A Glastonbury Romance

A Glastonbury Romance is a novel by John Cowper Powys, published in 1932. Usually considered Powys' most famous work, the novel is part of his "Wessex Novels," also including Wolf Solent, Maiden Castle, and Weymouth Sands. This very long chronicle details the lives of inhabitants of the Somerset town of Glastonbury over a period of approximately a year.

Plot summary

Much of the novel focuses on the relationship between the modern world and Glastonbury, hub of numerous Grail legends and (according to some accounts) the original Isle of Avalon. Early in the novel, mystic John Geard becomes mayor of Glastonbury and attempts to turn it into the centre of a Grail-worshipping religion for the 20th century. At the same time an alliance of Anarchists, Marxists, and Jacobins try to turn Glastonbury into a commune while capitalist Philip Crow mines the legendary Wookey Hole mines for tin and tries to industrialise the village. The novel follows the individual courses of a large cast of characters. By the end of the novel the commune has been established and Mr Geard has turned the city into a hub of tourism promoting his Grail-based religion. However, in the last chapter a flood submerges much of the village and wipes away much of the preceding struggle.

Characters in "A Glastonbury Romance"

• John Geard, a mystic who influenced the late Canon Crow of Glastonbury and received the man's riches when he died. Geard becomes mayor of the town during the course of the novel and becomes obsessed with the Grail Legend, commissioning new monuments for the town and promoting his own religious brand of Grail-worship. He is married to Megan Geard - a marriage that is still physically passionate unlike that of Geard's rival, Philip Crow. Geard becomes fascinated with the youthful and delicate daughter of the Marquis of P., Rachel Zoyland.
• John Crow, a young man from Norfolk who is coming to Glastonbury in the opening scene of the novel. He eventually marries his cousin Mary Crow and works for John Geard. A skeptic and cynic himself, he sees his work for Geard as a way of debasing and mocking the very Grail-worship he is supposed to promote.
• Philip Crow, a cousin to John and an industrialist. He is widely-hated by the citizens of the town for his attempt to industrialise it. He too hates the Grail legend, and seeks to unseat Geard.
• Tom Barter, a childhood friend of John Crow. He initially works for Philip Crow but leaves to join John Geard. He is a somewhat depressed womaniser who carries a flame for Mary Crow but marries Tossie Stickles after she becomes pregnant.
• Owen Evans, a Welsh mystic and antiquarian and a friend of John Crow. He has strong urges toward violence and sadism, and is often tempted by an anonymous book in his keep. He is often considered to be a semi-autobiographical character, as Powys mentioned having similar traits.
• Mat Dekker, the town vicar. He is also wary of Geard's new religion and is also described as being an enemy of the anthropomorphised sun.
• Sam Dekker, the vicar's son. He carries an on-and-off affair with Nell Zoyland, wife of Will Zoyland, and goes through several spiritual conversions during the course of the novel.
• Persephone Spear, wife of Communist leader Dave Spear and longtime mistress to Philip Crow.

The Grail and mysticism in the novel

The Grail in the novel is depicted not only in its original, Christian guise, but is mixed in with local folklore and Celtic mythology. During the early 20th century much scholarly work (and conventional wisdom) focused on finding an origin for the Grail of medieval romance in earlier Celtic myth. The novel also plays up the associations between Glastonbury and King Arthur's burial place of the island of Avalon, which have been present since the 20th century. At the novel's end, much of the city is flooded, in reference to the myth that held Glastonbury to be the original Avalon. The novel closes with a drowning John Geard looking to Glastonbury Tor (itself referred to repeatedly as the domain of the mythic Welsh spirit Gwyn-ap-Nudd) in hopes of seeing the Grail, followed by a short passage comparing the tower of the Tor and the Glastonbury Abbey to the persistence of the mythic and mystic in everyday life.

The novel also contains numerous examples of anthropomorphisation, reflecting Powys' belief that even inanimate objects possessed soul. The sun, for example, is described as an enemy to the vicar Mat Dekker, while different trees are described as listening in to an early liaison between Mary and John Crow. Other passages refer to the spiritual extension of characters' will existing outside their bodies, particularly in the chapter "Nature Seems Dead" where a number of sleeping characters' 'spirits' move about the town. The novel also repeatedly refers to a Manichean dualism in the nature of the First Cause, the closest equivalent to a Judeo-Christian God in the novel, though this dualism is seen as tied in with all of existence and is seen most strongly in the character of Owen Evans. These traits are found perhaps more strongly in A Glastonbury Romance than any of Powys' other novels, though his works were usually imbued with the author's own Celtic-based mystic beliefs described in detail in his personal letters and Autobiography.

Lawsuit

In 1934, Powys and his English publishers were successfully sued for libel by Gerard Hodgkinson, real-life owner of the Wookey Hole caves, who claimed that the character of Philip Crow had been based on him. The damages awarded crippled Powys financially, and he was forced to make substantial changes to his next novel, Weymouth Sands, which was initially published under the title Jobber Skald, all references to the real-life Weymouth Beach having been excised.^[1]

References