When I renewed this blog in 2012, I began with a quotation
from Welsh poet and priest R S Thomas. Having
had a silent period on the blog front since Easter while I helped my family with their new venture, I find myself quoting him again now as I return to blogging.
"The owls are
restless
People have
died here
Good men for
bad reasons
Better
forgotten"
I have seen collections of Thomas’ poetry on the shelves of
many colleagues and I wonder what it is about the bleakness of the poetry of this country
priest, cut off by his calling and his learning among people that he served
faithfully but distantly, that so resonates with other ministers.
I read the quotation again today when I picked up Alan
Garner’s The Owl Service for the
first time in years. I had gone to find it to lend to a friend about to leave
on holiday; she was seeking something good to read. The book begins with that quotation: “The
owls are restless…”
It is sad that few people younger than me know of Garner,
who was a towering figure in the literature of thinking teens
in the 60s and 70s. A writer who lived to write, Garner’s style was to revisit
and rework older stories. He takes the view (and I agree) that there are no new
stories, only new ways of telling.
In
a secluded Welsh valley ringed by wild mountains, the characters and quarrels
of three young people unfold. Two men love the same girl and tragedy follows, leaving successive generations to
play out the terror of that ancient triangle. It suggests that people faced with the same challenges as
former generations are compelled to repeat their mistakes unless they choose to
break the pattern. The Owl Service reworks a powerful story from the Mabinogion, the earliest prose literature of Britain. The stories were compiled in the 12th–13th century by Welsh authors from much earlier oral traditions. It won the Carnegie
Medal and the Guardian Award when first published.
Some readers cannot revisit novels once read; I find myself drawn back to enjoy and explore my favourite books again though there can be quite a gap between readings. Having gone looking for it, I found the slim novel on a
low-level, rarely-visited bookshelf. Reader, I have to confess that I opened it
over breakfast and was drawn-in again by the foot of page 1. So I won’t be
parting with it this week.
I recommend The Owl
Service as an imaginative novel.
When I have finished re-reading it, I will also need to track down my
copy of Elidor by the same author; as
I recall, another powerful and imaginative story.
