Haydn Middleton
Author of Grimm's Last Fairytale
About the Author
Image credit: Oxford University Press
Series
Works by Haydn Middleton
Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in Britain (Explore History) (Explore History) (2001) 8 copies, 1 review
Project X Origins: Brown Book Band, Oxford Level 11: Heroes and Villains: Heroes or Villains? (2014) 5 copies
Steck-Vaughn Elements of Reading Fluency: Student Reader Grades 6 - 9 Last-Minute Rescue (2004) 4 copies
Project X Origins: Brown Book Band, Oxford Level 11: Strong Defences: Strong Defences (2014) 2 copies
O Cotidiano Europeu no Século XVI 2 copies
Bragðarefurinn 2 copies
Cleoplatra 1 copy
Myths and legends 1 copy
Project X Origins: White Book Band, Oxford Level 10: Working as a Team: Let's Form a Band! (2014) 1 copy
Project X Code: The Joust 1 copy
Project X Origins: White Book Band, Oxford Level 10: Working as a Team: The Beautiful Team (2014) 1 copy
Vita sedic.mo secolo (_La) 1 copy
la ballata di syd & morgan 1 copy
Associated Works
Winter's Tales: New Series No 6 (International Anthology of Stories by New & Established Auth) (1990) — Contributor — 11 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1955
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- children's book author
- Agent
- Christopher Little Literary Agency
Members
Reviews
I received this novel as part of a subscription to the Republic of Consciousness, which focuses on small presses in the UK (and which I entirely recommend). Am I entirely sure what I just read? No, not at all. The best way to describe it, for me, is the painting Nocturne in Grey and Silver by James McNeil Whistler:
It's a dusky wash of sensations, unclear outlines, uncertain distances, plenty of room for the subconscious mind to wander and fill in.
It begins like a science fiction show more post-apocalyptic scenario: boats of young people whose memories have seemingly been wiped clean, now emerging from what they call "the blackout", traveling from one island to the next along an apparently unending string of islands, each given a number but also creating their own names, finding all their needs taken care of by unseen hands at each stop/barracks along the way inside lockers labeled with their numbers, mysteriously viewed with some unsettled combination of trepidation/unease/hope/dependence by islanders they come across.
One of them with the name Reger Bede is left behind at an island, where he ages for decades and fills notebooks with his writing (nod to Saint Bede, I presume) as the island society apparently grows all around him. We're not quite sure what his purpose is, or indeed that of the entire group he set out with, what he calls his "cohort". Some themes have settled around him/them but what exactly they mean is not told. They're connected however to burgeoning light, and hearts, and time, and turning records.
Eventually officials take him away for a "time out", a debriefing. You think the author is about to spell out for you what exactly is going on? No, no way. The officials are there to listen to Bede, not give us any information. But, but, but. I seize on this as a clue:
Ah, the idealism of youth. Optimistic that they can remake the world in a more just fashion. Generation after generation rising up anew with that hope, which, [looks around] never quite comes to pass... oh, hey...
Whether I'm on or off base with that interpretation of what this novel is "about", I really enjoyed the language and uniqueness of this novel, and the unresolved plot details intrigued me rather than left me frustrated, which I could definitely see the other reaction being. show less
It's a dusky wash of sensations, unclear outlines, uncertain distances, plenty of room for the subconscious mind to wander and fill in.
It begins like a science fiction show more post-apocalyptic scenario: boats of young people whose memories have seemingly been wiped clean, now emerging from what they call "the blackout", traveling from one island to the next along an apparently unending string of islands, each given a number but also creating their own names, finding all their needs taken care of by unseen hands at each stop/barracks along the way inside lockers labeled with their numbers, mysteriously viewed with some unsettled combination of trepidation/unease/hope/dependence by islanders they come across.
One of them with the name Reger Bede is left behind at an island, where he ages for decades and fills notebooks with his writing (nod to Saint Bede, I presume) as the island society apparently grows all around him. We're not quite sure what his purpose is, or indeed that of the entire group he set out with, what he calls his "cohort". Some themes have settled around him/them but what exactly they mean is not told. They're connected however to burgeoning light, and hearts, and time, and turning records.
Eventually officials take him away for a "time out", a debriefing. You think the author is about to spell out for you what exactly is going on? No, no way. The officials are there to listen to Bede, not give us any information. But, but, but. I seize on this as a clue:
On our earliest travels, I explained, we saw communities of all shapes and sizes, and were treated much the same by each. There hardly seemed to be haves and have-nots, since no one back then had had two beans to rub together. You could therefore believe (as most of us did) that when the regrowth brought plenty, its fruits would be shared out equitably -
I remember one visitor leaning forward when I paused here, a point I had reached previously with at least two of his colleagues.
"And you feel this was not delivered?" he asked.
Ah, the idealism of youth. Optimistic that they can remake the world in a more just fashion. Generation after generation rising up anew with that hope, which, [looks around] never quite comes to pass... oh, hey...
Whether I'm on or off base with that interpretation of what this novel is "about", I really enjoyed the language and uniqueness of this novel, and the unresolved plot details intrigued me rather than left me frustrated, which I could definitely see the other reaction being. show less
A Dream in This World or the Next?
Review of Propolis Books paperback edition (to be published May 1, 2021)
The Actual Whole of Music is a mysterious book that seems to take place in a post-apocalyptic world after an event some call "the blackout." But there are others who act as if they have no knowledge of the event. There are a group of about 90 people who call themselves "the cohort" who are visiting islands in this world. They are expected at all of their destinations and find prepared show more housing and supplies in individual numbered lockers. One member of the cohort is the chronicler and this role has usually been held by women. Early in the book the chronicler role is designated to the protagonist, who is named Reger (pronounced Ray-gah) Bede. Bede is however abandoned by the cohort and lives out his life on O island helping raise two twin children with a woman there until circumstances send him away. The book eventually cycles back to the beginnings of a new cohort where Bede is reunited with people from his past.
I tag the book as post-apocalyptic, but it is not dystopic or sci-fi in the way we usually see in that genre. Generally everyone seems to get along with each other and there isn't conflict over food and shelter. These are plentiful enough that the communities are able to care for the travellers' cohort without a problem. Although the cohort travels on simple boats powered by oar and sail, machine technology exists as well including music players, cars and airplanes, presumably powered by electricity & fuels of some nature.
There are some seemingly anachronistic elements, noted especially in the music players, which range from vinyl records to music cassettes and eventually to digital discs. This may be due to the novel having been written over the course of 20 years as explained in the author's Afterword. Although there are recurring references to the music players, especially the cyclical grooves of vinyl records, there isn't actually much about music which must instead be viewed as a symbolic way to express what cannot otherwise be expressed.
Although the book does not provide an explanation for what is going on, I still found it enormously intriguing and interesting to think about. It would certainly be a great book club discussion to hear what other people's opinions are about what is going on and what is the book attempting to portray. I must admit I did begin to think of the book as a portrayal of the afterlife, but everyone will have their own read on it.
I read The Actual Whole of Music as the April 2021 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers. show less
Review of Propolis Books paperback edition (to be published May 1, 2021)
The Actual Whole of Music is a mysterious book that seems to take place in a post-apocalyptic world after an event some call "the blackout." But there are others who act as if they have no knowledge of the event. There are a group of about 90 people who call themselves "the cohort" who are visiting islands in this world. They are expected at all of their destinations and find prepared show more housing and supplies in individual numbered lockers. One member of the cohort is the chronicler and this role has usually been held by women. Early in the book the chronicler role is designated to the protagonist, who is named Reger (pronounced Ray-gah) Bede. Bede is however abandoned by the cohort and lives out his life on O island helping raise two twin children with a woman there until circumstances send him away. The book eventually cycles back to the beginnings of a new cohort where Bede is reunited with people from his past.
I tag the book as post-apocalyptic, but it is not dystopic or sci-fi in the way we usually see in that genre. Generally everyone seems to get along with each other and there isn't conflict over food and shelter. These are plentiful enough that the communities are able to care for the travellers' cohort without a problem. Although the cohort travels on simple boats powered by oar and sail, machine technology exists as well including music players, cars and airplanes, presumably powered by electricity & fuels of some nature.
There are some seemingly anachronistic elements, noted especially in the music players, which range from vinyl records to music cassettes and eventually to digital discs. This may be due to the novel having been written over the course of 20 years as explained in the author's Afterword. Although there are recurring references to the music players, especially the cyclical grooves of vinyl records, there isn't actually much about music which must instead be viewed as a symbolic way to express what cannot otherwise be expressed.
Although the book does not provide an explanation for what is going on, I still found it enormously intriguing and interesting to think about. It would certainly be a great book club discussion to hear what other people's opinions are about what is going on and what is the book attempting to portray. I must admit I did begin to think of the book as a portrayal of the afterlife, but everyone will have their own read on it.
I read The Actual Whole of Music as the April 2021 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers. show less
Three interwoven stories.
The main plot deals with the folklorist Jacob Grimm, nearing the end of his life and in failing health. He is cared for by his niece, Auguste, and a servingman, Kummel. The relationships between all three are fraught with tension and secrets.
In flashback-style, we also learn about the young Jacob and his (rather unhealthy, interdependent) relationship with his younger brother, Willi.
Interspersed with these two segments is a retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty, show more mixed with elements of other fairytales and some entirely new additions.
By an Oxford grad, the book is surely not without literary merit, but I wished that the story had focused less on Auguste's angst and more on the historical details of the Grimms' lives and work. I had hoped to come away from reading this book feeling that I knew much more about the brothers – but I didn't.
I liked the ‘fairytale' segment, but its function seemed, to me, to mostly be illustrative – to show an ‘unsanitized' version of an old story. The issues brought up thematically in that section, I felt, should have related back to the story going on in the other segments – but they really didn't.
I also couldn't help feeling that Middleton wasn't really inside the heads of his characters. A sense of time and place (Germany, 19th century) was established by throwing in stuff like gratuitous references to "schnitzels" rather than through the characters. And finally, I found Middleton's indirectly-implied thesis that German fairytales are somehow related to Nazism to be annoying and offensive (he makes a comment about how the German versions of fairytales were distinctly ‘nastier' than, say, the French versions – which I think is definitely arguable and probably untrue.) The author also uses Grimm's belief in folklore being an important part of our heritage to imply that the ‘nastiness' of the stories says something about the German people as a whole. The character of Kummel, who is entirely fictional, is included merely to give the author a chance to bring up anti-Semitism, and I found it totally irrelevant to bring up, in the afterword, that Hitler used versions of Grimm's book to promote the ‘German folk community.'
The Grimms were not anti-Semites, they died well before the rise of Nazism, and I don't believe that fairytales have any culpability for or connection to fascism in any form.
This theme is not by any means the largest part of the book, I think it's just something that I'm personally sensitive to." show less
The main plot deals with the folklorist Jacob Grimm, nearing the end of his life and in failing health. He is cared for by his niece, Auguste, and a servingman, Kummel. The relationships between all three are fraught with tension and secrets.
In flashback-style, we also learn about the young Jacob and his (rather unhealthy, interdependent) relationship with his younger brother, Willi.
Interspersed with these two segments is a retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty, show more mixed with elements of other fairytales and some entirely new additions.
By an Oxford grad, the book is surely not without literary merit, but I wished that the story had focused less on Auguste's angst and more on the historical details of the Grimms' lives and work. I had hoped to come away from reading this book feeling that I knew much more about the brothers – but I didn't.
I liked the ‘fairytale' segment, but its function seemed, to me, to mostly be illustrative – to show an ‘unsanitized' version of an old story. The issues brought up thematically in that section, I felt, should have related back to the story going on in the other segments – but they really didn't.
I also couldn't help feeling that Middleton wasn't really inside the heads of his characters. A sense of time and place (Germany, 19th century) was established by throwing in stuff like gratuitous references to "schnitzels" rather than through the characters. And finally, I found Middleton's indirectly-implied thesis that German fairytales are somehow related to Nazism to be annoying and offensive (he makes a comment about how the German versions of fairytales were distinctly ‘nastier' than, say, the French versions – which I think is definitely arguable and probably untrue.) The author also uses Grimm's belief in folklore being an important part of our heritage to imply that the ‘nastiness' of the stories says something about the German people as a whole. The character of Kummel, who is entirely fictional, is included merely to give the author a chance to bring up anti-Semitism, and I found it totally irrelevant to bring up, in the afterword, that Hitler used versions of Grimm's book to promote the ‘German folk community.'
The Grimms were not anti-Semites, they died well before the rise of Nazism, and I don't believe that fairytales have any culpability for or connection to fascism in any form.
This theme is not by any means the largest part of the book, I think it's just something that I'm personally sensitive to." show less
I picked up this book because I had heard the stories about Princess Diana's death and how she was a beloved figurehead worldwide. However, I hadn't known much more than that. This book gives a comprehensive look at Diana's life from birth to death and the impact she made on the world. I have a much better understanding now of who she was as a person and why she became so wildly popular. This book could be used in a humanities classroom as an introduction to writing biographies. On the other show more hand, this biography might be a way for students to dive into the culture of fame and celebrities. Has our culture been impacted by Diana's life and death? Reading level: 6th grade show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 130
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 1,152
- Popularity
- #22,303
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 8
- ISBNs
- 253
- Languages
- 5