Garner, Alan
Garner, Alan (1934– ),outstanding British novelist. Born in Cheshire, in a family of artisans, Garner was educated at Oxford, where he studied classics. In his first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960), he made use of a local legend from his birthplace, Alderley Edge, as well as motifs from Norse and Celtic folklore, including the Arthurian cycle. The child characters are quite ineffective, no more than lenses through which the colourful world of magic is described. What fascinated Garner in the legend was the idea of how it might influence contemporary life. This novel, like all his others, is about the ‘here and now’ rather than about magical countries or a remote past. The philosophical dilemma arising when Garner tries to retell a medieval legend in today's England can be summarized in his own words as: ‘What if …?’ This phrase is the key to Garner's work. What if the events of the legend are true? What would...
[The entire page is 1189 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
