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The Ballad of Syd & Morgan
A short counterfactual novel, published exactly fifty years after the encounter it purports to describe.
A beautiful young man dressed in Cuban heels and a crushed-velvet jacket cuts a dash as he strides up Silver Street in his native Cambridge, heading for the ornate splendour of King’s College. It is 1968. He is the 22 year old Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, and his destination is home to the great Edwardian novelist, 89 year old E M Forster.
What follows is a tender exchange of truths between two men belonging to opposite ends of the 20th century, but who find within each other’s company shadows of the same demons, loves and losses as well as the familiar weight of the creative impulse. They become unlikely comrades passing fleetingly through each other’s lives. Conjuring the mischievous spirit of Pan, Haydn Middleton has created an exquisite fiction involving two towering figures of English culture.
The Ballad of Syd & Morgan is a deeply moving but joyous portrait of the despair and redemption at the heart of artistic endeavour, as well as the essential solace of companionship - wherever it may be found.
A beautiful young man dressed in Cuban heels and a crushed-velvet jacket cuts a dash as he strides up Silver Street in his native Cambridge, heading for the ornate splendour of King’s College. It is 1968. He is the 22 year old Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, and his destination is home to the great Edwardian novelist, 89 year old E M Forster.
What follows is a tender exchange of truths between two men belonging to opposite ends of the 20th century, but who find within each other’s company shadows of the same demons, loves and losses as well as the familiar weight of the creative impulse. They become unlikely comrades passing fleetingly through each other’s lives. Conjuring the mischievous spirit of Pan, Haydn Middleton has created an exquisite fiction involving two towering figures of English culture.
The Ballad of Syd & Morgan is a deeply moving but joyous portrait of the despair and redemption at the heart of artistic endeavour, as well as the essential solace of companionship - wherever it may be found.
- GenresFiction
185 pages, Hardcover
Published November 8, 2018
4 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Haydn Middleton
243 books11 followersHaydn Middleton was born in Reading and studied History at Oxford, where he now lives. He has worked in advertising and publishing, lectured in British myth and legend, and written a dozen works of fiction and non-fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 9, 2023
This is a beautiful little story. Syd Barrett and EM Forster’s conversation reads like two alien beings from very old civilisations meeting at the edge of the universe, and yet there is a closeness and connection there. I love books that overflow with love, and this one is a quietly perfect example.
May 27, 2020
As part of wanting to support local businesses during lockdown, I ordered an isolation book pack from The Book Hive. They ask you a few questions about recent books you have liked/disliked and what your favourite genres are, and then they pick a set of books they think you will like based off your preferences. I love getting surprise parcels of books, and it was lovely to treat myself to something like this during this anxiety inducing time.
The Ballad of Syd & Morgan is one of the books that The Book Hive chose for me. (The cynic in me would suggest that this was somewhat influenced by the fact that it is published by Propolis, a small publishing imprint, owned by none other than... The Book Hive - but I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt...!)
This is not a book I would ever have chosen for myself. Not least because it depicts a fictional encounter between two real life people that I know barely anything about. I know nothing about the early days of Pink Floyd (or the later days really, if I'm honest) and am ashamed to say I have never read anything by E M Forster.
So, I went into this with quite a lot of trepidation. I just thought it would be too esoteric for me to get any real enjoyment from it. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. It's quite a short book, and it focusses entirely on one brief encounter (that can't last more than a few hours) between these two artistic characters.
This is so far from the plot-driven fiction that I usually consume. However, the characters were so wonderfully written and the setting was so realistic, it was as if I was in the room with them. I found their exchanges and the dynamic between them fascinating. The conversation that flows between them raised many questions and ideas about creativity and artistic endeavours. About whether the value of the art changes when it is made for consumption by others or whether it is made more valuable if the artist suffers to create it. Surely an argument that has existed ever since the tortured artist trope began.
Yes, it's quite an introspective story and the nature of the book means it is inevitably quite meta. But even if you're like me and you don't understand all of the intricacies behind these two specific characters, you will still enjoy it for its simple stylishness and the thoughtful and authentic conversations had between them.
The Ballad of Syd & Morgan is one of the books that The Book Hive chose for me. (The cynic in me would suggest that this was somewhat influenced by the fact that it is published by Propolis, a small publishing imprint, owned by none other than... The Book Hive - but I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt...!)
This is not a book I would ever have chosen for myself. Not least because it depicts a fictional encounter between two real life people that I know barely anything about. I know nothing about the early days of Pink Floyd (or the later days really, if I'm honest) and am ashamed to say I have never read anything by E M Forster.
So, I went into this with quite a lot of trepidation. I just thought it would be too esoteric for me to get any real enjoyment from it. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. It's quite a short book, and it focusses entirely on one brief encounter (that can't last more than a few hours) between these two artistic characters.
This is so far from the plot-driven fiction that I usually consume. However, the characters were so wonderfully written and the setting was so realistic, it was as if I was in the room with them. I found their exchanges and the dynamic between them fascinating. The conversation that flows between them raised many questions and ideas about creativity and artistic endeavours. About whether the value of the art changes when it is made for consumption by others or whether it is made more valuable if the artist suffers to create it. Surely an argument that has existed ever since the tortured artist trope began.
Yes, it's quite an introspective story and the nature of the book means it is inevitably quite meta. But even if you're like me and you don't understand all of the intricacies behind these two specific characters, you will still enjoy it for its simple stylishness and the thoughtful and authentic conversations had between them.
June 7, 2020
This book was really good. It is about the unlikely friendship between an author (E.M Forster) and a member of pink Floyd (Syd barret) I like reading about unlikely friendships in books. I liked the characters. Syd was creative and musical and E.M Forster was quite wise. I also liked the writing style. I definitely recommend it.
February 7, 2021
Extraordinary. Beautifully written and, even having no personal interest in either Barrett or Forster, a compelling dialogue. So rich in atmosphere, and delightful for being the in-depth description of one evening. A remarkable book.
May 1, 2020
I loved this. It’s charming and beautiful. And I absolutely want it to be true.
June 13, 2023
A wonderful meditation on creativity: two characters who you would think have nothing in common, but are, surprisingly much in alignment and learn a lot from each other.
January 6, 2024
Happy 78th birthday Roger…
March 26, 2024
4.5 *
April 2, 2024
A beautiful, wonderful book, ruminating on the nature of creativity. I feel lucky to have come across it.
May 19, 2020
This beautifully fashioned little book (it's no more than notebook size) offers us an alternative version of 1968 in which Syd Barrett pitches up in the Cambridge rooms of the elderly E.M. Forster. They spend the afternoon talking, then Morgan goes off for dinner and Syd goes home to his mum. This stark synopsis cannot convey the subtlety and tact of the writing - because so little happens, Middleton is able to dwell on every word, gesture, unspoken intimation and deft irony. The result is strangely moving - both men have been touched by Pan in their different ways, and both know that the god has left them changed forever even though he has departed from their lives. A first edition of 'The Wind in the Willows' offers a poignant comment on the discussion.
This could have worked as a radio play or even a television play (a sort of Alan Bennett two-hander filmed in one set), but its static quality is compelling. Better still, it felt eminently plausible. Syd is lost but quirky, his artistic ambitions fogged by the music business and excess but still very much part of him. He has a nice line in self-deprecation and wistfulness (he's wistful and nostalgic in the way only a 22-year-old can be). Forster, by contrast, is a wise old bird, whether he's finding a modern spliff less powerful than the ones he smoked in India, musing on same-sex desire, or speculating about how creativity inhabits or abandons us. We know, of course, that 'Maurice' and a number of short stories are still in a draw in his desk, but Syd doesn't: for him, Forster has been silent since 'A Passage to India'. Why do we write/paint/compose, and for whom? How do artists cope with age when their art is a permanent reminder of their earlier lives? And is ambition a motivation or, as Wilde might have said, the last refuge of the failure?
I read this book slowly, savouring its insights and its ability to make a fictitious encounter wholly believable. A modest book in many ways, but one that will stay with me, I think. And it's also a lovely thing to possess, right down to the paper-wrapper which imitates a Pink Floyd oil-projection.
This could have worked as a radio play or even a television play (a sort of Alan Bennett two-hander filmed in one set), but its static quality is compelling. Better still, it felt eminently plausible. Syd is lost but quirky, his artistic ambitions fogged by the music business and excess but still very much part of him. He has a nice line in self-deprecation and wistfulness (he's wistful and nostalgic in the way only a 22-year-old can be). Forster, by contrast, is a wise old bird, whether he's finding a modern spliff less powerful than the ones he smoked in India, musing on same-sex desire, or speculating about how creativity inhabits or abandons us. We know, of course, that 'Maurice' and a number of short stories are still in a draw in his desk, but Syd doesn't: for him, Forster has been silent since 'A Passage to India'. Why do we write/paint/compose, and for whom? How do artists cope with age when their art is a permanent reminder of their earlier lives? And is ambition a motivation or, as Wilde might have said, the last refuge of the failure?
I read this book slowly, savouring its insights and its ability to make a fictitious encounter wholly believable. A modest book in many ways, but one that will stay with me, I think. And it's also a lovely thing to possess, right down to the paper-wrapper which imitates a Pink Floyd oil-projection.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews