Inspiration from fiction
“The forest itself looked tangled, dense and hostile; I could see away across the foliage tops, and they were unbroken, a sea of grey green, rippling in the wind, looking almost organic, a single entity, breathing and shifting restlessly beneath the unwelcome aerial gaze.”
- Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock (p107; 2014, Gollancz).
Mythago Wood, a fantasy novel by Robert Holdstock, delves into the idea of mythic archetypes and the human ability to create.
The story's protagonist, Steven Huxley, returns to his childhood home in England after his father's death.
He learns that Ryhope Wood, not far away, is a place where myths and legends come to life, and he is dragged into a journey to learn about and face the formidable and potentially dangerous forces at work in the wood.
During the course of the journey, he faces his own personal demons and learns about the deep connections between his family, the forest, and the fantastical creatures who call it home.
I found this story an engaging one, certainly strange in places but deliberately so. For me, it was as much about discovering the wild within and having connotations of the ‘Green Man’, as it was about the wooded environment. I look forward to reading the second book in the series. The mystical aspect reminded me of some of my childhood experiences playing in woods in Wales, where I spent some of my youth growing up.
“He dreamed that a tree was growing at the foot of his bed and filling the sky. He started to climb, using the giant fissures in the bark as hand and footholds. As he looked up, he saw the canopy was ablaze with lanterns and laden with flowers. They drew quickly nearer as he climbed, though the tree was very tall, so that soon Kenelm had reached the uppermost bough and was crawling along it to find a seat among the flowers. Never before had he seen anything so grand and perfect as the tree in which he was sitting. And when he looked ahead, he recognised the hills and rivers of his kingdom opening out before him: Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire and beyond, all within his view.”
Storyland, Amy Jeffs (p212; 2022, Riverrun)
Storyland by Amy Jeffs is a book that delves into British myths and legends from ancient times to the Norman conquest. It follows the stories of giants, heroes, kings, queens, saints, monsters, and magic that shaped British identity and culture.
In the Beginning, Prehistory, Antiquity, and the Middle Ages are the four sections of the book. Amy Jeffs retells several stories in each section with her own style and imagination. The book also includes Jeffs' linocut prints, which depict some of the scenes and characters.
Of particular interest for this project, was the depiction of a huge tree in Kenelm’s dream, based in Winchcombe, just a short journey from my home in Gloucestershire. I’d have to find a local tree that could match the description! Amy Jeffs next book, Wild, should be even more relevant for my project, a continuation of her writings but related to depictions of nature.
