Ahh Sophie, another gem of a story from you. Loved this full of veiled threat and foreboding. I am sort of familiar with Dorridge as I am with lots of Midlands towns and villages having travelled a lot during my later working life looking for ways to circumnavigate around the various motorways .
I haven't read this book but am interested in people's views who have to see what they think.
Thanks so much for reading Anne! Not sure it came across in the article, but absolutely loved Dorridge precisely because it felt so foreboding (weird mix of foreboding and friendly — the men in the pub were great). So a bit envious of you having the opportunity to get more familiar with the network of villages across the W. Midlands!
An interesting article about Wyndham and the asylum, but I felt that in many ways it said more about the writer's unease in a quiet village than it did about the inspiration for The Midwich Cuckoos. Of course people are going to turn and look at you if you walk into a theatre performance that has already started; of course bar staff are going to be concerned if you wave voice recorders around in a pub: it doesn't mean that they're about to re-enact The Wicker Man!
Later on there is a mention of Shardlow, which I would have thought a much more likely inspiration: it remains isolated even today in the Derbyshire countryside. But I would have thought that most of the story comes from that unvisitable place: Wyndham's imagination.
Hey Anne, thanks for your fascinating comment. Have to absolutely hold my hands up and say that i do feel more uneasy in villages than cities, not based on anything in particular, maybe more of a safety thing (don't want to sound paranoid, but feel like in a city, maybe I'm worried about getting my bag snatched but feels like people are always around to go to for help but in a village I'm always thinking of the latest horrible abduction story in the papers). And you're probably right on Shardlow. But while I completely acknowledge that a critic is on shaky ground the moment they start automatically ascribing aspects of fiction to biography, I do think this is a worthwhile technique to apply to Wyndham specifically. Didn't want to take too long a detour in the piece going into this, but the biography made a strong and detailed case for his parents' horrible marriage (and lacklustre parenting) shaping his visions of parents and children in his work. It sounds like his very vivid (and challenging) childhood played a fairly large role in much of his work.
Really interesting, I didn't know John Wyndham was from Dorridge.
Aww thank you — and appreciate you reading.
Ahh Sophie, another gem of a story from you. Loved this full of veiled threat and foreboding. I am sort of familiar with Dorridge as I am with lots of Midlands towns and villages having travelled a lot during my later working life looking for ways to circumnavigate around the various motorways .
I haven't read this book but am interested in people's views who have to see what they think.
Thanks so much for reading Anne! Not sure it came across in the article, but absolutely loved Dorridge precisely because it felt so foreboding (weird mix of foreboding and friendly — the men in the pub were great). So a bit envious of you having the opportunity to get more familiar with the network of villages across the W. Midlands!
An interesting article about Wyndham and the asylum, but I felt that in many ways it said more about the writer's unease in a quiet village than it did about the inspiration for The Midwich Cuckoos. Of course people are going to turn and look at you if you walk into a theatre performance that has already started; of course bar staff are going to be concerned if you wave voice recorders around in a pub: it doesn't mean that they're about to re-enact The Wicker Man!
Later on there is a mention of Shardlow, which I would have thought a much more likely inspiration: it remains isolated even today in the Derbyshire countryside. But I would have thought that most of the story comes from that unvisitable place: Wyndham's imagination.
Hey Anne, thanks for your fascinating comment. Have to absolutely hold my hands up and say that i do feel more uneasy in villages than cities, not based on anything in particular, maybe more of a safety thing (don't want to sound paranoid, but feel like in a city, maybe I'm worried about getting my bag snatched but feels like people are always around to go to for help but in a village I'm always thinking of the latest horrible abduction story in the papers). And you're probably right on Shardlow. But while I completely acknowledge that a critic is on shaky ground the moment they start automatically ascribing aspects of fiction to biography, I do think this is a worthwhile technique to apply to Wyndham specifically. Didn't want to take too long a detour in the piece going into this, but the biography made a strong and detailed case for his parents' horrible marriage (and lacklustre parenting) shaping his visions of parents and children in his work. It sounds like his very vivid (and challenging) childhood played a fairly large role in much of his work.
Kraken!
Really enjoyed Wyndham article- his books were the first of the genre that I read and I read all of his with The Keaken Wakes my favourite
Ooh, I haven't read that one. I'll give it a go next!