Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

As someone who has always loved books and reading one of life's great pleasures is being able to buy pretty much any book I want, and more or less as many books as I want. Space is a problem which keeps the spending under control, because whilst I'm quite comfortable with the idea that I have books I might never read (though I do intend to read all of them eventually), I also like to have space to move in, so some restraint is neccesary.

It's exciting to always have an interesting choice of things to read as well, definitely something for every mood, but it also means there isn't much time to re read old books. Looking back the thing that defined my childhood reading was the seemingly endless time which I had to do it in, and the number of books I read and reread.

This winter has given me two excellent opportunities to revisit old favourites (the release of The Scarlet Pimpernel from Oxford World's classics was the other one) and the Twitter read along of 'The Dark is Rising' from midwinters Eve to twelfth night.

I didn't read the chapters on the days they were set; though there's something attractive about the idea of spreading the book out over real time I'm not disciplined enough for that kind of thing. Even so, starting it at midwinter definitely added something to the atmosphere of the book, especially as the weather was obligingly cold and threatening. It was also more fun than I expected to follow some of the threads of conversation on Twitter. I'm not great at joining in with things like this (work gets in the way and I get distracted) but there were some great questions to think about.

The one that intrigued me most was about the two mentions of bread and honey that Cooper makes. Why does she do that?

I loved the whole Dark is Rising sequence when I first read them, fascinated by the Arthurian mythology and the way they were embedded in the landscapes of Cornwall, Wales, and the Thames Valley - all exotic locations from my point of view. Some of the old magic has rubbed off, which I think is partly to do with the age of the book. The Dark is Rising is the same age as I am, so it was disconcerting when it felt particularly old fashioned, but I've given a copy to my godson and I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it.

Meanwhile that bread and honey... It wasn't something I'd thought much about, or picked up on at all beyond a desire to eat bread and honey, before I read that question. I can think of a few reasons that Cooper might have had for it, but the one that appeals to me most is the way those flavours are a link across the centuries. Fresh bread and golden, sticky, honey. As much a treat now as it has been at any time for a thousand years or more, and something that you can share with the characters, eating along with them.

Actually if you're reading 'The Dark is Rising' through midwinter there are other things you can eat and drink with it - mince pies, and punch come to mind, as do bacon and eggs. Mince pies and punch have a more evocative history, speaking more of ritual and tradition, than bacon and eggs do, but still.  The emphasis on food like this (things that are both treats but also foods we take for granted) took on a particular resonance when I realised that Cooper must have grown up with rationing when fresh bread and mince pies, never mind plentiful bacon and eggs, couldn't be taken for granted.

And that's what I sometimes forget about the pleasure of re reading; the new things you discover in familiar books and the unexpected paths they send you down.

7 comments:

  1. I read a The Dark is Rising sequence as an adult and what is more as an adult working in the field of children’s literature so I don’t know how I would have felt about it as a child. I do know that when I first read it (as the books were being published) I thought that it was streets ahead of a lot of other books around, although there were also other excellent fantasy works for children available as well. It was a good period. Of the five books The Dark is Rising is definitely my favourite although not the one which affected me most emotionally. To this day I can’t drive past Cader Idris without shuddering. The Grey King is a remarkably atmospheric piece of writing.

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    1. I agree absolutely about the quality, and the atmosphere - especially in The Grey King. Something else that struck me as I read TDIR is how believable Will is as an eleven year old, and the Stanton family dynamics generally here. He's not really one of those children who end up on there own doing impossible things here (apart from the obvious magical stuff, but even setting fire to the old tree is the sort of silly thing a child does playing with matches) - and when all is said and done his quest mostly comes down to being in the right place at the right time. The dangers are real, but more powerful for being or looking like mundane everyday dangers.

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  2. I loved these books as a child, and have really enjoyed re-reading them recently. Sorry that I missed the Twitter read-along, as it sounds great. Have read Dark is Rising around Christmas Time (along with Box of Delights by Masefield, also set around the same time), and it definitely adds to the atmosphere. Thanks for the food and drink tips. Happy New Year!

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  3. By the way, we've got the same edition (evidently of an age). I realised when I bought the book that one of the pics used on the cover was actually recycled by Puffin from a Famous Five adventure!

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  4. Is that the 4 children in the bottom left hand corner? They're brilliant books, TDIR definitely deserves its (almost a?) classic status, and I appreciated the extra atmosphere reading it at Midwinter provided (and how is that a month ago already). I wouldn't have really picked up on the food and drink references if someone else hadn't mentioned them, and then I saw an article about how Cooper's childhood wartime experience shaped the book. It's experience which must have affected her attitude to food - even if only to value things like mince pies at Christmas a little bit more, but I love the way that by mentioning them she ties tradition and experience together in a way that became personal to me as the reader.

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    1. Yes, that's them! There was a TV series very briefly (round the late '70's / early '80's), and a set of Famous 5 was produced featuring the cast. Fascinating about the food and drink mentions (and no, I hadn't noticed it either). Oddly enough I re-read Enid Blyton's Barney mysteries, and was struck there by the way food was used - generally a lot more healthy than you might expect with Blyton, with things like cake being really valued, and then of course I realised that the start of the series was when rationing was still very much with us. Isn't it odd how such an everyday thing can affect a writer, and yet reading it some years after, you can completely miss it?

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    2. What interests me with this one s that when I read it as a child I'd, and read it now, things like mince pies represent unbroken traditions, but I guess if you grew up with rationing like Cooper did (but not her readers) they might represent regained traditions. Tradition is so important in TDIR too, or at least that's how it seemed to me this time, so I feel sure that must have been on her mind. I remember a lot of food in Blyton - feasts definitely feature and the food is a real treat. Rationing certainly explains why she writes so lovingly of picnics and midnight feasts.

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