Death of the Fox (1971)

This rich tapestry of a book follows the final two days of Sir Walter Raleigh's (or Ralegh's) life. Taking those two days as a framework, it lures the reader into a sequence of dreams, memories and visions that come together to create a vivid picture of Elizabethan and early Stuart England, and the men who lived in it.

Garrett's writing is dense and picturesque and this is a book that demands time to be spent on it. It is really less of a novel and more a series of fictionalised meditations on life in England at this time. There are some passages of surpassing beauty which capture the elegiac sense of a fading golden age seen from the harsh light of day. However, it is not an easy read. The language is archaic and Garnett's sentences are sometimes chopped and truncated in odd ways. In short: it's a challenge, but one which is worth the effort if you appreciate beautiful writing and historical fiction.

For a longer review, please visit my blog:
http://theidlewoman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-death-of-fox-george-garrett.html ( )

Professor George Garrett humble yet so talented. He said that he hoped one day to be placed [hyperthetically speaking] in the tomb of the Unknown Writer. This is a masterpiece. Really worth reading if its you sort of thing.

2852 Death of the Fox, by George Garrett (read 17 Mar 1996) This is fiction concerning the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was condemned in 1603 but not executed till 1618. This book has a tortuous style(sentences with an understood subject (!) are a favorite device of the author) and much of the book was a chore to read. But in spite of oneself one gets caught up in the dramatic account. While fiction, much seems historically accurate. I found the whole era very interesting, and it seems a period of history which one could well once again spend time reading about. Richard Brandon, who chopped off Charles II's head in 1649, was on the scaffold with his father when his father, Gregory Brandon, chopped off Sir Walter Raleigh's head in 1618. This book had an excellent ending which seemed to make its reading worthwhile. ( )