Recent reading
Jan. 29th, 2024 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaThe Conquered by Naomi Mitchison (1923)
Whoa. If I had known the set-up of this, I would have read it long ago! It has a lot in common with The Eagle of the Ninth and also slightly with Flight of the Heron. Titus is a Roman officer fighting with Caesar in Gaul, and Meromic is the son of a Gaulish chieftain. Near the beginning, Titus is captured and held prisoner with Meromic's tribe (like Ewen and Keith!). Later on, Meromic is defeated and enslaved, and later on his life is saved by Titus, who becomes his owner (like Marcus and Esca!). Titus treats him well and later frees him, and he is torn between Titus and his loyalty to the Gaulish cause. I wonder if Sutcliff read this, or Broster? Mitchison doesn't usually have a slashy bone in her body that I've noticed, but I guess this one is the exception! There's even a secondary slashy pairing, between Meromic and another slave. As usual for Mitchison, there's a lot of focus on the experiences of enslaved and ordinary people. The epigraphs are mostly Irish--obviously she's making parallels between the Irish/Gaelic struggle and the Gaulish one, but I don't know enough about Irish history to catch all the references.
It's quite interesting to read this having read a lot of other historical novels written in the same period--Mitchison is a lot more colloquial in her language. I think it's aged very well: it's obviously not modern prose style of the 21st century, but neither does it contain 1920's slang. Just very readable and enjoyable prose. At the same time, I can see how she developed as a writer later on. There's an odd quirk where "I would", "you would" is contracted to "I'ld", "you'ld" etc, which I've never seen before. Also, I was bemused at the (to me) incestous vibes of the brother-sister relationship in the beginning and the fact that Mitchison has dedicated this book to her brother. Er. But anyway, I definitely recommend this book!
The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd (written in the 1940's and published later)
Non-fiction about the author's relationship to the Cairngorm mountains. I like reading other people's opinions on and analysis of fiction, but it's really quite boring to read people writing about other people's nature writing, which is why I skipped the fore- and afterwords, except for the biographical info about the author. But I really enjoyed the book itself! Lovely nature writing, best experienced in small portions.
Although I have to say that I have much less romantic a view of sleeping outdoors than this: ...nights under the sky are the most delectable when the sleep is light. I like it to be so light that I am continually coming to the surface of awareness and sinking back again, just seeing, not bedevilled with thought, but living in the clear simplicity of the senses. The clear simplicity of my senses at such a point would be telling me that I am grumpy because of being kept awake by cold or a mosquito I can't catch or some damn bird singing and not letting me sleep. I like to get some SLEEP at night, not have some sort of transcendent experience. Which is not to say that I've never had transcendent experiences in nature, because I totally have. Just not when I'm trying to sleep.
Whoa. If I had known the set-up of this, I would have read it long ago! It has a lot in common with The Eagle of the Ninth and also slightly with Flight of the Heron. Titus is a Roman officer fighting with Caesar in Gaul, and Meromic is the son of a Gaulish chieftain. Near the beginning, Titus is captured and held prisoner with Meromic's tribe (like Ewen and Keith!). Later on, Meromic is defeated and enslaved, and later on his life is saved by Titus, who becomes his owner (like Marcus and Esca!). Titus treats him well and later frees him, and he is torn between Titus and his loyalty to the Gaulish cause. I wonder if Sutcliff read this, or Broster? Mitchison doesn't usually have a slashy bone in her body that I've noticed, but I guess this one is the exception! There's even a secondary slashy pairing, between Meromic and another slave. As usual for Mitchison, there's a lot of focus on the experiences of enslaved and ordinary people. The epigraphs are mostly Irish--obviously she's making parallels between the Irish/Gaelic struggle and the Gaulish one, but I don't know enough about Irish history to catch all the references.
It's quite interesting to read this having read a lot of other historical novels written in the same period--Mitchison is a lot more colloquial in her language. I think it's aged very well: it's obviously not modern prose style of the 21st century, but neither does it contain 1920's slang. Just very readable and enjoyable prose. At the same time, I can see how she developed as a writer later on. There's an odd quirk where "I would", "you would" is contracted to "I'ld", "you'ld" etc, which I've never seen before. Also, I was bemused at the (to me) incestous vibes of the brother-sister relationship in the beginning and the fact that Mitchison has dedicated this book to her brother. Er. But anyway, I definitely recommend this book!
The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd (written in the 1940's and published later)
Non-fiction about the author's relationship to the Cairngorm mountains. I like reading other people's opinions on and analysis of fiction, but it's really quite boring to read people writing about other people's nature writing, which is why I skipped the fore- and afterwords, except for the biographical info about the author. But I really enjoyed the book itself! Lovely nature writing, best experienced in small portions.
Although I have to say that I have much less romantic a view of sleeping outdoors than this: ...nights under the sky are the most delectable when the sleep is light. I like it to be so light that I am continually coming to the surface of awareness and sinking back again, just seeing, not bedevilled with thought, but living in the clear simplicity of the senses. The clear simplicity of my senses at such a point would be telling me that I am grumpy because of being kept awake by cold or a mosquito I can't catch or some damn bird singing and not letting me sleep. I like to get some SLEEP at night, not have some sort of transcendent experience. Which is not to say that I've never had transcendent experiences in nature, because I totally have. Just not when I'm trying to sleep.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-06 02:22 pm (UTC)I have an even less romantic view of sleeping outdoors than you do--my view is that I'd rather not do it, period--but that's a lovely line.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-06 06:54 pm (UTC)Mitchison does often foreground women, which I appreciate! But like you, I don't have enough overview to say if there's a progression.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-07 09:51 am (UTC)(She comes from Antonia Forest's Marlow series, which may not be your thing but is incredibly good.)
(no subject)
Date: 2024-02-07 05:52 pm (UTC)