Pilgrim’s Badge with Sun with human face, The Cloisters

Medium: Lead

The Cloisters Collection, 1986 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

HERE

Review: Box Of Delights

Box Of Delights by John Masefield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A completely surreal read.

For a children's book, this is dark and chaotic. Murder, kidnapping and robbery vie amongst scenes of rural fantasy and cameos by Herne the Hunter, mermaids and disembodied talking heads.

It is clear that this early foray into children's fantasy has influenced a huge number of later children's writers, notably Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, C.S. Lewis and Mary Norton. I constantly found reminders of other children's authors and their work. Kay, the protagonist, obtains the Box of Delights, which is given to him by an eccentric man who travels the countryside with a Punch and Judy show. The box is coveted by Abner Brown and his sinister network of spies and thieves disguised as an ecclesiastical college and the events of the book follow their attempts to claim it using violence and coercion.

Whether Masefield intended to be openly critical of the church and the law in this story is unclear, but the policemen are consistently exposed as utterly inept and useless, whilst the villains working undercover as a religious organisation throws a considerable amount of shade on the workings and integrity of religious groups.

Masefield has a masterful command of language and scenery, and whilst this was written in the 1930's and there are instances where colloquial language has changed somewhat, it is still remarkably modern in its approach.

Adults are lacking in this story; in fact, Kay lives with a guardian (his lack of parents is never explained) and the children seem to have complete autonomy to revel in the surrounding countryside at will. Maria possesses several pistols which she uses at whim. For a children's novel this lack of adult direction is both liberating and unsettling. The children are adrift in the world of adults, and left to their own devices are regularly in situations which seem dangerous and potentially life threatening to a modern audience.

Add to the mix detailed descriptions of the Battle of Troy, Pirates, Alchemy and surrealistic interludes featuring fairies and talking animals and it all becomes truly bizarre. One thing is for certain it isn't easy to forget once read. Truly unique and warrants repeated readings I feel to fully absorb the magnitude of Masefield's imagination. This is often marketed as a 'Christmas' story, and whilst being set around that time of year I wouldn't recommend reading this to a child at bedtime, as it might just provoke nightmares! It certainly isn't the jolly hockey sticks kind of classic festive children's writing.

View all my reviews

Review: The Spider

The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the form of a diary, this short tale takes place in a boarding room, where recent residents have repeatedly hung themselves on the curtain cords, a black spider is repeatedly seen exiting the mouths of the victims. A young student decides to debunk this nonsense and persuades the local constabulary to occupy the room, whereby he becomes transfixed by the vision of the nocturnal beauty in the window opposite. She has a strange otherworldly insect-like manner, and is dressed entirely in black, her mesmeric presence completely hypnotises him and he becomes like a puppet, subject to move and gesticulate through the window at her whim. Eventually she manipulates him into hanging himself. Upon discovery a gigantic black spider with livid purple spots is found crushed between his jaws.

Has a decadent vibe to it, and elements of ETA Hoffmann at times. Recommended reading for fans of horror and weird lit.

View all my reviews

H.L. Brakstad illustration from Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales. Circa 1890.

source

"By the early modern period learned ideas about the contract made between demon familiar and witch accreted into a stereotype which would have been famailiar to all officials who interrogated magical practitioners on charges of witchcraft or sorcery. The stereotype depicted the demon familiar making a variety of contractual demands in return for his magical services. The two core demands, which together comprised the ‘classical’ pact, were the witch to renounce her Christianity and that she pledge her soul to him. Other ancillary demands (which were often made at the sabbath) were, among others, that the witch marry him and/or have sexual relations with him; that she serve and worship him; that she allow herself to be re-named by him; that she give him her blood; that she permit herself to be marked by him and the participate in acts of exhumation and cannibalism"

Emma Wilby, Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic

The Temptation of the Garden of Earthly Delights | The Surreal World of Hieronymous Bosch

Review: King's Dragon

King's Dragon by Kate Elliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent first volume of Elliott's seven volume epic. I really enjoyed this - it has the character depth and world building complexity that I find rarely in fantasy - maybe only in Robin Hobb or Tad Williams novels.

Elliot's world contains most of the usual fantasy tropes: warring royalty, orphaned boy with 'mysterious unknown parentage', distressed and abused females, fantastical creatures, supernatural beings, complex religious beliefs... you've got it all here, but there are some stark differences. The treatment of women for one. Here, women have far more power than in other popular fantasy series, and it was a really refreshing read as a result.

Women wield power both politically and socially, they hold titles and are figures of authority and power within the church/religious system Elliott has devised. Best of all women are present on the battlefield, they fight alongside the men, in armour, with shields and all the other weaponry. They practice and dabble in sorcery.

Consequently the dynamic here is notably different from, say, Game of Thrones (where women are far more scare and hold token positions of power or are frequently just elevated sex symbols.) The women in this novel are key players, they frequently (in the case of the sinister Biscop Antonia or the scheming Sabella, but also Liath, Hannah, Rosvita) channel and direct the plot, using their power and influence to manipulate and control the men, they aren't used as plot devices - they are central to the story and plot development themselves.


I enjoyed this far more than I was expecting. It is refreshingly different and exceptionally well crafted for a first volume novel with brilliant and evocative characters and settings. I'm looking forward to delving into the other volumes I have purchased.

View all my reviews

Brazil | Silver and coral talismanic Balangandas | Bahia, 19th century