Monday, August 27, 2007

Susan Cooper's 'The Dark is Rising' series

Having recently seen - and been aghast by - the trailer for the new, US movie adaptation of The Dark is Rising, a Young Adult fantasy novel first published in 1973, I decided to go back and re-read the series, which I'd loved as a teenager growing up in the Latrobe Valley.

I'm so glad I did. Not only has it been a delight to revist the adventures of Will Stanton, youngest of the Old Ones, a servant of the Light in the ageless battle against the powers of the Dark; it's been wonderful being re-exposed to Cooper's magical ability with language, words and mood.

If you're not familiar with the books, you can learn all about them, and their author, over here at her official site, The Lost Land.

In brief, the series begins with Over Sea, Under Stone (1965), the most traditionally 'children's adventure' style title of the series, in which Simon, Jane and Barnabas Drew recover a lost Grail, and learn something of the battle between the Light and the Dark. The tone of the novel is a bit Enid Blyton-esque, though darker; while the volume also introduces Cooper's contemporary reworking of Arthurian mythology, a glittering thread which runs through the tapestry she weaves.

But very quickly, with the second book on the series, The Dark is Rising, Cooper finds her own voice and her own take on YA fantasy. In this book, we meet Will, a boy on the eve of his 11th birthday, who soon discovers that he is much more than he appears to be after he is appointed on the quest to find and unite the six signs of power, made by the Light long ago and vital if the rising Dark is to be defeated.

It's in this book that Cooper's skillful writing comes to the fore; such as with this description of Will's slightly older brother:

"James stood fuming on the landing like a small angry locomotive..."

I love that phrase. It instantly conjures up an image of a small, compact boy, so angry that steam is almost coming out of his ears.

This second volume is a more complex book than its predecessor, both thematically, structurally and dramatically. Whereas the villains in Over Sea, Under Stone are almost cartoon-like; here, characters such as the The Rider exude real malice and malevolence; while the tragic figure of The Walker is both contemptible and pitiable.

In the third volume, Greenwitch (1974), Cooper successfully unites the characters from the first two books, in a story set in Cornwall, and involving both the Dark, and the old, Wild Magic. Importantly, it's the only book in the series written from a predominantly female point of view; a fact which has considerable bearing over the way the story, involving ancient tradition, ghosts, guilt and greed, plays out. It's certainly a step up from Over Sea, Under Stone, but it still seems to lack a certain something; a complaint I could never make about my favourite volume in the series.

Set in North Wales, The Grey King (1975) fuelled a long fascination in Welsh mythology that had previously been sparked by exposure to Celtic legends, but that's not the main reason this is the book of Cooper's that I love best. It's because of the friendship she evokes between Will Stanton, now aged 12, and the strange young albino boy Bran Davies, whose birthright, we eventually learn, is even more important to the struggle of the Light than Will's own. It's because of the epic scope of the story, told over a concise handful of days; and the way Cooper contrasts the power of the High Magic with all-too-human tales of grief, loss and love. Dispatched to Wales to recover from a childhood illness, Will soon finds himself battling the forces of the Grey King, and aided by Bran, and his dog Cafall, embarks on a desperate quest to find a magical harp and awaken the Six Riders, before the Dark claims them for all eternity...

Lastly, the culmination of the saga, Silver on the Tree (1977) brings the books' many characters together in the final, epic battle against the last great rising of the Dark. Jane's role is an important one; Will's quests play their part; Bran's heritage is invaluable; but in the end, it is perhaps that most human of emotions, love, which proves most important in the face of the battle that is to come.

Lyrical, passionate, magical; capturing the joy of childhood, and written with imagination to rival the likes of many other fine writers of YA fantasy, such as Diana Wynne Jones and Alan Garner, The Dark is Rising series remains one of the highpoints of the genre. I cannot recommend the series highly enough.

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.

Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning, stone out of song;
Fire in the candle-ring, water from the thaw;
Six Signs the circle, and the grail gone before.

Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold;
Played to wake the sleepers, oldest of the old;
Power from the green witch, lost beneath the sea;
All shall find the light at last, silver on the tree.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Young adult fantasy. Sounds enjoyable.. :)

mskp said...

you made me think of the mercury rev song of the same name, which i love. but i'm nearly finished the amber spyglass, and so needing new magical worlds to explore - thank you!

Anonymous said...

I was hooked on Ursula le Guin's 'Earthsea' books when I was wee twinkie lad and am not looking forward to the bad Anime adaptation from Japan's (normally excellent) Studio Ghibli.

richardwatts said...

oh anon - i too was hooked on le Guin's superb Earthsea trilogy (though confess to being less enamoured by the fourth and fifth novels in the series), but let's face it; the Studio Ghibli version can't be any worse than the ghastly US mini-series of a year or two ago!

Sunshine said...

Thanks for that - brought back heaps of memories. I too read the series when I was in high school. What a trip down memory lane. :)

rickjacobs said...

Man those sound brilliant - I was never familiar with these books. I was too busy lusting after the Hardy Boys.

shhh... said...

Oh my Richard, these were my favourite books ever! But, I couldn't bear to see how they translate after going through someone else's brain. This was also the case with Earthsea and the recent film of Bridge to Terabithia - you sure can tell when your own generation takes control mainstream popular culture.

Now I need some help. For close to twenty years I've been trying to track down a YA novel I read as a kid. Here's what I can remember of the scenario:
We're in the UK. Kid lives up North or in Wales & on a farm. He wakes up one morning and his family and entire village have disappeared, he may come across one remaining person who subsequently dies. Takes a farm vehicle and drives to London. Everyone is missing there too, although he does find signs of life in Harrods: footprints in some knocked over talcum powder or the like. Also, he finds the body of on elderly man in an apartment after some kind of investigation: the man has only just died as he has left behind his diary...
And that's about all I can remember - but it's been bugging me for YEARS! I can't seem to find anyone else who knows it (and thus give me a title). If you or any of your kind readers can help I would be most grateful!

susanna said...

oh, ye of good taste! susan cooper's books, the earthsea ones and the narnia series (despite the religious overtones of which i was blissfully ignorant when i first read them) spoiled me for the (vastly inferior and derivative) potter books. i am aware of the clobbering i am likely to receive for saying that.

TimT said...

Those books are pure awesomeness. How could they make a US film version? It sounds craptacular - take all the references to Welsh and English mythology out, and the backdrop of British weather, and there's nothing left.

I doubt the US studio would have been brave enough to use actual regional British accents. I hope I'm wrong. And please tell me they didn't relocate it to mid-west USA.

TimT said...

To tell the truth, in retrospect, a lot of the 'Old Ones' stuff - ie, the mythology constructed specifically for the book, and to give a sense of purpose to the major characters - seems contrived and over the top. They're still great books, but a lot of that made-up mythology seemed silly even when I read them first as a kid.

Then again, sometimes it hit the spot - I can't remember which book it was in, but there was an extended chapter on a train that I loved (I think it was 'The Dark is Rising') - a wonderful creative mixing of different elements. They really are wonderful books.

TimT said...

Oh dear. The trailer is even worse than I could have expected. That's one movie I won't be watching.

Anonymous said...

BCSMM I believe the book is The Empty World by John Christopher. A fave of mine.