I bought this second-hand book (cheaply). Admittedly, I was primarily interested in Fay Godwin’s photographs in the book. Her photographs of the Scilly Islands landscape are monumental. However, I find John Fowles’s texts difficult to follow.
The island atmosphere of Fowles’s text reminds me of Tim Robinson’s books, especially those about the Aran Islands. Tim Robinson’s work provides a lot of detail on the landscape; in this book, Godwin’s photos provide a similar visual detail to Fowles’s meandering texts.
Fowles’s texts follow a historical and mythological sort of baseline. He discusses the characteristics of island communities: solitude and emptiness, independence from legal power, and a unifying feeling that sets islanders apart from mainlanders. Islands, withdrawn from common law and ethics, provide a unique magic. Fowles weaves a reasonably diverting story that touches on many topics. He mixes Homer’s Odyssey (did a man really write it, or must this have been a woman?) with Joyce’s Ulysses, Shakespeare’s work, historical deviations, Robinson Crusoe, and other Greek mythology.
Tim Robinson’s joy for precision.
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