The Image of a Drawn Sword
Published on 21. January 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
144 pages
978-0-571-25901-4 (ISBN)
Description
Regardless of formal category, Jocelyn Brooke's works tended to autobiography. At a superficial level this novel does so less obviously. It describes the experiences of Reynard Langrish. He befriends a young army officer who talks of a 'state of emergency'. Reynard agrees to undertake military training with him, but as he becomes more deeply involved he is drawn into a struggle with mysterious and irrational forces which are to threaten his sanity. What emerges is a Kafkaesque (though the author claimed not to have read him) vision where fantasy and reality are disturbingly blurred. 'The skill and intensity of the writing make peculiarly haunting this cry of complaint on behalf of bewildered Man' - "Daily Telegraph".
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-571-25901-4 (9780571259014)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Writer and naturalist Jocelyn Brooke (1908-1966) was born and raised in Kent. He published his first book, Six Poems, in 1928 while still at Worcester College, Oxford. Having worked in London bookshops and publishing, he enlisted in the Royal Medical Army corps at the outbreak of War and was later decorated for his bravery. After the war he wrote full time in a variety of genres, culminating in the three novels - The Military Orchid, A Mine of Serpents and The Goose Cathedral - which drew closely on his own experiences. They were first published together in a single volume by Secker and Warburg in 1979, with an introduction by Anthony Powell.