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Figures in the Sand
A revived Roman Empire is in decline, when Fidus Octavius is sent to command a garrison against the savages on the Syrian frontier. Then, abruptly, communication with the outside world is cut off. The garrison is near mutiny, and Octavius embarks on a desert journey in pursuit of redemption.
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First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Janice Elliott
35 books2 followersJanice Elliott was a journalist, novelist, and children's author.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 11, 2013
Reason for reading:
Another impulse buy in a secondhand bookshop in Yorkshire. I read the comment about it on the front and was caught and then on the back and bought it. I hadn’t noticed that the comment of the front was from a review in the Ham & High… this was a purchase that didn’t work out quite so well…
About the book:
The desolate Syrian frontier of the new (or ancient) Roman Empire is home to General Fidus Octavius and his garrison. Fearful of the mysterious ‘Savages’ and in an uneasy truce with the local Bedouin, the men are desperate to be relieved and return home. The divide between known and lost history is extreme. Communication with the rest of the world is cut off and Octavius has to rely on memories of his wife’s words rather than the intermittent delivery of letters. A strange mix of archaeology, depravity, isolation and hallucination guides the garrison forward. Octavius makes a journey into the desert in search of some kind of deliverance and finds a strange kind of god in a world between the living and the dead.
Quote, unquote:
And there is another interruption around midnight. Octavius has fallen asleep, his head on his table, his journal his pillow, when by the light of a dry thunderstorm the salt flats blink and from the direction of Damascus, crowded and complaining in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, the women wake everyone. Dogs bark. Otto runs to meet Probus on the road from the desert. There are shouts from the barracks. Octavius wakes. The whores have arrived.
What was good:
The moment of revelation at the end of the book is inspired. The gradual decline in discipline in the garrison is well described. There are a few strong supporting characters - Otto, Severus and Probus most notably. The archaeology is atmospheric as well.
What wasn't good:
Figures In The Sand is certainly not ‘Another Lord Of The Flies…’ as the quote from the Ham & High review says on the cover. There are times when it is quite simply dull. The characters often have nothing to say and what is a short book – just over 200 pages – could easily have been captured in a short story. Octavius is interesting, but flashbacks to childhood lessons, memories of his wife and his relationship with his son are superfluous. This is not recommended reading
Another impulse buy in a secondhand bookshop in Yorkshire. I read the comment about it on the front and was caught and then on the back and bought it. I hadn’t noticed that the comment of the front was from a review in the Ham & High… this was a purchase that didn’t work out quite so well…
About the book:
The desolate Syrian frontier of the new (or ancient) Roman Empire is home to General Fidus Octavius and his garrison. Fearful of the mysterious ‘Savages’ and in an uneasy truce with the local Bedouin, the men are desperate to be relieved and return home. The divide between known and lost history is extreme. Communication with the rest of the world is cut off and Octavius has to rely on memories of his wife’s words rather than the intermittent delivery of letters. A strange mix of archaeology, depravity, isolation and hallucination guides the garrison forward. Octavius makes a journey into the desert in search of some kind of deliverance and finds a strange kind of god in a world between the living and the dead.
Quote, unquote:
And there is another interruption around midnight. Octavius has fallen asleep, his head on his table, his journal his pillow, when by the light of a dry thunderstorm the salt flats blink and from the direction of Damascus, crowded and complaining in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, the women wake everyone. Dogs bark. Otto runs to meet Probus on the road from the desert. There are shouts from the barracks. Octavius wakes. The whores have arrived.
What was good:
The moment of revelation at the end of the book is inspired. The gradual decline in discipline in the garrison is well described. There are a few strong supporting characters - Otto, Severus and Probus most notably. The archaeology is atmospheric as well.
What wasn't good:
Figures In The Sand is certainly not ‘Another Lord Of The Flies…’ as the quote from the Ham & High review says on the cover. There are times when it is quite simply dull. The characters often have nothing to say and what is a short book – just over 200 pages – could easily have been captured in a short story. Octavius is interesting, but flashbacks to childhood lessons, memories of his wife and his relationship with his son are superfluous. This is not recommended reading
June 10, 2020
Janice Elliott seems to have vanished into oblivion, with very few of her books much read, even the most popular on GR getting no more than three dozen punters. I vaguely remember enjoying Life on the Nile, and her stuff can still be found among the paperback fiction shelves along the book drag of Charing Cross Road. But for all intents and purposes, she is forgotten.
In what appears to have been her final book, she tackles a subject that will be immediately familiar to fans of Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, in fact, I believe it was the promise of the blurb that drew me in in the first place .. "a garrison.. on the Syrian frontier".
The garrison post is actually the desert oasis of Palmyra, now famous mostly for its destruction at the hands of ISIS a few years ago. But when Elliott sets her story, it marks the eastern boundary of the decaying Roman Empire. The man in charge, General Fidus Octavius, left behind his loving wife Livia and daughter Paulina back in Italy (Tivoli), and also a son Rufus who went off to soldier in Africa under a dark cloud. But all of that was many years ago, and in all that time, there has been no relief, and even postal communication has ceased in recent years. Octavius keeps the post going, in a manner of speaking, with the help of the veterans Otto and Probus and the sophisto noob officer Severus but the going is getting tougher by the season. Across the oasis live a band of Bedouins, whose relations with the garrison are a mix of necessary commerce and distant wariness. The elderly Bedouin leader Hatim, who was Fidus's friend, has died lately, leaving the succession to his hard son Antarah and his fat feckless son Imru, there is also a daughter Manah whom the author gives the role of kohl-eyed oriental houri (which is kind of lame). From time to time, we also catch glimpses of Livia's life, holed up as she is with a band of Christian fugitives in the Italian mountains, raising the little Paulina while penning wistful missives to the unknowing husband.
Such is the setup. Will Octavius be relieved, will he ever get back to Italy, will he see Livia again in this life? Will his garrison perish through hunger and disease, or be put to the sword by the Bedu or the never-seen Blue Savages who exist only as a mythical shadow across the face of the desert? Under the pitiless sun, abandoned in the barren wastes of sand and stone, does any of it even matter? Elliott works her effect through short chapters, quick changes in narrator (skilful, this), relentless intercutting between the present and Fidus' memories of childhood and youth. Her style is brisk yet elusive, depending more on suggestion than exposition, and it is a rather compelling portrait of a man of command that she builds up, losing his mind, and lost in space and time in a manner not dissimilar to that of the Magistrate in Coetzee's book. There may not quite be a "there" here, the philosophical musings and tortured memories of Octavius notwithstanding; at least with a dozen pages left till the end, there is still not much sign of a denouement. But maybe I don't really need a flash-bang ending all that much, for this is a success even in purely stylistic terms and I've enjoyed the ride well enough not to care greatly about the destination.
PS There is one profound mystery at the heart of the book - its precise setting in time. The back blurb says "revived Roman empire", every sign points to some time in the first couple of centuries after Christ, and yet, and yet Elliott sprinkles in lots of modern-day military references, from tanks and guns to a full-blown plane crash-landed and rusting away in the desert! Odd, very odd indeed. I'm not sure I have an answer.
In what appears to have been her final book, she tackles a subject that will be immediately familiar to fans of Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, in fact, I believe it was the promise of the blurb that drew me in in the first place .. "a garrison.. on the Syrian frontier".
The garrison post is actually the desert oasis of Palmyra, now famous mostly for its destruction at the hands of ISIS a few years ago. But when Elliott sets her story, it marks the eastern boundary of the decaying Roman Empire. The man in charge, General Fidus Octavius, left behind his loving wife Livia and daughter Paulina back in Italy (Tivoli), and also a son Rufus who went off to soldier in Africa under a dark cloud. But all of that was many years ago, and in all that time, there has been no relief, and even postal communication has ceased in recent years. Octavius keeps the post going, in a manner of speaking, with the help of the veterans Otto and Probus and the sophisto noob officer Severus but the going is getting tougher by the season. Across the oasis live a band of Bedouins, whose relations with the garrison are a mix of necessary commerce and distant wariness. The elderly Bedouin leader Hatim, who was Fidus's friend, has died lately, leaving the succession to his hard son Antarah and his fat feckless son Imru, there is also a daughter Manah whom the author gives the role of kohl-eyed oriental houri (which is kind of lame). From time to time, we also catch glimpses of Livia's life, holed up as she is with a band of Christian fugitives in the Italian mountains, raising the little Paulina while penning wistful missives to the unknowing husband.
Such is the setup. Will Octavius be relieved, will he ever get back to Italy, will he see Livia again in this life? Will his garrison perish through hunger and disease, or be put to the sword by the Bedu or the never-seen Blue Savages who exist only as a mythical shadow across the face of the desert? Under the pitiless sun, abandoned in the barren wastes of sand and stone, does any of it even matter? Elliott works her effect through short chapters, quick changes in narrator (skilful, this), relentless intercutting between the present and Fidus' memories of childhood and youth. Her style is brisk yet elusive, depending more on suggestion than exposition, and it is a rather compelling portrait of a man of command that she builds up, losing his mind, and lost in space and time in a manner not dissimilar to that of the Magistrate in Coetzee's book. There may not quite be a "there" here, the philosophical musings and tortured memories of Octavius notwithstanding; at least with a dozen pages left till the end, there is still not much sign of a denouement. But maybe I don't really need a flash-bang ending all that much, for this is a success even in purely stylistic terms and I've enjoyed the ride well enough not to care greatly about the destination.
PS There is one profound mystery at the heart of the book - its precise setting in time. The back blurb says "revived Roman empire", every sign points to some time in the first couple of centuries after Christ, and yet, and yet Elliott sprinkles in lots of modern-day military references, from tanks and guns to a full-blown plane crash-landed and rusting away in the desert! Odd, very odd indeed. I'm not sure I have an answer.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews