enduring children's classics, still in print today. Apparently not. He was always annoyed that people kept asking him to write more books about Colin and Susan (the two children in the novels). Eventually, in 2013, 50 years after Gomrath came out he did so with a new book, "Boneland".
But this isn't a story of two schoolchildren. Spoilers ahead so stop reading now if you don't want to know.
Ok?
Here we go then.
For starters the children are now adults. Or rather Colin is, Susan apparently drowned one night chasing after elves, to the devestation of the Cheshire couple who were looking after them. Colin is now a brilliant but borderline sociopathic astronomer who is having difficulty reconciling his memories of his childhood adventures with the real world he lives in now. There is an implication that Colin's sanity is slipping and that those memories were masking some trauma or abuse he suffered, a fantasy to escape the pain. The mystical elements in the book are abiguous and the end has Colin about to undergo Electro-Convulsive Therapy, against his consent, with the possibility that he'll die too. Thank you to TV Tropes for supplying the brief precis.
This isn't Garner providing a sequel, this is Garner KILLING OFF THE CHARACTERS, and the franchise, in a way that ensures no-one is going to ask him for another bloody book. And that is just the action of a person who is mean-spirited, spiteful and, frankly, a bit of a git. Fine, you don't like them, fine you don't want to write any more, but to try and wipe out the magic of those early books for all those who read them? Bastard.
I haven't read Boneland. I won't be reading Boneland. I will keep the memory of those two books I read as a child (and still have on my bookcase now) intact and treasured. And if Alan Garner doesn't like that then tough, he can go jump in the Wizard's Well.
Garner however didn't like them. There were early work and he thought his later books had much more merit. They weren't "his best work".
I get annoyed when an artist of some description says that. It is surely up to their audience, not them, to decide if something they produce has merit. It's like they're telling you you shouldn't enjoy it because they don't think it's good enough. Alec Guinness is another one. He disliked intensely the popularity he gained from being Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films because he didn't think they were very good films and that others he was in were far more important. Not your call matey! You play the role to the best of your ability, whatever it is, you're an actor, the audience is what's important. Fact is he played the role with consumate skill and gravitas, making it believable. An archetypal fairytale, magic swords, young hero, captured princess, dark lord, loyal companions and a wise old mentor. That sort of character is often referred to nowadays as "the Obi Wan", a reference that would be understood world wide. For Pete's sake Guinness, what do you want? Blood?
As for Garner, you'd have thought any author would have been delighted to have written two such enduring children's classics, still in print today. Apparently not. He was always annoyed that people kept asking him to write more books about Colin and Susan (the two children in the novels). Eventually, in 2013, 50 years after Gomrath came out he did so with a new book, "Boneland".
But this isn't a story of two schoolchildren. Spoilers ahead so stop reading now if you don't want to know.
Ok?
Here we go then.
For starters the children are now adults. Or rather Colin is, Susan apparently drowned one night chasing after elves, to the devestation of the Cheshire couple who were looking after them. Colin is now a brilliant but borderline sociopathic astronomer who is having difficulty reconciling his memories of his childhood adventures with the real world he lives in now. There is an implication that Colin's sanity is slipping and that those memories were masking some trauma or abuse he suffered, a fantasy to escape the pain. The mystical elements in the book are abiguous and the end has Colin about to undergo Electro-Convulsive Therapy, against his consent, with the possibility that he'll die too. Thank you to TV Tropes for supplying the brief precis.
This isn't Garner providing a sequel, this is Garner KILLING OFF THE CHARACTERS, and the franchise, in a way that ensures no-one is going to ask him for another bloody book. And that is just the action of a person who is mean-spirited, spiteful and, frankly, a bit of a git. Fine, you don't like them, fine you don't want to write any more, but to try and wipe out the magic of those early books for all those who read them? Bastard.
I haven't read Boneland. I won't be reading Boneland. I will keep the memory of those two books I read as a child (and still have on my bookcase now) intact and treasured. And if Alan Garner doesn't like that then tough, he can go jump in the Wizard's Well.