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wombat1138As part of a recent re-reading binge, I've just whipped back through The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams, better known for his first book Watership Down. By comparison to that lapine odyssey, tGitS is an adult contemporary novel that reminds me of Robert Graves' The White Goddess in its odd, numinous pedestal of joyously amoral female sexuality. At this point, I'm rather conflicted about that-- sex-positive for women, yay! but only in the context of hypnotic devouring temptress, boo-- esp. since Adams' travelogue fantasy Maia (whose parallel re-read I'm still in the middle of) explores the same theme in a slightly more nuanced way.
This time around, I'm noticing a lot more symbolism than I recall from previous readings, especially in the character names but also the pervasive imagery of water. I know I'm still missing stuff because of Adams' tendency to show off in a polyglot way; Maia has an epigraph in untranslated, untransliterated Greek, and tGitS has a lot of snippets in German with only a few translations appendixed at the end. Specifically, the central woman in tGitS was originally named "Käthe Guetner", though this was quickly changed in subsequent editions because of a libel suit; considering all the other names, "Guetner" must have some allusive significance (unless there was some actual basis on the real woman), but I have no idea what.
In my edition, she's named "Käthe Wassermann", which strikes me as a wonderful choice considering Adams' typical hydrous associations with women as well as the existence of the "Wassermann test" as a well-known screen for syphilis. The alternate transcription of "Käthe" as "Kaethe" is an anagram of "Hekate", tying into her incarnation of general goddessness. In some other editions (and a the movie with Meg Tilly), her first name is "Karin"; like "Käthe", it's a shortened form of "Katherine", which is often etymologically linked to Hekate. Apparently there's at least one other version of her last name, but since the spellings are inconsistent across the web, I'm not sure whether it's "Forester", "Forster", or "Foster".
Alan Desland's name is solidly (and indeed redundantly) linked with land, just as the element of earth is his passion in the form of the antique ceramics he collects and trades in. Similarly, his local clergyman's name is "Tony Redwood"-- I couldn't remember the etymology of "Anthony" at the time, but evidently it's thought to be (er) rooted in the Greek anthos, "flower"; similarly, the full name of Alan's sister (usually nicknamed "Flick") is "Florence".
Alan's eccentric shop assistant, Mrs. Taswell, turns out to have the first name "Vera": "Vera Taswell" = "Veritas Well", a fountain of truth, a cryptic sibyl.
Toward the end, "Nurse Dempster" at the hospital is hinted as having the first name "Mary" (and thus being a full eponym of a key character in Robertson Davies' "Deptford Trilogy"): "Mary Dempster" = "My Redempster", with the last syllable femininely adjusted as in "webster" vs. "weaver" or "spinster" vs. "spinner".
During the final climactic chaos in and around Alan's house, the plants "leopard's bane, monkshood and delphinium" are explicitly mentioned as Käthe's doom draws closer-- she'd been previously compared to a leopard several times (as are Fornis and Occula in Maia); the monkshood refers to the tension between the cruel, lawless sensuality of the Goddess vs. the Christian balance of justice and mercy (as discussed several times between Käthe and Tony Redwood; those three or four conversations really epitomize the central underlying tensions of the entire book); "delphinium" invokes Delphi, emphasizing the oracular truth that's crashing in around them.
There's an interesting essay about the movie's themes here, and also someone's blog entry about the original novel here, although I think the latter's interpretation doesn't match up with Maia-- far from covertly condemning Alan's iconization of Käthe, imho Adams is largely complicit with it.
This time around, I'm noticing a lot more symbolism than I recall from previous readings, especially in the character names but also the pervasive imagery of water. I know I'm still missing stuff because of Adams' tendency to show off in a polyglot way; Maia has an epigraph in untranslated, untransliterated Greek, and tGitS has a lot of snippets in German with only a few translations appendixed at the end. Specifically, the central woman in tGitS was originally named "Käthe Guetner", though this was quickly changed in subsequent editions because of a libel suit; considering all the other names, "Guetner" must have some allusive significance (unless there was some actual basis on the real woman), but I have no idea what.
In my edition, she's named "Käthe Wassermann", which strikes me as a wonderful choice considering Adams' typical hydrous associations with women as well as the existence of the "Wassermann test" as a well-known screen for syphilis. The alternate transcription of "Käthe" as "Kaethe" is an anagram of "Hekate", tying into her incarnation of general goddessness. In some other editions (and a the movie with Meg Tilly), her first name is "Karin"; like "Käthe", it's a shortened form of "Katherine", which is often etymologically linked to Hekate. Apparently there's at least one other version of her last name, but since the spellings are inconsistent across the web, I'm not sure whether it's "Forester", "Forster", or "Foster".
Alan Desland's name is solidly (and indeed redundantly) linked with land, just as the element of earth is his passion in the form of the antique ceramics he collects and trades in. Similarly, his local clergyman's name is "Tony Redwood"-- I couldn't remember the etymology of "Anthony" at the time, but evidently it's thought to be (er) rooted in the Greek anthos, "flower"; similarly, the full name of Alan's sister (usually nicknamed "Flick") is "Florence".
Alan's eccentric shop assistant, Mrs. Taswell, turns out to have the first name "Vera": "Vera Taswell" = "Veritas Well", a fountain of truth, a cryptic sibyl.
Toward the end, "Nurse Dempster" at the hospital is hinted as having the first name "Mary" (and thus being a full eponym of a key character in Robertson Davies' "Deptford Trilogy"): "Mary Dempster" = "My Redempster", with the last syllable femininely adjusted as in "webster" vs. "weaver" or "spinster" vs. "spinner".
During the final climactic chaos in and around Alan's house, the plants "leopard's bane, monkshood and delphinium" are explicitly mentioned as Käthe's doom draws closer-- she'd been previously compared to a leopard several times (as are Fornis and Occula in Maia); the monkshood refers to the tension between the cruel, lawless sensuality of the Goddess vs. the Christian balance of justice and mercy (as discussed several times between Käthe and Tony Redwood; those three or four conversations really epitomize the central underlying tensions of the entire book); "delphinium" invokes Delphi, emphasizing the oracular truth that's crashing in around them.
There's an interesting essay about the movie's themes here, and also someone's blog entry about the original novel here, although I think the latter's interpretation doesn't match up with Maia-- far from covertly condemning Alan's iconization of Käthe, imho Adams is largely complicit with it.