Alan Garner
Encyclopedia
With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget. He also worked on a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which would be known as The Moon of Gomrath
.
The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.
In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.
The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion
.
(which received the Phoenix Award
in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.
His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder
), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
Garner's next novel, Thursbitch
, was published in 2003.
Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.
The English author and academic Charles Butler
noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page." As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:
in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper
related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond
called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter". Philip Pullman
, the author of the His Dark Materials
trilogy, went further when he remarked that:
Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman
, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth." Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins
Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."
.
With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget. He also worked on a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which would be known as The Moon of Gomrath
.
The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.
In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.
The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion
.
(which received the Phoenix Award
in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.
His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder
), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
Garner's next novel, Thursbitch
, was published in 2003.
Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.
The English author and academic Charles Butler
noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page." As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:
in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper
related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond
called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter". Philip Pullman
, the author of the His Dark Materials
trilogy, went further when he remarked that:
Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman
, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth." Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins
Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."
.
With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget. He also worked on a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which would be known as The Moon of Gomrath
.
The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.
In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.
The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion
.
(which received the Phoenix Award
in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.
His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder
), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
Garner's next novel, Thursbitch
, was published in 2003.
Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.
The English author and academic Charles Butler
noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page." As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:
in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper
related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond
called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter". Philip Pullman
, the author of the His Dark Materials
trilogy, went further when he remarked that:
Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman
, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth." Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins
Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."
.
Garner here reveals the commercial pressure placed upon him during the decade-long drought (at the height of the neoliberal tide) which preceded Strandloper to 'forsake "literature", and become instead a "popular" writer, cashing in on my established name by producing sequels to, and making series of, the earlier books'. Garner feared that 'making series...would render sterile the existing work, the life that produced it, and bring about my artistic and spiritual death' – on analogy perhaps with Conan Doyle
's dictum that 'the ruin of every novelist who has come up has been effected by driving him into a groove' and felt unable to comply.
|year= 1981 |publisher=Collins |location=London |isbn=0-00-195043-6 |ref=Phi81}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2010/oct/08/alan-garner |newspaper=The Guardian
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=11 October 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Cro10}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/may/17/whyiwrite.booksforchildrenandteenagers1?INTCMP=SRCH |newspaper=The Guardian
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=17 May 2007 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Kin07}}
|publisher=Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev |location=London |date=28 September 2003 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Bin03}}
|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/there-is-a-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-why-novelist-alan-garners-reality-is-tinged-with-mysticism-2086657.html |newspaper=The Independent
|publisher=Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev |location=London |date=26 September 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Cha10}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/sep/13/alan-garner-collected-folk-tales?INTCMP=SRCH |newspaper=The Guardian
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=13 September 2011 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Cro11}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/feb/26/alan-garner-weirdstone-brisingamen |newspaper=The Guardian
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=26 February 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Flo10}}
|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-505968/Author-puts-medieval-home-trust-protect-footballers-invasion-village.html#ixzz1aKy4gIgi |newspaper=The Daily Mail |publisher=Daily Mail and General Trust |location=London |date=3 January 2008 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Nar08}}
|publisher=Telegraph Media Group |location=London |date=5 October 2003 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Fab03}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/oct/18/fiction.alangarner |newspaper=The Guardian
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=18 October 2003 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Har03}}
|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8034300/The-Weirdstone-ofBrisingamen-review.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph
|publisher=Telegraph Media Group |location=London |date=4 October 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Mid10}}
|newspaper=Times Literary Supplement |location=London |date=6 June 1968 |ref=Gar68}}
|year=2010 |title=Introduction by the author |journal=The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversary Edition) |publisher=HarperCollins Children's Books |location=London |pages=05–14 |ref=Gar10}}
|year=2010 |title=A Note from the Publisher |journal=The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversary Edition) |publisher=HarperCollins Children's Books |location=London |pages=315–320 |ref=Lak10}}
|year=2010 |title=Praise for Garner |journal=The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversary Edition) |publisher=HarperCollins Children's Books |location=London |pages=01–02 |ref=Pul10}}
The Moon of Gomrath
The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, published in 1963. It is the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.-Plot synopsis:...
.
The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.
In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.
Elidor, The Owl Service and Red Shift: 1964-1973
Set in contemporary Manchester, Elidor told the story of four children who enter into a broken down Victorian church, only to find a portal to the magical realm of Elidor. Here, they are entrusted by King Malebron to help rescue four treasures which have been stolen by the forces of evil who are attempting to take control of Elidor. Successfully doing so, the children return home to Manchester with the treasures, but are pursued by the evil forces who need them to seal their victory.The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
.
The Stone Book Quartet and Folkloric collections: 1974-1994
The Stone BookThe Stone Book
The Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education...
(which received the Phoenix Award
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.
Strandloper, Thursbitch and Boneland: 1995-present
1996 saw the publication of Garner's novel Strandloper.His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
Garner's next novel, Thursbitch
Thursbitch
Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs...
, was published in 2003.
Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.
Literary style
Although Garner's early work is often labelled as "children's literature", Garner himself rejects such a description, informing one interviewer that "I certainly have never written for children" but that instead he has always written purely for himself. Neil Philips, in his critical study of Garner's work (1981), commented that up till that point, "Everything Alan Garner has published has been published for children", although he went on to relate that "It may be that Garner's is a case" where the division between children's and adult's literature is "meaningless" and that his fiction is instead "enjoyed by a type of person, no matter what their age."The English author and academic Charles Butler
Charles Butler (author)
Charles Cadman Butler is an English academic and author of children's fiction.His most important academic work, Four British fantasists : place and culture in the children's fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper is in 236 libraries according to WorldCat,...
noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page." As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:
- I had to read extensively textbooks on physics, Celtic symbolism, unicorns, medieval watermarks, megalithic archaeology; study the writings of JungCarl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
; brush up my PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
; visit AveburyAveburyAvebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles which is located around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, south west England. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain...
, SilburySilbury HillSilbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at ....
and Coventry CathedralCoventry CathedralCoventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
; spend a lot of time with demolition gangs on slum clearance sites; and listen to the whole of BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's War RequiemWar RequiemThe War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
nearly every day.
Recognition and legacy
In the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published by HarperCollinsHarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper
Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond
David Almond
David Almond is a British children's writer who has written several novels, each one to critical acclaim.-Early life:Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia, he was born in 1951...
called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter". Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
, the author of the His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
trilogy, went further when he remarked that:
- "Garner is indisputably the great originator, the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkien, and in many respects better than Tolkien, because deeper and more truthful... Any country except Britain would have long ago recognised his importance, and celebrated it with postage stamps and statues and street-names. But that's the way with us: our greatest prophets go unnoticed by the politicians and the owners of media empires. I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration."
Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth." Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."
Awards
He was appointed OBE for services to literature in the 2001 New Year's Honours listBritish honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
.
- 'The Owl ServiceThe Owl ServiceThe Owl Service is a novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. It is a contemporary interpretation, which Garner described as an "expression of the myth", of the story of the mythical Welsh figure of Blodeuwedd, whose story is told in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.The legend concerns a...
' won the Guardian AwardGuardian AwardThe Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...
and the Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
in 1968 - The Lewis Carroll Shelf AwardLewis Carroll Shelf AwardThe Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was started in 1958 by Dr. David C. Davis with the assistance of Prof. Lola Pierstorff, Director Instructional Materials Center, Univ. of Wisconsin and Madeline Allen Davis, WHA Wisconsin Public Radio. Awards were presented annually at the Wisconsin Book Conference...
(before 1980) - Artist Patrick James Lynch won the 1987 Mother Goose AwardMother Goose AwardThe Mother Goose Award was a British annual award, presented by Books For Children to "the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration." Established in 1979, the award was last given in 1999...
for his illustrative work on 'A Bag of Moonshine'. - 'The Stone BookThe Stone BookThe Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education...
' received the Phoenix AwardPhoenix AwardThe Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
from the Children's Literature AssociationChildren's Literature AssociationThe Children's Literature Association is a non-profit scholarly association dedicated to studying children's literature. Begun in the 1970s to generate interest in children's literature as an academic discipline and to provide a place for those studying children's literature to share ideas, the...
(USA) in 1996 - The 1981 film 'Images' won First Prize at the Chicago International Film FestivalChicago International Film FestivalThe Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
- Karl Edward WagnerKarl Edward WagnerKarl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
Award (Special Award) won in 2003 - On 20 January 2011, the University of WarwickUniversity of WarwickThe University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
awarded him the degree of Doctor of LettersDoctor of LettersDoctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
(honoris causa).
Television and radio adaptations
- The Owl ServiceThe Owl Service (TV series)The Owl Service was an eight-part television series based on the fantasy novel of the same name by Alan Garner. Produced in 1969 and televised over the winter of 1969-1970, the series was remarkably bold in terms of production...
(1969), a British TV series transmitted by Granada Television based on Garner's novel of the same name. - Elidor was read in installments on a BBC children's radio program in the early 1970s
- Red Shift (BBC, transmitted 17 January 1978); directed by John Mackenzie; part of the BBC's Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
series. - To Kill a King (1980), part of the BBC series of plays on supernatural themes, Leap in the DarkLeap in the DarkLeap in the Dark was a British supernatural television anthology series broadcast on BBC2. It ran over 4 seasons - 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1980 - and over 20 episodes were shown in total. The first season was documentary, subsequent episodes consisted of docudramas re-enacting real-life cases of...
: an atmospheric story about a writer overcoming depression and writer's block. The hero's home appears to be Garner's own house. - Garner and Don WebbDon Webb (playwright)Don Webb is a playwright and script writer based in the UK. He has written for British TV and the West End and is currently working on a novel for children.-Biography:Don Webb started writing fairly late in life...
adapted Elidor into a children's television series for the BBC. The series consisted of six half-hour episodes starring Damian Zuk as Roland and Suzanne ShawSuzanne ShawSuzanne Shaw is an English actress, singer and television personality...
as Helen
Novels
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is a children's fantasy novel by English author Alan Garner, first published in 1960. The novel is set in and around Macclesfield and Alderley Edge in Cheshire, and tells the story of two children, Colin and Susan, who are staying with some old friends of their mother... |
1960 | Collins | |
| The Moon of Gomrath The Moon of Gomrath The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, published in 1963. It is the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.-Plot synopsis:... |
1963 | Collins | |
| Elidor Elidor -Plot introduction:Originally written as a short radio play, the book concerns the adventures of a group of young teenagers as they struggle to hold back a terrible darkness by fulfilling a prophecy from another world... |
1965 | Collins | |
| The Owl Service The Owl Service The Owl Service is a novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. It is a contemporary interpretation, which Garner described as an "expression of the myth", of the story of the mythical Welsh figure of Blodeuwedd, whose story is told in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.The legend concerns a... |
1967 | Collins | |
| Red Shift Red Shift (novel) Red Shift is a fantasy novel by Alan Garner. It spans over a thousand years but one geographical area: Southern Cheshire, England. Garner evokes the essence of place, allowing his characters to echo each other through time, as if their destinies may be predefined by the soil on which they walk... |
1973 | Collins | |
| Strandloper | 1996 | Harvil | |
| Thursbitch Thursbitch Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs... |
2003 | ||
| Boneland | 2012 | ||
With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget. He also worked on a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which would be known as The Moon of Gomrath
The Moon of Gomrath
The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, published in 1963. It is the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.-Plot synopsis:...
.
The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.
In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.
Elidor, The Owl Service and Red Shift: 1964-1973
Set in contemporary Manchester, Elidor told the story of four children who enter into a broken down Victorian church, only to find a portal to the magical realm of Elidor. Here, they are entrusted by King Malebron to help rescue four treasures which have been stolen by the forces of evil who are attempting to take control of Elidor. Successfully doing so, the children return home to Manchester with the treasures, but are pursued by the evil forces who need them to seal their victory.The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
.
The Stone Book Quartet and Folkloric collections: 1974-1994
The Stone BookThe Stone Book
The Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education...
(which received the Phoenix Award
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.
Strandloper, Thursbitch and Boneland: 1995-present
1996 saw the publication of Garner's novel Strandloper.His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
Garner's next novel, Thursbitch
Thursbitch
Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs...
, was published in 2003.
Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.
Literary style
Although Garner's early work is often labelled as "children's literature", Garner himself rejects such a description, informing one interviewer that "I certainly have never written for children" but that instead he has always written purely for himself. Neil Philips, in his critical study of Garner's work (1981), commented that up till that point, "Everything Alan Garner has published has been published for children", although he went on to relate that "It may be that Garner's is a case" where the division between children's and adult's literature is "meaningless" and that his fiction is instead "enjoyed by a type of person, no matter what their age."The English author and academic Charles Butler
Charles Butler (author)
Charles Cadman Butler is an English academic and author of children's fiction.His most important academic work, Four British fantasists : place and culture in the children's fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper is in 236 libraries according to WorldCat,...
noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page." As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:
- I had to read extensively textbooks on physics, Celtic symbolism, unicorns, medieval watermarks, megalithic archaeology; study the writings of JungCarl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
; brush up my PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
; visit AveburyAveburyAvebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles which is located around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, south west England. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain...
, SilburySilbury HillSilbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at ....
and Coventry CathedralCoventry CathedralCoventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
; spend a lot of time with demolition gangs on slum clearance sites; and listen to the whole of BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's War RequiemWar RequiemThe War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
nearly every day.
Recognition and legacy
In the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published by HarperCollinsHarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper
Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond
David Almond
David Almond is a British children's writer who has written several novels, each one to critical acclaim.-Early life:Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia, he was born in 1951...
called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter". Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
, the author of the His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
trilogy, went further when he remarked that:
- "Garner is indisputably the great originator, the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkien, and in many respects better than Tolkien, because deeper and more truthful... Any country except Britain would have long ago recognised his importance, and celebrated it with postage stamps and statues and street-names. But that's the way with us: our greatest prophets go unnoticed by the politicians and the owners of media empires. I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration."
Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth." Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."
Awards
He was appointed OBE for services to literature in the 2001 New Year's Honours listBritish honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
.
- 'The Owl ServiceThe Owl ServiceThe Owl Service is a novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. It is a contemporary interpretation, which Garner described as an "expression of the myth", of the story of the mythical Welsh figure of Blodeuwedd, whose story is told in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.The legend concerns a...
' won the Guardian AwardGuardian AwardThe Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...
and the Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
in 1968 - The Lewis Carroll Shelf AwardLewis Carroll Shelf AwardThe Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was started in 1958 by Dr. David C. Davis with the assistance of Prof. Lola Pierstorff, Director Instructional Materials Center, Univ. of Wisconsin and Madeline Allen Davis, WHA Wisconsin Public Radio. Awards were presented annually at the Wisconsin Book Conference...
(before 1980) - Artist Patrick James Lynch won the 1987 Mother Goose AwardMother Goose AwardThe Mother Goose Award was a British annual award, presented by Books For Children to "the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration." Established in 1979, the award was last given in 1999...
for his illustrative work on 'A Bag of Moonshine'. - 'The Stone BookThe Stone BookThe Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education...
' received the Phoenix AwardPhoenix AwardThe Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
from the Children's Literature AssociationChildren's Literature AssociationThe Children's Literature Association is a non-profit scholarly association dedicated to studying children's literature. Begun in the 1970s to generate interest in children's literature as an academic discipline and to provide a place for those studying children's literature to share ideas, the...
(USA) in 1996 - The 1981 film 'Images' won First Prize at the Chicago International Film FestivalChicago International Film FestivalThe Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
- Karl Edward WagnerKarl Edward WagnerKarl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
Award (Special Award) won in 2003 - On 20 January 2011, the University of WarwickUniversity of WarwickThe University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
awarded him the degree of Doctor of LettersDoctor of LettersDoctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
(honoris causa).
Television and radio adaptations
- The Owl ServiceThe Owl Service (TV series)The Owl Service was an eight-part television series based on the fantasy novel of the same name by Alan Garner. Produced in 1969 and televised over the winter of 1969-1970, the series was remarkably bold in terms of production...
(1969), a British TV series transmitted by Granada Television based on Garner's novel of the same name. - Elidor was read in installments on a BBC children's radio program in the early 1970s
- Red Shift (BBC, transmitted 17 January 1978); directed by John Mackenzie; part of the BBC's Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
series. - To Kill a King (1980), part of the BBC series of plays on supernatural themes, Leap in the DarkLeap in the DarkLeap in the Dark was a British supernatural television anthology series broadcast on BBC2. It ran over 4 seasons - 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1980 - and over 20 episodes were shown in total. The first season was documentary, subsequent episodes consisted of docudramas re-enacting real-life cases of...
: an atmospheric story about a writer overcoming depression and writer's block. The hero's home appears to be Garner's own house. - Garner and Don WebbDon Webb (playwright)Don Webb is a playwright and script writer based in the UK. He has written for British TV and the West End and is currently working on a novel for children.-Biography:Don Webb started writing fairly late in life...
adapted Elidor into a children's television series for the BBC. The series consisted of six half-hour episodes starring Damian Zuk as Roland and Suzanne ShawSuzanne ShawSuzanne Shaw is an English actress, singer and television personality...
as Helen
Novels
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is a children's fantasy novel by English author Alan Garner, first published in 1960. The novel is set in and around Macclesfield and Alderley Edge in Cheshire, and tells the story of two children, Colin and Susan, who are staying with some old friends of their mother... |
1960 | Collins | |
| The Moon of Gomrath The Moon of Gomrath The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, published in 1963. It is the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.-Plot synopsis:... |
1963 | Collins | |
| Elidor Elidor -Plot introduction:Originally written as a short radio play, the book concerns the adventures of a group of young teenagers as they struggle to hold back a terrible darkness by fulfilling a prophecy from another world... |
1965 | Collins | |
| The Owl Service The Owl Service The Owl Service is a novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. It is a contemporary interpretation, which Garner described as an "expression of the myth", of the story of the mythical Welsh figure of Blodeuwedd, whose story is told in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.The legend concerns a... |
1967 | Collins | |
| Red Shift Red Shift (novel) Red Shift is a fantasy novel by Alan Garner. It spans over a thousand years but one geographical area: Southern Cheshire, England. Garner evokes the essence of place, allowing his characters to echo each other through time, as if their destinies may be predefined by the soil on which they walk... |
1973 | Collins | |
| Strandloper | 1996 | Harvil | |
| Thursbitch Thursbitch Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs... |
2003 | ||
| Boneland | 2012 | ||
With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget. He also worked on a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which would be known as The Moon of Gomrath
The Moon of Gomrath
The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, published in 1963. It is the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.-Plot synopsis:...
.
The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.
In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.
Elidor, The Owl Service and Red Shift: 1964-1973
Set in contemporary Manchester, Elidor told the story of four children who enter into a broken down Victorian church, only to find a portal to the magical realm of Elidor. Here, they are entrusted by King Malebron to help rescue four treasures which have been stolen by the forces of evil who are attempting to take control of Elidor. Successfully doing so, the children return home to Manchester with the treasures, but are pursued by the evil forces who need them to seal their victory.The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
.
The Stone Book Quartet and Folkloric collections: 1974-1994
The Stone BookThe Stone Book
The Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education...
(which received the Phoenix Award
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.
Strandloper, Thursbitch and Boneland: 1995-present
1996 saw the publication of Garner's novel Strandloper.His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.
Garner's next novel, Thursbitch
Thursbitch
Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs...
, was published in 2003.
Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.
Literary style
Although Garner's early work is often labelled as "children's literature", Garner himself rejects such a description, informing one interviewer that "I certainly have never written for children" but that instead he has always written purely for himself. Neil Philips, in his critical study of Garner's work (1981), commented that up till that point, "Everything Alan Garner has published has been published for children", although he went on to relate that "It may be that Garner's is a case" where the division between children's and adult's literature is "meaningless" and that his fiction is instead "enjoyed by a type of person, no matter what their age."The English author and academic Charles Butler
Charles Butler (author)
Charles Cadman Butler is an English academic and author of children's fiction.His most important academic work, Four British fantasists : place and culture in the children's fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper is in 236 libraries according to WorldCat,...
noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page." As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:
- I had to read extensively textbooks on physics, Celtic symbolism, unicorns, medieval watermarks, megalithic archaeology; study the writings of JungCarl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
; brush up my PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
; visit AveburyAveburyAvebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles which is located around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, south west England. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain...
, SilburySilbury HillSilbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at ....
and Coventry CathedralCoventry CathedralCoventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
; spend a lot of time with demolition gangs on slum clearance sites; and listen to the whole of BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's War RequiemWar RequiemThe War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
nearly every day.
Recognition and legacy
In the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published by HarperCollinsHarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper
Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond
David Almond
David Almond is a British children's writer who has written several novels, each one to critical acclaim.-Early life:Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia, he was born in 1951...
called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter". Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
, the author of the His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
trilogy, went further when he remarked that:
- "Garner is indisputably the great originator, the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkien, and in many respects better than Tolkien, because deeper and more truthful... Any country except Britain would have long ago recognised his importance, and celebrated it with postage stamps and statues and street-names. But that's the way with us: our greatest prophets go unnoticed by the politicians and the owners of media empires. I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration."
Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth." Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."
Awards
He was appointed OBE for services to literature in the 2001 New Year's Honours listBritish honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
.
- 'The Owl ServiceThe Owl ServiceThe Owl Service is a novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. It is a contemporary interpretation, which Garner described as an "expression of the myth", of the story of the mythical Welsh figure of Blodeuwedd, whose story is told in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.The legend concerns a...
' won the Guardian AwardGuardian AwardThe Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...
and the Carnegie MedalCarnegie MedalThe Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
in 1968 - The Lewis Carroll Shelf AwardLewis Carroll Shelf AwardThe Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was started in 1958 by Dr. David C. Davis with the assistance of Prof. Lola Pierstorff, Director Instructional Materials Center, Univ. of Wisconsin and Madeline Allen Davis, WHA Wisconsin Public Radio. Awards were presented annually at the Wisconsin Book Conference...
(before 1980) - Artist Patrick James Lynch won the 1987 Mother Goose AwardMother Goose AwardThe Mother Goose Award was a British annual award, presented by Books For Children to "the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration." Established in 1979, the award was last given in 1999...
for his illustrative work on 'A Bag of Moonshine'. - 'The Stone BookThe Stone BookThe Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education...
' received the Phoenix AwardPhoenix AwardThe Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
from the Children's Literature AssociationChildren's Literature AssociationThe Children's Literature Association is a non-profit scholarly association dedicated to studying children's literature. Begun in the 1970s to generate interest in children's literature as an academic discipline and to provide a place for those studying children's literature to share ideas, the...
(USA) in 1996 - The 1981 film 'Images' won First Prize at the Chicago International Film FestivalChicago International Film FestivalThe Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
- Karl Edward WagnerKarl Edward WagnerKarl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
Award (Special Award) won in 2003 - On 20 January 2011, the University of WarwickUniversity of WarwickThe University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
awarded him the degree of Doctor of LettersDoctor of LettersDoctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
(honoris causa).
Television and radio adaptations
- The Owl ServiceThe Owl Service (TV series)The Owl Service was an eight-part television series based on the fantasy novel of the same name by Alan Garner. Produced in 1969 and televised over the winter of 1969-1970, the series was remarkably bold in terms of production...
(1969), a British TV series transmitted by Granada Television based on Garner's novel of the same name. - Elidor was read in installments on a BBC children's radio program in the early 1970s
- Red Shift (BBC, transmitted 17 January 1978); directed by John Mackenzie; part of the BBC's Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
series. - To Kill a King (1980), part of the BBC series of plays on supernatural themes, Leap in the DarkLeap in the DarkLeap in the Dark was a British supernatural television anthology series broadcast on BBC2. It ran over 4 seasons - 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1980 - and over 20 episodes were shown in total. The first season was documentary, subsequent episodes consisted of docudramas re-enacting real-life cases of...
: an atmospheric story about a writer overcoming depression and writer's block. The hero's home appears to be Garner's own house. - Garner and Don WebbDon Webb (playwright)Don Webb is a playwright and script writer based in the UK. He has written for British TV and the West End and is currently working on a novel for children.-Biography:Don Webb started writing fairly late in life...
adapted Elidor into a children's television series for the BBC. The series consisted of six half-hour episodes starring Damian Zuk as Roland and Suzanne ShawSuzanne ShawSuzanne Shaw is an English actress, singer and television personality...
as Helen
Novels
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is a children's fantasy novel by English author Alan Garner, first published in 1960. The novel is set in and around Macclesfield and Alderley Edge in Cheshire, and tells the story of two children, Colin and Susan, who are staying with some old friends of their mother... |
1960 | Collins | |
| The Moon of Gomrath The Moon of Gomrath The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, published in 1963. It is the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.-Plot synopsis:... |
1963 | Collins | |
| Elidor Elidor -Plot introduction:Originally written as a short radio play, the book concerns the adventures of a group of young teenagers as they struggle to hold back a terrible darkness by fulfilling a prophecy from another world... |
1965 | Collins | |
| The Owl Service The Owl Service The Owl Service is a novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. It is a contemporary interpretation, which Garner described as an "expression of the myth", of the story of the mythical Welsh figure of Blodeuwedd, whose story is told in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.The legend concerns a... |
1967 | Collins | |
| Red Shift Red Shift (novel) Red Shift is a fantasy novel by Alan Garner. It spans over a thousand years but one geographical area: Southern Cheshire, England. Garner evokes the essence of place, allowing his characters to echo each other through time, as if their destinies may be predefined by the soil on which they walk... |
1973 | Collins | |
| Strandloper | 1996 | Harvil | |
| Thursbitch Thursbitch Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs... |
2003 | ||
| Boneland | 2012 | ||
Short story collections
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Guizer: A Book of Fools | 1975 | Hamilton | |
| The Stone Book Quartet The Stone Book Quartet The Stone Book Quartet is a collection of stories by Alan Garner about his family spanning over a century, which was awarded the Phoenix Award in 1996. These are:* The Stone Book* Tom Fobble's Day* Granny Reardun* The Aimer Gate... |
1979 | Collins | |
| The Lad of the Gad | 1980 | Collins | |
| Fairytales of Gold | 1980 | Collins | |
| Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales | 1984 | Collins | |
| A Bag of Moonshine | 1986 | Collins | |
| Once Upon a Time | 1993 | ||
| Collected Folk Tales | 2011 | Harper Collins | |
Novellas, short stories, poems and plays
| Title | Year | Publishing information | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holly from the Bongs: A Nativity Play | 1966 | Collins | A play. | |
| The Old Man of Mow | 1967 | Collins | A novella, illustrated with photographs by Roger Hill. | |
| The Secret Commonwealth | 1969 | The Hamish Hamilton Book of Goblins (ed. Alan Garner) | ||
| The Breadhorse | 1975 | Collins | A poem. | |
| The Stone Book The Stone Book The Stone Book , part of The Stone Book Quartet, a series of children's books by Alan Garner, follows Mary and her father in a time when stone cutting was the main trade. One day she requests a book from her father and he builds her one out of stone as he does not believe books and formal education... |
1976 | Collins | Republished in The Stone Book Quartet. | |
| Tom Fobble's Day | 1977 | Collins | Republished in The Stone Book Quartet. | |
| Granny Reardun | 1977 | Collins | Republished in The Stone Book Quartet. | |
| The Aimer Gate | 1978 | Collins | Republished in The Stone Book Quartet. | |
| Jack and the Beanstalk | 1992 | Collins | ||
| The Little Red Hen | 1997 | Dorling | ||
| The Well of the Wind | 1998 | Dorling | 978-0-7894-2519-5. | |
| Grey Wolf, Prince Jack and the Firebird | 1998 | |||
Essays and lectures
- The Voice That Thunders (1997) – a collection of essays and lectures
Garner here reveals the commercial pressure placed upon him during the decade-long drought (at the height of the neoliberal tide) which preceded Strandloper to 'forsake "literature", and become instead a "popular" writer, cashing in on my established name by producing sequels to, and making series of, the earlier books'. Garner feared that 'making series...would render sterile the existing work, the life that produced it, and bring about my artistic and spiritual death' – on analogy perhaps with Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's dictum that 'the ruin of every novelist who has come up has been effected by driving him into a groove' and felt unable to comply.
Academic sources
|year=2009 |title=Children of the Stones: Prehistoric Sites in British Children's Fantasy, 1965–2005 |journal=Written on Stone: The Cultural Reception of British Prehistoric Monuments |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |location=Newcastle-upon-Tyne |pages=145–154 |ref=But09}}|year= 1981 |publisher=Collins |location=London |isbn=0-00-195043-6 |ref=Phi81}}
Interviews
|date=12 April 1989 |accessdate=10 September 2011 |ref=Tho89}}|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2010/oct/08/alan-garner |newspaper=The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=11 October 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Cro10}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/may/17/whyiwrite.booksforchildrenandteenagers1?INTCMP=SRCH |newspaper=The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=17 May 2007 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Kin07}}
News articles and reports
|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/alan-garner-why-gawain-still-walks-in-the-valley-of-the-demon-581616.html |newspaper=The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
|publisher=Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev |location=London |date=28 September 2003 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Bin03}}
|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/there-is-a-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-why-novelist-alan-garners-reality-is-tinged-with-mysticism-2086657.html |newspaper=The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
|publisher=Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev |location=London |date=26 September 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Cha10}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/sep/13/alan-garner-collected-folk-tales?INTCMP=SRCH |newspaper=The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=13 September 2011 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Cro11}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/feb/26/alan-garner-weirdstone-brisingamen |newspaper=The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=26 February 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Flo10}}
|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-505968/Author-puts-medieval-home-trust-protect-footballers-invasion-village.html#ixzz1aKy4gIgi |newspaper=The Daily Mail |publisher=Daily Mail and General Trust |location=London |date=3 January 2008 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Nar08}}
Book reviews
|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3603911/Oh-perispomenon.html |newspaper=The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
|publisher=Telegraph Media Group |location=London |date=5 October 2003 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Fab03}}
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/oct/18/fiction.alangarner |newspaper=The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
|publisher=Guardian Media Group |location=London |date=18 October 2003 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Har03}}
|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8034300/The-Weirdstone-ofBrisingamen-review.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
|publisher=Telegraph Media Group |location=London |date=4 October 2010 |accessdate=20 August 2011 |ref=Mid10}}
Other sources
|year=2008 |accessdate=10 September 2011 |ref=Bla08}}|newspaper=Times Literary Supplement |location=London |date=6 June 1968 |ref=Gar68}}
|year=2010 |title=Introduction by the author |journal=The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversary Edition) |publisher=HarperCollins Children's Books |location=London |pages=05–14 |ref=Gar10}}
|year=2010 |title=A Note from the Publisher |journal=The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversary Edition) |publisher=HarperCollins Children's Books |location=London |pages=315–320 |ref=Lak10}}
|year=2010 |title=Praise for Garner |journal=The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (50th Anniversary Edition) |publisher=HarperCollins Children's Books |location=London |pages=01–02 |ref=Pul10}}
External links
- Unofficial web site for Alan Garner
- Podcast interview with Alan Garner covering several of his works
- 2008 Article by the Guardian Unlimited along with assorted links and author recommendations
- 2004 Guardian Article written by Nicholas Wroe
- Interview with Alan Garner on 'The Stone Book Quartet'
- A review of The Stone Book Quartet and Red Shift
- An excerpt from Thursbitch
- A review of Thursbitch
- An interview with Alan Garner
- Interview with Alan Garner by Raymond H.Thompson
