Maiden Castle by John Cooper Powys

As expected, this work prompted much discussion and there was scarcely pause for breath!

It was decided that, instead of the themes being given out at the same time as the book, the themes would be generated on the evening of discussion.

Themes that were suggested were:

Places and countryside
Nature (being part of Dud, and Dud being part of nature)

Maiden Castle

Masculine /Feminine

References to Greeks and mythology

Comparison with Hardy’s ‘Tryst at an Ancient Earthwork’

The discussion ranged over all the themes however, sometimes simultaneously, and the notes below were captured with great difficulty as we were all so interested in listening to what was being said! So, the notes reflect, to some extent, the wanderings of Dud Noman's mind 

Discussion points

• Difference in 1937 edition and 1990 edition. 1990 edition edited by Francis Powys, and he seems to have returned to much of Powys’s original script. Comparison of cuckoo flower description (p 196 in old edition/ p 185 in new edition) showed how completely different some sections are.
• A very difficult read – no strong story line, very wordy long sentences, language complex (need a dictionary)
• Structure – one long day, then jump 3 months to another long day, some parts (eg party at Glymes) written in real time, very cerebral – a lot takes place in Dud’s head
•  Many characters have more than one name which makes it more difficult to remember them, also led to some frustration as nicknames seemed needlessly repeated
•  Huge attention to minuscule detail e.g his room
• Autobiographical?  JCP born 1872 (He doesn’t mention his family in his autobiography – all very self centred.) Powys was married, left his wife, and took up with a girl who was there to listen to him.
• Written at a time when there was an interest in eccentricity and writing about sex -  DH Lawrence.
• Does laugh at himself at times. At Maiden Castle,Wizzie has a go at him for not being a man, lacking commitment, standing back and not getting involved.
• Thuella could be Valentine Ackland?

What is it about?

• Storyline straightforward - Dud buys a girl, Urien reveals his Dud’s father, get’s Wizzie’s baby back, Wizzie runs away to America.
• JCP was asked to write a romance on the art of happiness (Maiden Castle was the result?)
• About relationships between characters
• About J C Powys
• What is really going on as the cerebral descriptions often far removed from each other and the characters
• Bed post symbolic link to Welsh mythology (MC is forerunner to Powys moving to Wales and writing about Welsh mythology)
• Urien took one bed post when split with Dud’s mother, Dud has inherited the other one which was still on his mother’s bed, Urien gives Dud his bed post – proof of paternity and trying to make things right, Wizzie doesn’t like bed post and eventually Dud returns it to Urien who is very pleased – his link to distant past
• Three types of women appear: 

1. Women who need to be doing – Wizzie circus horse, Thuella painting (Wizzie highly emotionally intelligent.  Half way through story starts to be told from Wizzie’s point of view and this section is more lighthearted and readable) 
2. Women who are Mrs/wives Mrs Quinn becomes Nance, old circus lady, Dud’s mother
3. Young girls (JCP fascinated by necks and ankles) Mona, Wizzie at start
4. (women change and may move between the 3 types)
5. Jenny a woman without a man

Place

• Real descriptions of Dorchester and surrounds
• Glymes - junction with Slyers Lane and back road to Cokers Frome
• Yalbury Lodge - the lodge where he meets Thuella. Lovers Lane the road between Yalbury Lodge and Slyers Lane (Scummy pond along here)
• Dud’s lodgings in High East Street above Mencap (plaque on house) – lower building opposite, so would have had the view as described
•  Friary Lane, Jenny’s house - the house wasn't there when the book was written but the site can be worked out as the stables of the King's Arms are mentioned as being across the road
• Icen Way was once a more major road – used to be Gaol Street with gaol at top and gallows at the bottom. (Gallows then moved to Maumbury Rings, and to top of Dorchester prison)
• Description of walk to the cemetery fascinating – much still there today
• Powys talks about Dorchester as a centre of antiquity, but doesn’t seem to refer to the history other than in a rather general way
• Descriptions of place interesting for those members who know Dorchester, but didn’t work for those that didn’t know it. Doesn’t use place to create an atmosphere and set mood / place doesn’t become a ‘character’ as in Hardy and Dickens.

Why Maiden Castle?

• No real answer
• Written around the time of Mortimer Wheeler’s excavation. This would have been a significant event (Claudius’ collection money for the dig would have reflected reality.)
• Digging into and linking with ancient history.
• Argument amongst characters about what object discovered was realistic 
• Statue representing Mercury is in the museum
• Ancient place with links to far distant past. Urien sees Maiden Castle being built by him because Urien is his ancestors.
• When they first visit Maiden Castle the characters seem throw off the past (except Urien) and wake up to what they really want to be; Dud realises he doesn’t want to become his father, Wizzie realises her love for her horse.

Other points that didn't fit within a theme

• Set in 1935 when JCP was writing, but parts feel as though it was written much earlier. Was this because he had read descriptions from Hardy’s lovely story ‘A Tryst at an Ancient Earthwork’?
• Nuggets of beautiful writing and humour: Taxi man bringing Nancy back to Glymes, Cuckoo flower desription, terrier weeing on table leg at MC, description of quilt at beginning (embroidery is mother’s way of escaping)
• Pricks pomposity
• Insight into child’s psychology  

No one would recommend it as a good read!
4 members finished reading it, 6 (possibly 8) got stuck around page 200 and never finished.

One member who finished said he appreciated elements of the prose but found the story weak.