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Gráinne
Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 1987
Meet Grá blue-stocking seductress, darling of the media, painfully human yet mysterious as her great namesake, the proud girl-goddess who plunged all Ireland into war and shadow...
Meet Grá blue-stocking seductress, darling of the media, painfully human yet mysterious as her great namesake, the proud girl-goddess who plunged all Ireland into war and shadow...
175 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1987
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About the author
Keith Roberts
194 books57 followersUsed These Alternate Names: Alistair Bevan , John Kingston , David Stringer
Keith John Kingston Roberts was a British science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" (the first of a series of stories featuring a teenage modern witch and her eccentric granny) and "Escapism.
Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym Alistair Bevan. His second novel, Pavane, which is really a collection of linked stories, may be his most famous work: an alternate history novel in which the Roman Catholic Church takes control of England following the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I.
Roberts wrote numerous novels and short stories, and also worked as an illustrator. His artistic contributions include covers and interior artwork for New Worlds and Science Fantasy, later renamed Impulse. He also edited the last few issues of Impulse although the nominal editor was Harry Harrison.
In later life, Roberts lived in Salisbury. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990, and died of its complications in October 2000. Obituaries recalled him as a talented but personally 'difficult' author, with a history of disputes with publishers, editors and colleagues.
Keith John Kingston Roberts was a British science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" (the first of a series of stories featuring a teenage modern witch and her eccentric granny) and "Escapism.
Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym Alistair Bevan. His second novel, Pavane, which is really a collection of linked stories, may be his most famous work: an alternate history novel in which the Roman Catholic Church takes control of England following the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I.
Roberts wrote numerous novels and short stories, and also worked as an illustrator. His artistic contributions include covers and interior artwork for New Worlds and Science Fantasy, later renamed Impulse. He also edited the last few issues of Impulse although the nominal editor was Harry Harrison.
In later life, Roberts lived in Salisbury. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990, and died of its complications in October 2000. Obituaries recalled him as a talented but personally 'difficult' author, with a history of disputes with publishers, editors and colleagues.
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August 24, 2020Many of the elements of maximalist literature: magic, paranoia, modern humans externalizing their demons, tragic obsessions... but not the size, which appears rather minimalist - although even at 100-200 pages (depending on the edition) this wasn't an easy read.
The story is framed inside a series of doctor-patient interviews where the narrator consistently refers to himself in the third person.
The title refers to the name of the antagonist, as well as to a figure from Irish mythology. Helped by the narrator she wields the powerful magic of advertising and commercial television to create a highly successful modern myth.
The story is framed inside a series of doctor-patient interviews where the narrator consistently refers to himself in the third person.
The title refers to the name of the antagonist, as well as to a figure from Irish mythology. Helped by the narrator she wields the powerful magic of advertising and commercial television to create a highly successful modern myth.
December 14, 2017
A man lies in a hospital bed being asked questions. In answer he begins to tell his life story. It is a curiously detached process: he thinks of himself in the third person, referring to himself as Bevan. (In this Roberts may be utilising aspects of his own young life to flesh out his story - or carrying out a double bluff to make us think so. He used the name Alastair Bevan as an early pseudonym.) The man doesn’t name some of the characters from his early life merely gives them titles; The Mother, The Headmaster. His early discomfort on dealing with women is well conveyed. Things change when he meets the enigmatic Gráinne, however, though to begin with he only worships her from afar. She is named for the mythical Irish princess.
Roberts’s prose is oblique, meaning is not immediately transparent, it has to be teased out by the reader. By the end, though, the process does become less opaque. The intercutting between “Bevan”’s reminiscences and his interlocutors is an important part of this. It highlights and comments on his tale, allows Roberts to ask the questions the reader might - and answer them. He tells his story in five “sessions” named Anuloma, Abhassara, Brahmacariya, Aranyaka and Upanishad respectively. These titles are not from Irish mythology but relate to Hindu customs and tales.
The Gráinne ‘Bevan’ remembers has aspects of a goddess, or an everywoman, and she has the gift of prophecy. “Right down through history religion had backed the state. She said the end result of money sticks” – some man had invented these centuries ago and things had gone downhill from then on – “was three World Wars. Two down and one to go. She said she wanted something to survive, But not a God. Or it would all start again.”
Some time after their relationship ends she lands a job as a TV presenter on Channel Five (a fifth UK TV channel was fictitious in 1985) and becomes famous. As part of a project she is working on she asks the advertising firm Bevan works for to devise a campaign for her, knowing he will have the idea she wants. The ramifications of her programme cause the authorities some problems and this is the ultimate reason for Bevan’s questioning. It is only at this point that aspects of SF creep in to the novel. In common with most of Roberts’s œuvre the whole, however, has an unsettling effect, always teetering on the borderline of the fantastic, as if Gráinne might have been a figment of ‘Bevan’’s imagination.
For Roberts completists this is a must though those unfamiliar with his work might be best to start with earlier novels.
Roberts’s prose is oblique, meaning is not immediately transparent, it has to be teased out by the reader. By the end, though, the process does become less opaque. The intercutting between “Bevan”’s reminiscences and his interlocutors is an important part of this. It highlights and comments on his tale, allows Roberts to ask the questions the reader might - and answer them. He tells his story in five “sessions” named Anuloma, Abhassara, Brahmacariya, Aranyaka and Upanishad respectively. These titles are not from Irish mythology but relate to Hindu customs and tales.
The Gráinne ‘Bevan’ remembers has aspects of a goddess, or an everywoman, and she has the gift of prophecy. “Right down through history religion had backed the state. She said the end result of money sticks” – some man had invented these centuries ago and things had gone downhill from then on – “was three World Wars. Two down and one to go. She said she wanted something to survive, But not a God. Or it would all start again.”
Some time after their relationship ends she lands a job as a TV presenter on Channel Five (a fifth UK TV channel was fictitious in 1985) and becomes famous. As part of a project she is working on she asks the advertising firm Bevan works for to devise a campaign for her, knowing he will have the idea she wants. The ramifications of her programme cause the authorities some problems and this is the ultimate reason for Bevan’s questioning. It is only at this point that aspects of SF creep in to the novel. In common with most of Roberts’s œuvre the whole, however, has an unsettling effect, always teetering on the borderline of the fantastic, as if Gráinne might have been a figment of ‘Bevan’’s imagination.
For Roberts completists this is a must though those unfamiliar with his work might be best to start with earlier novels.
December 31, 2023
After a failed attempt some time ago, I started this book again, today. Roberts has long been one of my favourite authors - Pavane, The Chalk Giants, Molly Zero, Kiteworld - though he does tend to put his characters through some tough experiences.
I think we have met this 'Alistair Bevan' character before. He is the young Roberts, presumably, 'Stan Potts' in The Chalk Giants, the grammar school boy bullied by his peers and teachers alike, and terrified of his mother, lusting after girls but frightened of them.
I know it's not going to be a comfortable read. Roberts has the writing skills to make you feel his characters' pain, and to care. But here goes, deep breath and get stuck in!
I think we have met this 'Alistair Bevan' character before. He is the young Roberts, presumably, 'Stan Potts' in The Chalk Giants, the grammar school boy bullied by his peers and teachers alike, and terrified of his mother, lusting after girls but frightened of them.
I know it's not going to be a comfortable read. Roberts has the writing skills to make you feel his characters' pain, and to care. But here goes, deep breath and get stuck in!
October 13, 2020
Read some years ago but did not leave much impression. An odd tale of philosophy in which Celtic and Hindu mythology is entwined.
December 11, 2016
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2697905.html
One of those books that I really enjoyed reading, but can't quite explain why. The whole thing is told as flashback by the narrator, possibly undergoing psychiatric treatment; Gráinne is his former lover, his challenge and his inspiration for moving from a Middle England upbringing to creative heights inspired by Celtic myth; there is some social commentary along the way, but the real point is how the narrator/protagonist achieves his full creative powers through interaction with the entrancing Other.
I've seen a couple of reviewers stating that this is all about the relationship between Ireland and England. It's not really; it's driven by changing English perceptions of Ireland and Celtic heritage. And that's all right; but don't claim it for more than it is.
This won the BSFA Award for 1987.
One of those books that I really enjoyed reading, but can't quite explain why. The whole thing is told as flashback by the narrator, possibly undergoing psychiatric treatment; Gráinne is his former lover, his challenge and his inspiration for moving from a Middle England upbringing to creative heights inspired by Celtic myth; there is some social commentary along the way, but the real point is how the narrator/protagonist achieves his full creative powers through interaction with the entrancing Other.
I've seen a couple of reviewers stating that this is all about the relationship between Ireland and England. It's not really; it's driven by changing English perceptions of Ireland and Celtic heritage. And that's all right; but don't claim it for more than it is.
This won the BSFA Award for 1987.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews