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The
hot summer days were filled with an oppressiveness that the heat alone
could not explain. Alison, Gwyn and Roger could feel it, but only Huw
really understood it. And as the inevitable confrontation between present
and past drew nearer, Gwyn alone seemed strong enough to stall the disaster
that hung over them all.
The Carnegie Medal-winning classic about a most unusual dinner service and the ancient, deadly magic it holds. The book was published in 1967, and was later dramatised for Granada Television, from a screenplay adapted by Garner himself. 'Remarkable
...a rare imaginative feat, and the taste it leaves is haunting' - The
Observer The Owl Service interprets a story from the Welsh Mabinogion, namely, portions of the story of "Math Son of Mathonwy." In this story Math's niece, Arianhrod, is tricked into giving birth when her claim to virginity is tested. She rejects her children, and one is raised by her brother, Math's heir Gwydion. (In a matrilineal system the maternal uncle is the male relative who takes responsibility for the child.) Resentful, Arianhrod curses her son Lleu. Her first curse is that he will not be named until she names him. The second is that he will not bear arms until she arms him. Finally, she declares that the child shall not have a human wife, and so Math and Gwydion fashion a woman of flowers to be Lleu's wife, and name her Bloduwedd (flower face). Yet this third curse is not so easily thwarted because the couple must now make a marriage, and Bloduwedd becomes enamored of neighbor Gronw Pebr, who counsels her to find out how Lleu can be killed. Although some have interpreted Gronw's liaison with Bloduwedd as an act of pure, selfish passion, most writers also note that she had no choice of partners, and her feelings for Lleu are never really described in "Math," although her feelings for Gronw are quite clear. Like many Celtic demigods, Lleu must abide
by the curses of his mother, similar to the geas, or taboo, laid on Irish
heroes, and can only be killed in unusual circumstances that usually arise
only when the character breaks the geas. Gronw tries to kill Lleu, yet
before he dies, Lleu manages to turn into an eagle and fly away, to be
found eventually by Gwydion, who talks him down from a tree where he huddles
with his flesh rotting away. Gwydion saves Lleu and takes revenge on Bloduwedd
by turning her into an owl.
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Garner was born in Congleton in Cheshire in October 1934. He was brought
up on Alderley and now lives with his wife and family in a medieval timber-framed
house near the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, between Congleton and Alderley.
He says in his published biography that, while his ancestors on his father's
side were skilled and steady people, his mother's side were 'gifted cranks'.
Alan Garner was educated at Alderley Edge Primary School, Manchester Grammar School, did two years National Service and then went to Magdalen College, Oxford. He left Oxford knowing that he had to be a writer and not a teacher as he had originally intended. Cheshire and its mythology have had a profound effect on Garner's writing. His interest in history and archaeology, and his own local discoveries, have been the seed of many ideas he has worked out in his books. His first three books, The Wierdstone of Brisingamen,
The Moon of Gomrath and Elidor have become children's favourites. But
it was his fourth book, 'The Owl Service' that undoubtedly brought Alan
Garner to everyone's attention. It won two important literary prizes -
The Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal - and was made into a serial
by Granada Television. It has established itself as a classic and
Alan Garner as a writer of great distinction. Garner on writing: "Before I write anything, I always know the last paragraph of the book. I see it quite clearly and after that it is a bit like trying to synchronise lips on a Steenback editing machine. I suspend all critical judgment and write maybe 200 words at a time until it comes in a frenzy and I'm writing all the time. When it's finished, I become my own savage editor, going through every word of long-hand before I type anything. A friend once said that some writers write to live and others live to write. I'm in the second category."
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Teach Yourself Literature Guide to: The Owl Service Just a quick mention of the 'teaching guide'. Anyone who has sat through GCSE English Lit will know how enlightening/annoying/utterly dull these guides can be. Thankfully, I found this one on Ebay, and bought it for pleasure, rather than any form of education. Good job really, given that teaching guides tend to rob literature of any personality and warmth. Mind you, if anyone passed their Eng Lit based on this book it can't really be that bad, can it? |
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The Hodder & Stoughton version comes with illustrations; cartoony things, which don't really do the story justice, but I guess they could prove distracting, if waiting for the bell to go. Here's an excerpt from the text: "Huw makes Gwyn see that certain people are destined to become part of the myth, and that every time it happens three people suffer. Gwyn, Roger and Alison are suffering because Alison made the flowers into owls, unleashing the suffering Blodeuwedd endured when she was turned into an owl and forced to hunt and destroy. What does Gwyn feel when he hears that Nancy was involved in a similar triangle?" |
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Cast: Alison Bradley - Gillian Hills, Roger Bradley - Francis Wallis, Gwyn - Michael Holden, Nancy - Dorothy Edwards, Huw - Raymond Llewellyn, Clive Bradley- Edwin Richfield This serial, adapted by Alan Garner from his prize-winning novel, was a sexually-charged tale of adolescent jealousy that broke new ground by pushing hard at the boundaries of children's television. The Welsh legend of Blodeuwedd is a tale of betrayal retold in the 11th Century book of The Mabinogion. Blodeuedd, a woman made of flowers, was unfaithful to Lleu Llaw Gyffes with Gronw Bebyr. Gronw then killed Lleu with a spear so that Lleu became an eagle - Lleu's magician Gwydion turned the unfaithful woman into Blodeuwedd, the owl, as punishment. Now three modern-day teenagers
are revisited by Gwydion's curse. Upper-class Alison, her haughty public
school stepbrother Roger and working-class Welsh boy Gwyn are similarly
locked into a triangle of love and hate that threatens to destroy them.
Gwyn later learns of the father he's never known and discovers that his
mother was once possessed by the same old plates Alison uncovered in the
attic. |
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Very much a product of the 1960s, the serial used a contemporary source novel (Garner's book was two years old when adapted for television) that dwelled upon class struggles and adolescent permissiveness, albeit within a supernatural fantasy framework. Then-fashionable jump cuts and psychedelic imagery were used for the all-film production. This was the first fully-scripted drama to be made entirely in colour by Granada Television, although it was shown in black and white on its original runs and not seen in colour until its 1978 repeat. This ruined the visual joke of Alison, Gwyn and Roger always wearing respectively red, black and green outfits - the colours of electrical wiring at the time - hinting at the power the three could unleash. The
serial was shot in and around Dinas Mawddwy, North Wales, although Poulton
Hall in Liverpool was used as the house location when Bryn Hall, the Welsh
mansion where Garner had set his novel, proved unavailable. |
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3 hours on 2 cassettes |
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There's something about The Owl Service...something hard to define, or pinpoint, which makes it utterly unforgettable, and can, on occasion, create utter fanatics! I read the book, back in the late seventies, at the age of ten. It was a book that fascinated and alarmed me. I grew up in the Weald of Kent, surrounded by orchards ripe for scrumping, and never felt threatened by the landscape, in any sense of the word, only a few of those who dwelt within it. That all changed with The Owl Service. The once pleasant forest became haunted by wood sprites and malevolent mists, only to be entered while whispering the protective chant of 'Cold Kippers, Cold Kippers, Cold Kippers...'. The hillsides became a positive treasure trove of amazing archaeological finds, unearthing nothing as dull as Roman Coins or Saxon Crowns...instead, I was delighted to find bottle tops, old wheels, boot buckles, feeling that each one of those items may be a reminder of some terrible crime, or long forgotten story. Exciting in their everyday blandness. Metal detecting, in The Lynch Fox Woods, and fields of the South East became a regular event, and something I still enjoy with my nephew, on bright Summer days.
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The Owl Service |
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Pram,
'The Owl Service' |
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Barrow
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RHIANNON |
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The
Lost Crown |
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The Guardian's Book Pages: Stage Adaptation: Fantastic Fiction: |
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And
finally, it's time to make your own version of Alison's infamous Owls! There's
no need to scrabble around in the loft, like the over eager Gwyn, or trace
and trim in the old Hen House like Alison...oh no, instead, all you need
do is 'click' the image to the left, and print it off the big graphic as
large as possible. Voila! Your very own Owl Service plate. Now, it's time
to make the owl; Of course, proper tracing is encouraged if you are looking
to create the perfect owl...or, happen to be a young, blond girl, living
in a spooky old house in the Welsh Valleys. So, avoid fancy flip-printing
methods, as there's no 'Things to Make and Do' fun in that. Instead, I'll
let Alison, herself, give you the instructions: "If you take the design off the plate and fit it together it makes a complete owl. See. I've traced the two parts of the design, and all you do is turn the head right round till it's the other way up, and then join it to the top of the main pattern where it follows the rim of the plate. There you are. It's an owl - head, wings and all". |
Finally,
your owl should look something like the images below. Feel free to send
any photos of your creations, and I'll happily create an Owl Service Sanctuary
page, for all our papery friends. No
owls were harmed in the creation of this webpage.
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Page
produced by Jonathan Boakes, for Darkling
Room, April 2008, launched Beltane 2008. |
