Fascinating! I'm particularly interested in subjective experience of 'the inside of things' & how consciousness interacts with or even creates our world that seems to be 'out there'. Fiction containing inner truth. I've made a pilgrimage to the Garners' home a few years ago, joining a tour by Griselda around 'the Old Medicine House' ... walked The Edge, found all the places in his Weirdstone trilogy ... dined at The Wizard inn ... & spent a whole day at Jodrell Bank. SO exciting! Totally magical, wonderful, other-worldly experiences, giving me strange feelings of deep familiarity & a state of mind I shall never entirely lose - though the gate into it may become overgrown with life's weeds from time to time.
An interesting examination of writing style. I'm sure various writers all have their specific ways of going about it; but his particular approach does ring a few 'bells'. At the very least; he has a firm grasp and analysis of his habits; and what the general method to achieve a 'finished work' requires, for him anyway....
The story he mentioned about the farmer murdering his daughter refers to James Leah aged 60 who murdered his daughter Louise aged 20 at Findlow farm Over Alderley in 1926. He was handed at Walton prison in the same year.
I first saw this documentary in the summer of 1980; I developed glandular fever just before sitting my A-levels, which meant I had no energy but somehow couldn't sleep, so I spent hours lying on the sofa watching television late into the night, and this is the programme I remember most clearly. In particular the sequence about how he was trying to write something connected to the shape made by the gable against the field running up to the wood, and the emotions surrounding the dying girl that were tied up in those shapes - I often think "Yes! That's it! That's exactly how it is." I've never worked out what the story might have been; looking at the list of his published works, there don't seem to be any novels at that point, so perhaps it's in one of the short story collections.
YES! This is exactly the thing that resonated with me, too. How you express this is brilliant. I actually came looking for this video to show that part to my friend, to explain an experience I've had.
love Alan. don't agree with all his absolutisms about what it takes to be a writer, but not agreeing doesn't mean its not a complete treat to hear his take on stuff. still so many things that i do agree with, YES and YES. all my favourite writers/artists seem to find their work in this nebulous way. the man has one of the greatest ears for people talking (trying hard to avoid the word dialogue as it infers writerly prowess as opposed to a stunning foothold within his own intuition).
Really enjoyed watching this. Very informative on how a writer works. I'm familiar with only a few of Garner's books, particularly The Owl Service and a few years ago went to visit one of the locations where it was filmed. Alderley Edge also looks like a wonderful place to visit and a fascinating landscape to explore.
i love the tv adaptations of owl service and red shift - watched both countless times and read the owl service once - it's just as good. but yikes you can sense his toxic masculinity in both the ending of red shift (the modern thread) and in this video where he says the murder was "accidental" three times! father stabs daughter in a heat of passion: today we call that voluntary manslaughter, but he just calls it accidental and vocalizes more pity for the killer than the victim. the aggrieved male character in red shift makes more sense now. love those 60s-70s tv aesthetics though!
