The Green Child

I was flicking through the titles printed by Capuchin Classics the other day – and by ‘flicking through’ I mean ‘scrolling down their website’; and by ‘the other day’ I mean ‘a couple of months ago’ – and spotted The Green Child (1935) by Herbert Read. My only encounter with him had been a book called Prose Style, or something like that, which I’d flicked through – unaware that he’d written novels. Or, in fact, one novel – for this is it. This part of the blurb had me hooked: Widely debated when it came out more than a generation ago, The Green Child is truly a masterpiece, a rare blend of fantasy and reality.And so I emailed off to see if the had a review copy to spare – which they did…

I said that Read had only written one novel, and in a way that’s true – but he certainly made up for it with The Green Child. Although under 200 pages in length, the three parts of the book are essentially three different novels. The same story runs through them, and the same central character of Olivero, but the feel and style differs so dramatically that it’s unlikely you’ll react the same way to each section.

We learn on the first page that Olivero, the President of a South American country, has faked his own death by assassination. As you do. His yearning to return to his roots, a little English village, has overcome his political ambitions (wise man) and he makes his way back to the countryside of his youth. As he wanders around, seeing what has changed and what has remained, he is struck by a change which seems unlikely: It was then that he noticed, or thought he noticed, an extraordinary fact. The stream as he remembered it – and he could remember the pressure of its current against his bare legs as he waded among its smooth, flat pebbles – ran in the direction of the station from which he had just come. But now, indubitably, it was flowing in the opposite direction, towards the church. Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice might say. And he follows the stream until he arrives at a mill… wherein he sees a ‘frail and pallid’ woman being kept captive by a man he had once been schoolmaster to; Kneeshaw. Yes, the perspicacious amongst you will have guessed correctly: this is the Green Child of the title. No sooner has Kneeshaw been vanquished, and the silent Green Child headed off with Olivero, but: With a cry of happiness, as if a secret joy had suddenly been revealed to him, he raced forward, and hand in hand they sank below the surface of the pool.
And that’s the last we hear of them for a bit, because Part Two is all the back story of Olivero’s life. I’d wondered why they bothered making him an ex-President, and now I see why – we follow him through his political ascension and… well, to be honest, I skim-read quite a lot of this section. To be frank, I found it really dull. I don’t think novels should include huge chunks of ‘and this is what had happened beforehand’ (analepsis, is that?) because it’s difficult to be interested. And combine that with political stuff… well, if you’re interested in political novels, then this section might work for you – but I’d just got really interested in the first section, so was frustrated when we were diverted off track. It’s the diary section of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall all over again.

Fast forward ninety pages or so, and we’re onto Part Three: they’re in the underground world from whence the Green Child came, and they’re exploring. This section has most in common with utopia literature like Francis Bacon’s The New Atlantis and, indeed, Thomas More’s Utopia. It would make really interesting reading alongside, especially the former. We’ve moved from fantasy-in-the-real-world to fantasy-in-a-fantasy-world where, for instance, there is no concept of time. I wonder what J.W. Dunne would have to say about that?

So there you go. One short novel; three genres. The first of them was my favourite, and I did rather wish that The Green Child had continued entirely in that vein. While the third section was interesting, it felt more like the set-up to a different novel. And, as mentioned before, the second section was very much not my cup of tea. And perhaps that’s the problem with the novel – I can’t imagine anybody loving each ‘genre’ equally? Surely you’ll want more politics and less fantasy, or vice versa, and so forth?

But someone who did approve is Mr. Graham Greene, who wrote the 1946 introduction included in this edition. The Green Child is definitely intriguing, and a very unusual novel, but I can’t agree with Greene in his unqualified enthusiasm – whilst I am not wholly unenthusiastic, there are a lot of qualifications.

8 thoughts on “The Green Child

  • June 8, 2010 at 10:18 pm
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    It seems a lot in a small novel ,simon altough I m a fan of greene and be interested to see what sort of book he recomend ,as ever a wonderful capuchin cover ,all the best stu

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  • June 8, 2010 at 11:27 pm
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    One novel three separate genres sounds different! Should be a very interesting book to read. Thanks for the post.

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  • June 9, 2010 at 3:04 am
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    I liked that "as you do"! The 30s are the time of my work, and in fact I'm just putting up some episodes about 1935; I thought I knew most of the books from that era, but you surprised me with this one!

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  • June 9, 2010 at 8:00 am
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    I've got this for review too but haven't yet made it to it – it sounds even more intriguing than when I asked for it!

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  • June 9, 2010 at 12:28 pm
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    Blimey what a compact small read. I like the english and south american connections but then I would hahaha. I am not sure about the middle section though three novels in one sounds rather a bargain!

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  • June 9, 2010 at 2:58 pm
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    Thorough review. The fact that Graham Greene wrote an introduction is enough incentive for me to go and pick this up.

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  • June 9, 2010 at 5:07 pm
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    Sounds interesting – this has been on my radar for a while and I think that Verity also has it in he list. It sounds quite disjointed but I think that this actually attracted Greene.

    Another splendid review Simon, thank you indeed.

    Hannah

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  • June 14, 2010 at 9:57 am
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    Stu – Capuchin do have a wonderful illustrator, makes all the difference! I hope you get on with the novel more than I did (although I did *like* it, I'd hoped for more.)

    Mystica – it is a very unusual novel! I wonder if everyone would respond in the same way I did, thinking of it as three genres?

    Shelley – there are so many 1930s novels to be discovered! I knew of Herbert Read, but had no idea he'd written a novel before I saw this on the Capuchin website.

    Verity – I'd love to hear your thoughts, if and when you give the book a read.

    Simon – bargain is a good way to look at it! I don't think Read ever specifies the South American country, but we can pretend it's Brazil ;-)

    Vipula – I'm glad I remembered to mention Greene, then!

    Hannah – thanks very much :) It's a curious novel, I think you'd find it interesting.

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