A Conscious Englishman by Margaret Keeping
'Did anyone ever begin to be a poet at thirty-six in the shade?' Edward Thomas asked. This novel traces how, after a lifetime of prose, mostly written in the shade of angry despair, he did. Utterly unexpected changes follow, more than his faithful wife Helen would wish. She tells her story of watchful devotion and, she hopes, influence, often threatened by their powerful friend, Robert Frost. Beginning in the iconic summer of 1914 in a rural world full of rich promise and beauty, it is a story of friendships, marriage, tranquillity and war. The complexity and depth of Thomas' poetry emerges through his wrestling with words along with home, children, sowing, harvesting and the perpetual lack of money. It is the story of decisions, change and consequences, in a rural setting where what endures is the natural world and its inhabitants, those lives of which, as we now realize, we are simply one part.
'[Margaret Keeping's] inhabitation of Edward, Robert, Helen and their world is tender and subtle..a lovely novel.' Robert Macfarlane. ***** '[Margaret Keeping's] writing is very assured and she has the necessary eye for place, detail, weather and seasons to write about Edward Thomas...I hope the book will reach the wide audience it deserves and feel sure that many others will enjoy it as much as I have.' Linda Newbery, author of Set in Stone. ***** REVIEW 1 of 5: 'A Conscious Englishman...turns its subject into a twentieth-century equivalent of the old-fashioned notion of Keats: a poet misvalued by his times and cruelly cut down...' Peter McDonald, The Times Literary Supplement. REVIEW 2 of 5: 'A Conscious Englishman holds its own against other versions of the same story and provides an easier route than academic studies into the contexts of Thomas's writing. Anyone with a burgeoning interest in Thomas should begin by reading the poems, but A Conscious Englishman is a worthy addition to the expanding secondary literature.' Gabriel Roberts, The Oxonian Review. REVIEW 3 of 5: 'The author's research on Frost, Farjeon and Thomas is commendable, and her sympathies obviously lie with Edward...' Janet Williamson, The Historical Novels Review. REVIEW 4 of 5: 'A Conscious Englishman offers a unique perspective on the last four years of Edward Thomas, confronting and imagining inner thoughts and feelings, and conversations with those close to him, questioning the unemotional documenting of facts by biographers. It reaches, and allows us to glimpse, important moments in the life of Edward Thomas that non-fiction is not able to.' James Riding, Friends of the Dymock Poets Newsletter. REVIEW 5 of 5: 'An absorbing book...This novel is very good on the influences behind the wonderful poetry.' Merryn Williams, The Oxford Times
'After teaching English in further education for a time, I worked in probation and social work for many years. I took a Masters in English Studies, just for fun, which is when my interest in Edward Thomas began. I have had poetry published but this is my first work of fiction, which was begun as I took the University of Oxford's two-year Creative Writing Diploma.' Margaret has considerable experience of Edward Thomas' work. Her MA thesis at Oxford Brookes was entitled, The Place of Edward Thomas in Twentieth Century Poetry. She is a member of the Edward Thomas Fellowship and extracts from an earlier draft of her novel were published in the Fellowship's newsletter. She is married to the artist Marc Thompson.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780956424235 |
| ISBN 10 | 0956424236 |
| Title | A Conscious Englishman |
| Author | Margaret Keeping |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | StreetBooks |
| Year published | 2013-01-24 |
| Number of pages | 290 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |