This article was on the Historical Novel Society's webpages for some years, but due to a recent revamp of the website it has been removed. It was originally published in Solander 8, December 2000, 2-6.
Rosemary
Sutcliff: an appreciation
Rosemary Sutcliff was born in a blizzard on 14 December
1920. The place was East Clandon in Surrey and in her autobiography,
Blue Remembered Hills (1983), she is rather rueful about having been
born in Surrey, feeling that the West Country was really her home. Her
father was in the Navy, though there were many doctors amongst her
ancestors, plus a few farmers and Quaker merchants. Her mother’s brothers
all went to live in India to spend their lives working on building
railways.
As a child she had Still’s Disease, a form
of juvenile arthritis. The effect of this led to many stays in hospital
for painful remedial operations. As a very young girl, the arsenic in her
medicine caused her to have hallucinations; she saw a panther, wolves and
snakes despite not knowing what they were. However, years later, she was
to meet them in Kipling’s books. Another effect of illness was that she
spent much time sitting still looking, rather than moving around and
investigating. This meant that she developed an acute eye for observation.
Alan Garner (Wintle 1974, 224) comments that children’s authors often have
two things in common – they were deprived of the usual primary schooling
and they were ill and left to their own company, which was certainly true
of Sutcliff.
Due to her father’s postings she moved
frequently – living in Malta, Streatham (London), Chatham Dockyard,
Sheerness Dockyard and North Devon. She had an uneasy relationship with
her mother, but admitted that “very few of the worthwhile things in this
world are all easy”. Her mother disciplined her rigorously, so that the
child Sutcliff would take her spankings in proud silence, and later in
life found it very difficult to cry, believing it shameful.
Her mother read to her very willingly, and
never got tired of reciting stories. Sutcliff was reared on a diet of
Beatrix Potter, A.A. Milne, Charles Dickens, Hans Anderson, Kenneth
Grahame and Rudyard Kipling. She was read Norse, Celtic and Saxon legends,
and also historical novels which her mother loved. Surprisingly, Sutcliff
did not learn to read until the age of nine.
After the period of travelling, the small
family finally settled down to live in the Devon area. For Sutcliff, these
years alternated between hospital and school. One of the hospitals had a
Guide pack; the only badge that Sutcliff won was the Artist’s Badge. In
the hospital library she found a book that proved to be the treasure of
her childhood. Called Emily of New Moon, it was a Canadian novel
that followed a girl’s adventures and her attempts to be a writer. When
she left hospital, she left the book behind, and then much later tried to
trace it, but did not recall the author. It was eventually found for her
in the 1970s by a Canadian friend who was doing a piece on the work of L.M.
Montgomery. The author of Anne of Green Gables had also written
Emily of New Moon.
Sutcliff ended her formal education at
fourteen, and went to Bideford Art School. She passed the City and Guilds
examination, and was advised to make the painting of miniatures her
profession. Now that she was considered an adult, any operations she had
took place in nursing homes. These she found very lonely, mostly having
the companionship of aged ladies when she really needed friends of her own
age. She was eighteen when the Second World War broke out. Her father went
to command convoys, while she and her mother stayed in Devon. Sutcliff had
a miniature displayed at the Royal Academy, and not surprisingly, the
subject was a knight in 15th century armour.
Around the middle of the War, Sutcliff “got
the itch” to write. She felt cramped by the small canvas of miniature
painting, and turned to writing to gain a larger vista. The first story
she could remember writing was Wild Sunrise, a story about a
British chieftain faced with the invasion of the Romans. In her
autobiography she stated that she was happy that the story is now lost, as
she felt that it was badly written, having too much of herself in it. She
did regret the loss of her next story, which was set in the 18th century.
It concerned a little girl sent to stay with her Great Aunt who befriends
an embittered young man. Some of its themes re-emerged in The Eagle of
the Ninth years later.
Not long
after the end of the War, Sutcliff wrote a re-telling of Celtic and Saxon
legends which she showed to an old friend. He sent them to Oxford
University Press (OUP). Although they rejected the manuscript, they
requested that she write a version of the Robin Hood Story.
It was during this period that she met
Rupert, who had been an RAF pilot. He was married, but showed clear
interest in Sutcliff. They spent the summer together, but in the autumn he
went to work in London. They corresponded throughout the winter, but when
he visited in the spring, Sutcliff had a sense of foreboding. It turned
out that Rupert had met another woman whom he eventually married when his
divorce came through.
Sutcliff
had finished The Chronicles of Robin Hood and sent it to be typed
up. It took eighteen months for the manuscript to be returned to her,
during which time she had written The Queen Elizabeth Story and
sent it on to OUP. This book was a subject choice of her own, and she
found it a delight to write. It was accepted, and the two books were
eventually published in the same year, 1950.
This is
where Blue Remembered Hills finishes, but she stated that from 1950
onwards she kept a diary, and that she met Rupert again twenty years
later. This infers that producing another volume of autobiography was
perhaps on her mind. Her mother died during the 1960s, and Sutcliff and
her father moved to Sussex. Despite being increasingly disabled, she
travelled abroad and visited Greece. Her father died in the early 1980s.
Thereafter, she lived near Arundel with a
housekeeper and two small dogs (Talcroft 1995, 146). These dogs were
Chihuahuas. In 1984 when one of the dogs died, Sutcliff waited for a
decent time before getting another one to be a companion to the surviving
dog, Sebastian. She was waiting in the hope that the spirit of the dog
that had died would perhaps be reborn into another dog that she might own
in the future. This belief in reincarnation had been expressed elsewhere.
Sutcliff said that perhaps the reason authors are drawn to certain eras
was that they had experienced them in a previous life, so that they were
essentially writing about what was familiar (Fisher 1974, 89). When
someone said to her that she would perhaps be a soldier in another life,
in reference to Sutcliff's heroes often being warriors, she instantly
replied “No thank you, I had enough of soldiering”. It was as if it was
something she remembered (Thompson 1987, 14).
Sutcliff
was writing the morning that she died on 23rd July 1992. She had
completed the second draft of a novel (published in 1997 as Sword Song),
with two more works waiting to be published.
Writing
Methods
Margaret Meek wrote about the process by
which Sutcliff started her novels (1962, 12). The idea for a story might
come from an external source, such as visiting a house and wondering what
the previous occupants might have been like when it was new, or perhaps
inspiration would come from something Sutcliff had read. Sometimes the
idea would come from the inside, completely out of the blue.
Sutcliff used large red notebooks to make
her research notes in. An encyclopaedia would be the first port of call,
which would in turn provide a reading list. This would be presented to the
local library, and when those books arrived they could be mined for the
bibliographies in the back, as well as the information in the main part of
the works. All the sifted information would find its way into the red
notebooks. Then Sutcliff would start to create a picture of the daily
life of the era her idea was set in. This was the most enjoyable part for
her. Not much of the plot would find its way into the notebooks, as
Sutcliff would make a draft outline of around two or three thousand words,
and then she would start to write. Ordinarily, she would write from mid
morning until nightfall.
Sutcliff tended to write the drafts of her
novels in longhand (Moss, 1992), producing three drafts plus a fair copy.
She often wrote 1,800 words per day in a small clear script on a single
folio sheet. Her pen was “fattened” and cushioned so that her arthritic
hand could guide it easily (Moss, 1992). The process of producing a whole
book would take a couple of months’ research, followed by around eight
months’ writing.
Sutcliff wrote over fifty books (see the
list at the end of this article), some of which were translated into
fifteen languages. She also wrote plays for the radio and stage.
Finding a voice
The Queen Elizabeth Story,
Sutcliff’s second book, was primarily aimed at little girls. She
acknowledged that this and the next two or three books were a little too
cosy and too sweet (Sutcliff 1992, 169). However, she was aware that it
was her apprenticeship phase of writing. It was Sutcliff's fifth book,
Simon, published in 1953, that really showed what she could do, and
this was recognised by the critics (Talcroft, 1995, 3). The book is longer
and more complex than her previous works. Set during the English Civil
War, it is the story of Roundhead Simon and how his childhood friendship
with Cavalier Amias is wrecked by the war. According to Meek, it shows all
the traits that became fully developed in later books (1962, 32). However,
Simon is not handicapped in some way, or of a surly temperament, unlike
many of the characters Sutcliff wrote about later.
Continuity
The next year saw the publication of what
is probably Sutcliff’s most famous book – The Eagle of the Ninth.
The hero, Marcus Flavius Aquila, is invalided out of the Roman army and
seeks to find out what happened to the ill-fated Ninth Legion. This is the
first book to be set in the Roman period, and Marcus remained one of
Sutcliff’s favourite characters, although she was aware that many people
found him to be difficult and prickly. However, she justified this by
pointing out that he had undergone some awful experiences (Thompson, 1987,
13). This book also saw the first appearance of a device which provides
continuity between several books: a heavy signet ring which was set with a
flawed emerald bezel on which a dolphin was engraved. The ring also
appears in The Silver Branch, Frontier Wolf, The Lantern
Bearers, Sword at Sunset, Dawn Wind, The Shield Ring
and Sword Song. These linked books were written over a period
of over 35 years.
Evans-Gunther
points out that a virtual family tree of the Aquila family can be compiled
because the connections are so well illustrated (1993, 7). The line runs
clearly from Marcus Aquila in Eagle of the Ninth (129AD) to Owain
in Dawn Wind (6th century), with the ring appearing in the other
books though not obviously connected to Aquila’s descendants. Sutcliff
stated that she had a “ ... terrific thing about continuity” (Fisher
1974, 186), so it is likely to be a very deliberate strategy. As well as
the Dolphin ring, she set The Knight’s Fee (11th century) and
Warrior Scarlet (Prehistoric) in the same hills, and used a flint axe
in both stories to indicate the historical ties to that land (Fisher 1974,
186).
Continuity is very much a Kipling
tradition; he acknowledges the settling of England by many peoples, and
the way they eventually learn together to create a new nationality (1962,
52). Also, Kipling emphasises the rite of passage from youth to
adulthood. Sutcliff was happy to admit her debt to Kipling, and wrote an
appreciation of him in 1960.
Kingship
Throughout her childhood, Sutcliff was
steeped in the myths and legends read to her by her mother. Later, she
visited a local bookshop to read Fraser’s The Golden Bough, a huge
work that contained the ideas and background to sacred kingship and
primitive religion that were to surface in her novels in various forms.
Barbara
Talcroft’s important study of Sutcliff’s works with reference to this
aspect picks out three major elements in her writing: Goddess, Sacrificial
King and Maimed King. The relationship that a king has with the Goddess
provides him with his legitimacy as a rule. The Goddess can take many
forms and represent various aspects of life. For example, she can be a
maiden, a consort, or a hag, and these can be linked with the phases of
the moon: the crescent moon being the goddess of birth and growth, the
full moon the goddess of love and war, and the waning moon being
associated with the hag of divination and death (Talcroft 1995, 25).
The
sacrificial king has an obligation to sacrifice himself for the good of
his people and the land. The maimed king is a danger to his people as he
might cause the kingdom to become a wasteland.
A novel
that contains all three of these in good measure is Sword at Sunset,
published in 1963. This novel is about King Arthur, or Artos as Sutcliff
called him. The goddess appears in Ygerna (Artos’ half sister with whom he
unwittingly commits incest), Guenhumara (whom he marries) and the Virgin
Mary (who is symbolised by a moon daisy which is worn by Artos and his
Companions as they go into battle).
The
maimed king is Artos who fathers a child with his half sister. He sees
this as a great sin and becomes impotent. Though he does father a daughter
eventually, both his children are maimed in different ways. The daughter
is sickly and dies in circumstances that cause a further rift with
Guenhumara (so that he is effectively in discord with the goddess and the
land). His son, Medraut, is maimed in character, being twisted by hate
instilled by Ygerna, and seeks to undermine and destroy Artos.
Artos is
also the sacrificial king, dedicating himself to his people and land, and
eventually dying for them. However, the most obvious example of
sacrificial kingship in the book is Artos’ uncle, the High King Ambrosius.
In the book’s prequel, The Lantern Bearers (1959), the young
Ambrosius rejects marriage saying that “ ... To lead Britain is enough for
one man, with a whole heart and no ties”, which is his first sacrifice. In
Sword at Sunset he falls ill with cancer, and chooses to die
hunting, trying to kill a royal stag – both Ambrosius and the stag are
portrayed as sacrificial kings.
Looking at Talcroft’s analysis (1995, 126),
it is clear that the kingship themes became most developed in the early
1960s, culminating in Sword at Sunset in 1963, and The Mark of
the Horse Lord in 1965. After this time, the themes are still present
in one form or another, but not so marked.
Sutcliff
always became deeply involved in her books, but Sword at Sunset
engaged her more heavily than any other book she wrote (Thompson, 1987,
13). It took some eighteen months to write, and absorbed her completely.
She would write from 6am one morning until 2am the following morning,
finding the process completely addictive. Usually writing in the third
person, Sutcliff found she had trouble with this book, and only became
satisfied with it when she wrote in the first person. It was the first
time she had done this, but it seemed the best and only way. After
finishing the book, it took her several weeks to get back into her own
skin, after thinking herself so completely into the character of Artos.
Sword at Sunset is
deservedly one of the most admired historical novels about King Arthur
(Thompson 1985, 47). Though some traditional aspects of the legend are
retained, Sutcliff discards those that she deems to be rather late
additions, so that, for example, Bedwyr takes the part later played by
Lancelot. Along with The Lantern Bearers, it is among some the
first attempts at an historical setting for King Arthur. Rather than a
just a Celtic setting, Sutcliff also fully acknowledges the strong role
that those who had adopted Roman culture (and would have called themselves
Roman) would have played in the fifth century. This is still a relatively
unusual viewpoint, and it has barely been explored in historical fiction
for this period since Sutcliff (Nastali 1999, 19). Combining as it does
primitive mythological elements, allied with solid archaeological
research, Sword at Sunset is a deeply satisfying book.
Dark and light
The theme of dark and light occurs in many
of Sutcliff’s novels. The subjects revolve around invaders of one kind or
another (the Roman advance in Britain in The Eagle of the Ninth or
the Saxon invasion of Britain in Dawn Wind). Individuals can
embody the light or dark as Artos and Medraut are light and dark in
Sword at Sunset, or have both aspects such as the greatly conflicted
Aquila in The Lantern Bearers. It is possible that this theme
emerges so strongly due to Sutcliff's experiences of living through the
Second World War. The outcome of the war, taken for granted now, was
uncertain then, and the threat of invasion greatly feared. It must have
seemed that that Britain was once again under the threat of having its
light extinguished.
Conclusion
Sutcliff is considered mainly a children’s
author. However, many of her books have a wider appeal, addressing as
they do complex and elemental themes in an intricately woven and foreign
background. Sutcliff thought that her books were for children of all ages
from nine to ninety (Thompson 1987, 13).
That
Sutcliff is still an influential and well-respected historical novelist is
evident. Recently, Helen Hollick has made a deliberate nod toward Sutcliff
and her last book Sword Song where the hero has many ship-borne
adventures. In Harold the King, about the last Saxon king of
England, Hollick named the lead ship in the Saxon fleet patrolling the
English coast Dolphin as tribute to the linking emerald Dolphin
that appeared in so many of Sutcliff’s novels.
In her 1960 monograph, Sutcliff laments
that Kipling has gone out of style (Talcroft 1995, 2). The same may now
perhaps be said of Sutcliff. Harrison, reviewing Hollick’s Arthurian novel
The Shadow of the King comments that Sutcliff’s Sword at Sunset
is: “... obviously now dated in many ways.” (Harrison 1998, 4). This is
in particular reference to Sutcliff’s “telling” rather than “showing”
style of writing, and Harrison herself finds the stories enthralling
(Harrison pers comm). Although the “telling” style of writing does
not detract in any way from the skill and beauty of Sutcliff’s prose,
modern readers are often more used to the story being shown to them.
In the
case of the Arthurian period novels there are now new theories, and
stories that reflect them. Sutcliff’s Roman books for children are still
in print, but other categories have not fared so well. In particular, her
adult books are mostly out of print, with Sword at Sunset currently
only in print in the US by Tor Publishers.
Rosemary Sutcliff was primarily a
storyteller. She said that she belonged to the minstrelsy, and chose to
present her stories in the way that seemed right to her. In doing this, in
her own poetic and rich prose, she has given us books that are already
considered as classics and will be read for many years to come.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to: Belinda Copson for commenting on the
bibliography; Sarah Cuthbertson for the loan of the Walck book on Rosemary
Sutcliff; Towse Harrison for some useful perspectives; Helen Hollick for
information on Harold the King. Any errors or omissions are my own.
Awards given to Rosemary Sutcliff
Carnegie Award, Library Association for The Lantern
Bearers 1959
Boston-Globe Horn Book Award, Tristan and Iseult
1972
Hans Christian Andersen Award, Highly Commended 1974
Order of the British Empire 1975
Other Award, Song for a Dark Queen 1978
Phoenix Children's Book Award, The Mark of the Horse
Lord 1985
Commander of the British Empire 1992
Bibliography and References
1992 “Obituary – Rosemary Sutcliff”, The Times
25 July
Eccleshare J. 1992, “Obituary - Rosemary Sutcliff”,
Independent 27 July
Garside-Neville S. and Hunter-Mann K. 1985, “Rosemary
Sutcliff “ Dragon Society Newsletter Vol 2, No 1
Garside-Neville S. 1992, “Rosemary Sutcliff”,
Dragon Society Newsletter Autumn/Winter Vol 4, No3/4,
3-5
Harrison T. 1998, “The Shadow of the King” The
Historical Novels Review December 1998, 4
Hollick H. 1997, The Shadow of the King,
Heinemann
Hollick H. 2000, Harold the King, Heinemann
Lively P. 1992, “Obituary - Rosemary Sutcliff”
Independent 31 July
Meek M. 1962, Rosemary Sutcliff, Walck Inc
Moss E. 1992, “Chronicler of Occupied Britannia” The
Guardian 27 July1992
Nastali D. 1999, “Arthur Without fantasy: Dark Age
Britain in Recent Historical Fiction” Arthuriana 9.1 5-22
Sutcliff R. 1983, Blue Remembered Hills: a
recollection Bodley Head
Sutcliff R. 1992, Blue Remembered Hills: a
recollection Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Talcroft B.L. 1995, Death of the Corn King: King and
Goddess in Rosemary Sutcliff's Historical Fiction for Young Adults The
Scarecrow Press
Thompson R.H. 1985, The Return From Avalon: a Study
of the Arthurian Legend in Modern Fiction Greenwood Press
Wintle J. and Fisher E. 1974, The Pied Pipers:
Interviews with the Influential Creators of Children's Literature
Paddington Press
A bibliography of Rosemary Sutcliff's works
1950 The Chronicles of Robin Hood
1950 The Queen Elizabeth Story
1951 The Armourer’s House
1952 Brother Dusty-Feet
1953 Simon
1954 The Eagle of the Ninth
1955 The Outcast
1956 The Shield Ring
1956 Lady in Waiting (adult)
1957 The Silver Branch
1958 Warrior Scarlet
1959 The Lantern Bearers
1959 The Bridge Builders (originally a short story in
Another Six)
1959 The Rider of the White Horse
(adult)
1960 Houses and History (non-fiction)
1960 Rudyard Kipling (non fiction)
1960 Knight’s Fee
1961 Dawn Wind
1961 Beowulf (reprinted in 1966 as
Dragon Slayer)
1963 Sword at Sunset (adult)
1963 The Hounds of Ulster
1964 The Fugitives (in Miscellany One, edited by Edward
Blishen)
1965 The Mark of the Horse Lord
1965 Heroes and History (non-fiction)
1965 A Saxon Settler (non-fiction)
1966 The New Laird (radio play script)
1967 The High Deeds of Finn McCool
1967 The Chief’s Daughter
1967 The Man Who Died at Sea (in The
House of the Nightmare and other Eerie Stories, edited by Kathleen Lines)
1968 A Circlet of Oak Leaves
1969 The Flowers of Adonis (adult)
1970 The Witch’s Brat
1970 The Making of an Outlaw (in Thrilling Stories from the
Past for Boys edited by Eric Duthie)
1970 Swallows in the Spring (in Galaxy edited by Gabrielle
Maunder)
1971 The Truce of the Games
1972 Tristan and Iseult
1972
Heather, Oak and Olive (three stories including The Chief’s Daughter, A
Circle of Oak Leaves, A Crown of Wild Olives)
1973 The Capricorn Bracelet
1974 The Changeling
1975 We Lived in Drumfyvie (written with Margaret
Lyford-Pike)
1975 Ghost Story (a screenplay with
Stephen Weeks)
1976 Blood Feud
1977 Shifting Sands
1977 Sun Horse, Moon Horse
1978 Song for a Dark Queen
1978 Is Anyone There? (a book on the Samaritans, editor
with Monica Dickens)
1979 The Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy
Grail
1980 Frontier Wolf
1981 The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table
1981 The Road to Camlann: The Death of
King Arthur
1981 Eagle’s Egg
1983 Blue Remembered Hills: a recollection (non-fiction)
1983 Bonnie Dundee
1986 Roundabout Horse
1986 Flame Coloured Taffeta
1986 Mary Bedell (play)
1987 Blood and Sand (adult)
1987 A Little Dog Like You
1989 Merch Y Pennaeth (translated by
Gwenan Jones)
1989 Little Hound Found
1990 The Shining Company
1992
The Eagle of the Ninth:
Play (with Mary Rensten)
1993
Black Ships Before
Troy: The story of the Iliad (illustrated by Alan Lee)
1993 Chess Dream in the Garden
1993 The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup
1995 The Wanderings of Odysseus (illustrated by Alan Lee)
1997 Sword Song
Sandra Garside-Neville is a reviewer for the Historical Novel Review, though she was given a sabbatical (!) to research and write this article. She's a professional librarian and a freelance archaeologist. The photograph of Rosemay Sutcliff on the front cover of Solander is from her private collection.
