Back in December 2019, just before the world descended into chaos, I reviewed a slim hardback volume released by Michael Walmer as part of his Zephyr imprint. It’s one of my favourites of the many series he publishes, focusing on classic short works, and I’ve loved and reviewed most of them. The book in question was “The Owl, The Duck and – Miss Rowe! Miss Rowe!” by John Cowper Powys – an unusual title, an unusual book, and yet it was quirky, beautifully written and ultimately very moving. So when Mike kindly offered me a review copy of another Powys in the Zephyr series I couldn’t resist!
The new work is “Up and Out” – and yes, that *is* a kind of giant slug on the cover, and yes it’s relevant to the story! If “The Owl…” was quirky, “Up…” is out and out strange – but nevertheless a fascinating and really thought provoking read! The book focuses on Gor Goginog and Rhitha, an intense young couple who find most of the world to be an unpleasant place. So when a giant atomic explosion destroys the world, they seem remarkably unfazed to find themselves floating through space on the last tiny green scrap of the world which has survived. Here they encounter Org, a creature created Frankenstein-like from the mad acts of vivisectionists, and his human partner Asm (ahem…) As the small piece of planet floats through space, the four survivors debate what has happened. They encounter a giant fork-tongued slug which is Time; pass into the Void; encounter mythical being and Greek Gods; and end up party to a debate on free will between God and the Devil. All the while, most of creation seems to have had enough of existence and is committing mass suicide wherever you look. Does God have the answer, or is oblivion best??
Why are we – answer me that, angel of my heart! – why are we debarred from deciding that this confounded creation of life, by this Grand Inquisitor and Master Vivisector we call God, this life which the greatest of all philosophers maintains appears by the eternal processes of matter – why, I say, are we debarred from deciding that it is the opposite of a praiseworthy thing, that it is in fact a wicked and abominable thing, to allow this life to go on?
If this sounds a bit bats, well it probably is – but it’s certainly an entertaining and fascinating read!! Powys is obviously drawing on Welsh myth and history in places, with Gor invoking all sorts of gods and mythologies at places. However, the discussions range far and wide over all kinds of beliefs and creeds, with the whole universe eventually coming to the conlusions that suicide is the best option as life is so horrible. Certainly, the early pages of the book deplore much of the progress of the time, with vivisection coming in for some bitter criticism (with which I wholeheartedly agree), and Powys does seem very disillusioned with life.
But it seemed to me that a world without free will, a world ruled by absolute determinism from the start, would be so dull and tedious an experiment as to be hardly worth making.
The book does eventually come to the crux of the matter, something which often features in arguments about religion. Free will is something we’ve apparently been granted by God, and so humans can be good or bad. At one point in “Up…” God does point out that he could easily create a new world, take away free will so that everyone behaves nicely and there is a lovely calm world – but as he says, this would be terribly boring… Perhaps God is coming to believe also that self-destruction and oblivion is the best option…
More than this I shall not say, but I would encourage you to read the book if you can as it’s very thought-provoking, full of ideas and quite intriguing! Powys writes in a melodramatic fashion, which adds to the entertainment, and he’s not afraid to explore all manner of concepts – which is very refreshing! Me, I’m a godless woman so I tend to think that you’re not here, then you are here, and then you’re not again, so you might as well enjoy the time inbetween the darkness. But I found reading “Up and Out” a fascinating, if sometimes strange, experience and so kudos to Mike for bringing this back into print – another worthy addition to the Zephyr series! 😀
madamebibilophile
Sep 08, 2021 @ 07:22:15
Well this sounds like nothing else at all! Certainly a unique way to explore the enduring big questions.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:54:36
It is! There’s so much food for thought but it’s very entertaining too!
Lisa Hill
Sep 08, 2021 @ 09:10:22
I’d never heard of this author… was he popular in his day?
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:49:23
Well, I don’t think he was ever a bestseller, and he’s been described as controversial. He came from a talented family and I guess his books are fairly culty and best described as influential rather than popular. Very interesting and worth exploring!
mikewalmer
Sep 08, 2021 @ 09:29:40
Thanks Karen for covering this. He’s astonishingly original, I agree. A perfect antidote if you’re feeling your reading might have got into a rut!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:46:19
He’s certainly a one-off. which I love of course, and wonderfully distracting!
JosieHolford
Sep 08, 2021 @ 12:54:03
My one connection with JCP is that I once stayed at his house in Hillsdale, NY. And now I’m tempted to actually start to read him.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:45:47
Oh, how fascinating!! He certainly wrote a lot of books and a lot of long ones – I own many and have read few, so I need to do something about that!
WordsAndPeace
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:40:41
I have read it, but I’m also currently reading a weird book. I hope it’s going to become fascinating too. It’s The Islanders, by Christopher Priest
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:45:09
Weird books are certainly interesting! 😀
WordsAndPeace
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:41:11
Oops, I meant I have NOT read it!!!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 15:44:54
🙂
JacquiWine
Sep 08, 2021 @ 19:28:26
I don’t think is for me, if I’m being honest, but it’s refreshing to read about something completely different. Powys sounds like a true original!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 08, 2021 @ 20:05:29
It’s definitely not a book for all, but most entertaining. And yes – Powys was a real one-off I think!
heavenali
Sep 08, 2021 @ 20:10:01
Goodness this one does sound very strange, hugely inventive and thought provoking though. Probably not one for me really though.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 09, 2021 @ 15:53:42
No, not necessarily your kind of thing, Ali – but most entertaining if you have that kind of mind! 😀
BookerTalk
Sep 08, 2021 @ 20:46:01
Not one that I would enjoy because it is so odd and I’m such a feet on the ground kind of girl!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 09, 2021 @ 15:53:21
LOL – this one is definitely off the planet!!!!
Julé Cunningham
Sep 09, 2021 @ 00:46:34
What a wonderfully wild sounding book! And an interesting combination you’ve described with big questions (that seem awfully relevant these days), tucked into the melodrama.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 09, 2021 @ 15:52:44
Wild is the word, but so entertaining and so many ideas washing around in it. A very intriguing read!
Calmgrove
Sep 09, 2021 @ 17:44:23
The only JCP I’ve ever read was the equally weird All or Nothing which attracted me decades ago because of its tangential Arthurian motifs. This sounds somewhat similar with silly names, some definitely Welsh (the original Ritho was a Welsh giant), but with a metaphysical streak. Tempted … ish!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 09, 2021 @ 19:33:33
He’s pretty bats, tbh, but so intriguing and of course some of his biggest (by which I mean humungous amount of pages) books are set around Glastonbury – so another potential interest for you! ;D
Calmgrove
Sep 09, 2021 @ 21:36:44
Yes, A Glastonbury Romance especially, which I feel that now with some temporal distance from the archaeological and historical ‘Arthurian’ period I was keen on last century I might be able to better appreciate his flights of fancy!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 10, 2021 @ 09:03:41
Flights of fancy is a good description! 😀
buriedinprint
Sep 09, 2021 @ 19:35:58
It seems like a good read for these times, provoking questions about what matters and how we make it matter and whether or not we look inwardly or outwardly while struggling with all that. Even though that likely wasn’t in the publisher’s mind back then… timeless, I suppose.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 09, 2021 @ 19:46:52
You’re right, very relevant to our most strange world – you do find youself wondering what the point is some days….
Liz Dexter
Sep 09, 2021 @ 21:13:06
Gosh! I’ve only come across his massive tomes, and I know he was a favourite read of Iris Murdoch’s so I need to tackle him some time. Not one for me, though, with some of those themes unfortunately – not to mention the slug, argh!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 10, 2021 @ 09:04:46
Well he’s probably as textually complex as Murdoch seems to me – but fun to explore. The slug is not slimy or gross just conceptually vast! ;D
buriedinprint
Oct 03, 2021 @ 21:36:07
And now I have to add that as soon as I saw the slug I wanted this book…but then I started to think it was a little too clever for me to fully appreciate it (the book, not the slug…ok, perhaps both).
kaggsysbookishramblings
Oct 04, 2021 @ 10:29:26
It’s clever, but readable and very entertaining! You could certainly give it a try! 😀
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