Author:John Fowles
In this series of moving recollections involving both his childhood and his work as a mature artist, John Fowles explains the impact of nature on his life and the dangers inherent in our traditional urge to categorise, to tame and ultimately to possess the landscape. This acquisitive drive leads to alienation and an antagonism to the apparent disorder and randomness of the natural world.
For John Fowles the tree is the best analogue of prose fiction, symbolising the wild side of our psyche, and he stresses the importance in art of the unpredictable, the unaccountable and the intuitive.
This fascinating text gives a unique insight into the author and offers the key to a true understanding of the inspiration for his work.
A text of unusual beauty and perception
—— Publishers WeeklyMagnificent... Mystical
—— Daily TelegraphGritty and entertaining
—— Sunday TelegraphFowles' language is strong, green, discursive, related throughout to his own life and memories
—— VogueBateson and Martin have delivered what others have claimed to provide: a solid, signposted road out of the trench war between nature and nurture
—— Marek Kohn , IndependentWith a clarity of style that belies the complexity of the subject, Patrick Bateson and Paul Martin conduct us through the strategic highways adn tactical byways of individual life history
—— Richard Dawkins'Exhilarating'
—— Melvyn Bragg , Observer'As enthralling in its own way as was Darwin's original'
—— Kenan Malik , Independent on Sunday