Duncton Wood

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William Horwood is an English author of fiction. This novelist first became an author officially in print with the release of his debut fiction novel in 1980, which is titled Duncton Wood. It is about a community of little creatures, and the allegorical story about these moles had several followup stories that came along after that included the second trilogy. Anthropomorphic Shift: Not in shape, but in culture. The moles live underground and eat worms, but can also read and write, and get into some serious philosophy, particularly regarding religion. I can absolutely agree with the comments in Floresiensis review and those by others, that the writing, characterization and spirituality of the series are something truly staggering especially in a time when descriptive writing seems to have become a thing of the past and many books read essentially like modified film scripts.

Though his characterisation of the daily and emotional life of the moles of Moledom is undoubtedly masterful (and remains so throughout the series), in Duncton wood the overall social structures and traditions that make up the society feel far less well emphasized and drawn than in later books. This is particularly of note since political power play by the manipulative Rune, and the decline of religious ritual are two major themes of the novel, yet neither feels as real here as later in the series. We are told for instance that the Duncton council of Elders did "business" at their meetings, but not of what nature that business is, or really what the elders did at all. I often get the impression in Duncton wood that the so called "tyrannical rule" of Rebecca's father Mandrake and certain other evil characters wasn't so much a rule as simply said moles going around beating up those who disagreed with them. This story is set in the countryside of England and will take you on a wild ride of enchantment. Follow this story into a world both mysterious and dark where the moles live. There is always a war that is going on between evil and good, and only the light or the dark can win. At ten William was sent to school in Germany; at eleven he went to Grammar School; at fourteen, inspired by reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, he decided to become a writer and never wavered from that goal. At eighteen, after a nine-month tramp around the British Isles camping wild, he took up his place at Bristol University to read Geography & Economics.

Born in Oxford, England, in May 1944, William was raised on the East Kent coast, mostly in Deal, the setting for his memoir The Boy with No Shoes. His parents were academics and it was an intellectually exciting, creative and liberal household. But as a home for a small boy it was difficult and abusive, as his memoir shows. But not quite a total disaster, fortunately. Survival and then healing happens. Just. Duncton Tales takes place generations in the future, following Duncton Found. The inhabitants of the now-flourishing Duncton system look upon the events of the past with reverence. Prior to its completion, Duncton Tales, originally conceived as a stand-alone sequel, had evolved into the first volume of a second trilogy. The story tells of the archival librarian mole Privet and her adopted son Whillan as they face the rise of an inquisitorial cult that calls itself The Newborns. The series continues with Duncton Rising (1992) and Duncton Stone (1993) Religion of Evil: The Word in the first trilogy, and the Newborns in the second. Basically, any religion other than the Stone is one of these. When it was first announced that there was to be a musical version of Duncton Wood, fear gripped my being. The wonderfully weird, and fantastical, 1980 William Horwood book about the lives, loves and battles of various moles living in tunnels, all but helpless as their long held traditions and Stone religion are decimated by the tyrannical Mandrake, their bloodthirsty leader, was much loved. But it was about moles. Moles who talked and fought and worshipped and healed and mated. It was a complex story about faith, love and power, which relied upon the imagination of the reader to overcome the most fantastical elements, so they could be taken seriously. Many authors are somewhat weary to talk about characters "feeling love" or "hating" yet Horwood is able to use such emotive descriptions in a subtle and layered way which not only emphasizes the fact that as moles his characters probably do have a more primal method of expressing their emotions than humans, and also lets him explore some dark and subtle relationships from many angles.

Horwood explains that the faith of the Stone is what he saw as early pagan religions surrounding the Standing Stones. This novel is all over the place regarding pacing. When Horwood is concentrating on the goings on in the Duncton system, describing the moles and their daily lives, he is at his strongest. These parts of the book fly by and I am never less than interested in what is happening to Mekkins and Rose and the Pasture moles. All that being said however, Duncton wood was still William Horwood's first novel, and as such, while still an astounding work, has a number of rough edges when compared to the other books of the series. And the rape/incest scene that we get is a step too far. These parts of the book made me feel deeply uncomfortable and lead me to believe I would never want to re-read, however entertaining other parts of the book are. There is good, solid work from Robert Dalton (Burhead), Rachel Flynn (Caron), Sinead O’Callaghan (Rue) and amongst the committed, extremely talented ensemble there is particularly good work from Nadia Eide, Myles Hart and Hugo Joss Catton.Another thing about this book is that the author seems to be using the same method that was first used in Watership Downs, though I had no idea that this was going to be the case until I started reading the book. I don’t guess that is generally a problem but it does feel like somebody is simply trying to copy an idea that was originally quite successful. Actually, it does tend to be pretty hard to be original these days, especially when there are so many influences that are going to go into your writing. However, I guess the originality comes out in how you produce your writings, and if you let your own personality and style dictate your work as opposed to simply copying something else. In fact, it does become pretty obvious when a work is forced, particularly where the author isn’t writing for the love of writing, but simply writing because they see it as an easy way of making lots of money (hint: it isn’t).

Duncton Wood' is a book I well remember coming out and about which I was a little scathing at the time. Just another Watership Down rip-off, I believe I said - and there's some truth in that accusation, but only in the sense that any novel with anthropomorphic animals set in the English countryside and in which humanity plays only a tangential role is published in the long shadow of Richard Adam's masterpiece. But Duncton Wood is more than just a re-tread of old ground, and its influences are wider too. Fittingly for the author of several splendid sequels to 'Wind in the Willows', this book - like them - is tinged throughout by a form of mystical, pagan religion as well as being a love story, an action adventure novel and treatise on the common mole. Religion actually plays a central role in the book, namely because we have Mandrake coming along and dominating the system by destroying the religion and then ruling through brute force. Then we have Brachen go off on a quest to restore the religious rites that Mandrake had destroyed. Furthermore, to emphasise the religious nature of the story, we even have the protagonists let one of the antagonists go free, namely because they do not see a reason to kill him, but also because the antagonist (who isn’t Mandrake by the way but one of his lieutenants), has become such a pathetic individual that killing him will simply make them no better than him.William Horwood has also continued the “Wind in the Willows” series and composed some more stories for readers to enjoy. He wrote a memoir that has a fictionalized element to it that was released in August of 2004. It is titled “Boy With No Shoes” and the novel was published to positive reception. The memoir from Wililam goes over themes of his own Kent childhood and some of the challenges found therein.

Despite these issues though I'd still say Duncton wood is a must read for anyone who loves characterization, natural description and a sense of spirituality. While it is perhaps obvious that this was Horwood's first novel, it is still undoubtedly a master peace and one which is only enriched and enlivened by the rest of the series. The Duncton chronicles therefore for me stands not just as a fine work of animal literature in a very small subgenre, but also as a truly amazing series in its own right, and this, it's first chapter, while not perhaps it's finest entry is still absolutely worth reading, rereading, and in fact as I myself have done, reading yet again! This is a very short review because I should be working, but I need to return a few books to the library today....Duncton Wood is the first novel by English author William Horwood. It is the first of a six-volume fantasy series of the same name. As a result of this fractured childhood he spent from age 6 to age 10 growing up in the care of the foster system. For one year he went to school in Germany before moving on to the Grammar School when he was just 11 years old. When he was 18 years old, he went to Bristol University where he studied geography. He had a few jobs after that including raising funds and teaching. He also spent some time as the London Daily Mail’s editor. Messianic Archetype: Beechen, although his teachings lend themselves more towards Buddhism than Christianity.