This novel of the 17th century is atmospheric and a real work of historical imagination. It’s not a supernatural thriller. Does anyone want to begin to discuss it this month?

Right now I'm hung up in Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" (a mixed bag, if ever there was one--"Finnegans Wake", anyone?), plus I'm doing a bit of programming for a relative (scripting), but would be interested in going back to Kipling, later.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Read it many years ago. The Scottish dialect would have thrown me had I not been in a seminar on New England Regionalism in the 1980s. It is a plodding novel that has convincing period atmosphere and characterization. The strange circumstances are eventually unraveled, if never entirely explained. If you comment on specific chapters I will reread; there's an obscure witchcraft novel I like better, a collaboration (Barry Pain & another author). It's included in the Hippocampus Press volume of Pain's weird fiction. Would be an interesting comparison, more overtly sinister than the Buchan book.

jkh

The Shadow of the Unseen (1907), by Barry Pain and James Blyth.

jkh

"Witch Wood" is one of the books on my shelf I want to read but there always seems to be something more interesting, more inviting to read, so God only knows if I ever get to reading it ...

And now you’ve started it, Cathbad, and I’m so busy with other reading that I don’t suppose I’ll get to it soon.

I’ve reached the part where David comes upon a scene of pagan revelry, confronts the revellers and is attacked - only to wake up back in his own bed. I actually find the historical context more interesting tbh. I could check out the background (The Kirk, ’Montrose the Malignancy’ etc) on wiki but want to hear Buchan’s perspective on it first.

Funnily enough, I began reading an historical novel by a largely forgotten Irish author - ‘Seek the Fair Land’ by Walter Macken - a few weeks ago, which was not only set during the same period, but had much the same strengths and weaknesses, despite being written a lot later: a good grounding in history, and a lot of incidental details, but with pretty broad characterisation. I suspect this was typical of the genre, and that one was necessary to complement the other? (ie, if your characters are types, you need to compensate with a solid sense of period).



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 26 Oct 20 | 05:32AM by Cathbad.

Buchan wrote a biography of Montrose -- I have a copy but haven't read it yet!

David’s character arc seems to revolve around his attitude toward Montrose - at first he despises him, based on his reputation, then meets him in person (incognito) and is impressed. Then discovers the deception and is conflicted. There’s a lot more emphasis on his relationship with Montrose than there is on his burgeoning romance with the local laird’s niece!

I said I was busy with other things (I am) and wouldn't be taking up this novel now. But I just got an interlibrary loan copy of a different novel with a 17th-century setting and have begun that while I have it....