Editing Alan Garner (section)

==Biography==

===Early life: 1934–56===

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|"I had to get aback [to familial ways of doing things], by using skills that had been denied to my ancestors; but I had nothing that they would have called worthwhile. My ability was in language and languages. I had to use that, somehow. And writing was a manual craft. But what did I know that I could write about? I knew the land." |source = Alan Garner, 2010{{sfn|Garner|2010|p=8}} }}

Garner was born in the front room of his grandmother's house in [[Congleton]], Cheshire, on 17 October 1934.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=11}} He was raised in [[Alderley Edge]], a well-to-do village that had effectively become a suburb of [[Manchester]].{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=11}} His "rural working-class family",{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} had been connected to Alderley Edge since at least the sixteenth century and could be traced back to the death of William Garner in 1592.{{sfn|Garner|2010|p=5}} Garner has stated that his family had passed on "a genuine oral tradition" involving folk tales about The Edge, which included a description of a king and his army of knights who slept under it, guarded by a wizard.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} In the mid-nineteenth century Alan's great-great-grandfather Robert had carved the face of a bearded wizard onto the face of a cliff next to a well, known locally at that time as the Wizard's Well.{{sfn|Garner|2010|pp=8–9}}

Robert Garner and his other relatives had all been craftsmen, and, according to Garner, each successive generation had tried to "improve on, or do something different from, the previous generation".{{sfn|Garner|2010|p=7}} Garner's grandfather, Joseph Garner, "could read, but didn't and so was virtually unlettered". Instead, he taught his grandson the folk tales he knew about The Edge.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} Garner later remarked that as a result, he was "aware of [the Edge's] magic" as a child, and he and his friends often played there.{{sfn|Garner|2010|p=9}} The story of the king and the wizard living under the hill played an important part in his life, becoming, he explained, "deeply embedded in my psyche" and heavily influencing his later novels.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}}

Garner faced several life-threatening childhood illnesses, which left him bed ridden for much of the time.{{sfnm|1a1=Philip|1y=1981|1p=11|2a1=Garth|2y=2013}} He attended a local village school, where he found that, despite being praised for his intelligence, he was punished for speaking in his native [[Cheshire dialect]];{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=11}} for instance, when he was six his primary school teacher washed his mouth out with soapy water.{{sfn|Garth|2013}} Garner then won a place at [[Manchester Grammar School]], where he received his secondary education; entry was [[Means test#United Kingdom|means-tested]], resulting in his school fees being waived.{{sfnm|1a1=Philip|1y=1981|1p=11|2a1=Garth|2y=2013}} Rather than focusing his interest on creative writing, it was here that he excelled at [[Sprint (running)|sprinting]].{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=12}} He used to go jogging along the highway, and later claimed that in doing so he was sometimes accompanied by the mathematician [[Alan Turing]], who shared his fascination for the [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney]] film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Garner |first=Alan |title=My hero: Alan Turing |date=11 November 2011 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/11/alan-turing-my-hero-alan-garner |access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jordan |first=Justine |date=2024-12-14 |title='It can feel quite mysterious': Alan Garner on writing, folklore and experiencing time slips in the Pennines |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/dec/14/we-shared-a-quick-sense-of-humor-novelist-alan-garner-on-alan-turing-and-experiencing-time-slips-in-the-pennines |access-date=2024-12-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Garner was then conscripted into [[national service]], serving for a time with the [[Royal Artillery]] while posted to [[Woolwich]] in [[South East (London sub region)|Southeast London]].{{sfnm|1a1=Philip|1y=1981|1p=12|2a1=Garth|2y=2013}}

At school, Garner had developed a keen interest in the work of [[Aeschylus]] and [[Homer]], as well as the [[Ancient Greek language]].{{sfn|Garth|2013}} Thus, he decided to pursue the study of [[Classics]] at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], passing his entrance exams in January 1953; at the time he had thoughts of becoming a professional academic.{{sfn|Garth|2013}} He was the first member of his family to receive anything more than a basic education, and he noted that this removed him from his "cultural background" and led to something of a schism with other members of his family, who "could not cope with me, and I could not cope with" them.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} Looking back, he remarked, "I soon learned that it was not a good idea to come home excited over irregular verbs".{{sfn|Garth|2013}} In 1955, he joined the university theatrical society, playing the role of [[Mark Antony]] in a performance of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'' where he co-starred alongside [[Dudley Moore]] and where [[Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking|Kenneth Baker]] was the stage manager.{{sfn|Garth|2013}} In August 1956, he decided that he wished to devote himself to novel writing, and decided to abandon his university education without taking a degree; he left Oxford in late 1956.{{sfnm|1a1=Philip|1y=1981|1p=12|2a1=Garth|2y=2013}} He nevertheless felt that the academic rigour which he learned during his university studies has remained "a permanent strength through all my life".{{sfn|Garth|2013}}

===''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'' and ''The Moon of Gomrath'': 1957–64===

Aged 22, Garner was out cycling when he came across a hand-painted sign announcing that an agricultural cottage in Toad Hall &ndash; a late medieval building situated in Blackden, seven miles from Alderley Edge &ndash; was on sale for £510. Although he personally could not afford it, he was lent the money by the local [[Oddfellow]] lodge, enabling him to purchase and move into the cottage in June 1957.{{sfnm|1a1=Blackden Trust|1y=2008|2a1=Pitts|2a2=Garner|2y=2014|2p=14}} In the late nineteenth century the Hall had been divided into two agricultural labourers' cottages, but Garner was able to purchase the second for £150 about a year later; he proceeded to knock down the dividing walls and convert both halves back into a single home.{{sfnm|1a1=Blackden Trust|1y=2008|2a1=Pitts|2a2=Garner|2y=2014|2p=14}}

[[File:Toad Hall at Blackden.JPG|thumb|left|In 1957, Garner purchased and began renovating Toad Hall at Blackden, Cheshire]]

Garner had begun writing his first novel, ''[[The Weirdstone of Brisingamen|The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley]]'', in September 1956.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=12}} However it was while at Toad Hall that he finished the book. Set in Alderley Edge, it revolves around two children, Susan and Colin, who are sent to live in the area with their mother's old nursemaid, Bess, and her husband, Gowther Mossock. While exploring the Edge, they encounter a race of malevolent creatures, the ''[[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar|svart alfar]]'', who dwell in the Edge's abandoned mines and who seem intent on capturing them.  They are rescued by the wizard Cadellin, who reveals that the forces of darkness are massing at the Edge in search of a powerful magical talisman, the eponymous "weirdstone of Brisingamen".{{sfn|Philip|1981|pp=12&ndash;13}}

Whilst writing in his spare time Garner attempted to gain employment as a teacher, but soon gave that up, believing that "I couldn't write and teach; the energies were too similar." Instead, he worked off and on as a general labourer for four years, remaining unemployed for much of that time.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}}

Garner sent his debut novel to the publishing company [[William Collins, Sons|Collins]], where it was picked up by the company's head, Sir William Collins, who was on the lookout for new fantasy novels following the recent commercial and critical success of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' (1954–55).{{sfn|Lake|2010|p=317}} Garner, who went on to become a personal friend of Collins, would later relate that "Billy Collins saw a title with funny-looking words in it on the stockpile, and he decided to publish it."{{sfn|Lake|2010|p=317}} On its release in 1960, ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'' proved to be a critical and commercial success,{{sfnm|1a1=Philip|1y=1981|1p=12|2a1=Lake|2y=2010|2pp=316&ndash;317}} later being described as "a tour de force of the imagination, a novel that showed almost every writer who came afterwards what it was possible to achieve in novels ostensibly published for children."{{sfn|Lake|2010|pp=316–317}} Garner himself however would later denounce his first novel as "a fairly bad book" in 1968.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=23}}

With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} He also began a sequel to ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'', which would be known as ''[[The Moon of Gomrath]]''. ''The Moon of Gomrath'' also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the [[Brollachan]] who has recently re-entered the world, having been freed from its underground prison by workmen. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leaving Colin to find a way to bring it back.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=13}} Critic Neil Philip characterised it as "an artistic advance" but "a less satisfying story".{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=13}} In a 1989 interview, Garner stated that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Colin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} However ''[[Boneland]]'', the conclusion to the sequence, was belatedly published in August 2012.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/15/alan-garner-weirdstone-brisingamen-trilogy-boneland "Alan Garner to conclude Weirdstone of Brisingamen trilogy"]. Alison Flood. ''The Guardian'' 15 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.</ref>

===''Elidor'', ''The Owl Service'' and ''Red Shift'': 1964–73===

In 1962, Garner began work on a [[radio play]] entitled ''Elidor'', which eventually became a novel of the same name.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=14}} Set in contemporary Manchester, ''Elidor'' tells the story of four children who enter a derelict Victorian church and find a portal to the magical realm of Elidor. In Elidor, they are entrusted by King Malebron to help rescue four treasures which have been stolen by the forces of evil, who are attempting to take control of the kingdom. The children succeed and return to Manchester with the treasures, but are pursued by the malevolent forces who need the items to seal their victory.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=14}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|"As I turned toward writing, which is partially intellectual in its function, but is primarily intuitive and emotional in its execution, I turned towards that which was numinous and emotional in me, and that was the legend of King Arthur Asleep Under the Hill. It stood for all that I'd had to give up in order to understand what I'd had to give up. And so my first two books, which are very poor on characterization because I was somehow numbed in that area, are very strong on imagery and landscape, because the landscape I had inherited along with the legend."|source = Alan Garner, 1989{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} }}

Before writing ''Elidor'', Garner had seen a dinner service set which could be arranged to make pictures of either flowers or owls. Inspired by this design, he produced his fourth novel, ''[[The Owl Service]]''.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=15}} The story, which was heavily influenced by the Medieval Welsh tale of [[Math fab Mathonwy]] from the ''[[Mabinogion]]'',{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=15}} was critically acclaimed, winning both the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] and [[Guardian Children's Fiction Prize]].{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=15}} It also sparked discussions among critics as to whether Garner should properly be considered a children's writer, given that this book in particular was deemed equally suitable for an adult readership.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=15}}

It took Garner six years to write his next novel, ''[[Red Shift (novel)|Red Shift]]''.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=17}} The book centres on three intertwined love stories, one set in the present, another during the [[English Civil War]], and the third in the second century CE.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=16}} Philip referred to it as "a complex book but not a complicated one: the bare lines of story and emotion stand clear".{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=16}}
Academic specialist in children's literature [[Maria Nikolajeva]] characterised ''Red Shift'' as "a difficult book" for an unprepared reader, identifying its main themes as those of "loneliness and failure to communicate".{{sfn|Nikolajeva|1989|p=128}} Ultimately, she thought that repeated re-readings of the novel bring about the realisation that "it is a perfectly realistic story with much more depth and psychologically more credible than the most so-called "realistic" juvenile novels."{{sfn|Nikolajeva|1989|p=131}}

===''The Stone Book'' series and folkloric collections: 1974–94===

From 1976 to 1978, Garner published a series of four novellas, which have come to be collectively known as ''[[The Stone Book]]'' quartet: ''The Stone Book'', ''Granny Reardun'', ''The Aimer Gate'', and ''Tom Fobble's Day''.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=16}} Each focused on a day in the life of a child in the Garner family, each from a different generation.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=17}}
In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that although writing ''The Stone Book Quartet'' had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.{{sfn|Thompson|Garner|1989}} Philip described the quartet as "a complete command of the material he had been working and reworking since the start of his career".{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=16}}
Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'': the footnotes would not have been needed by his father.

In 1981, the literary critic Neil Philip published an analysis of Garner's novels as ''A Fine Anger'', which was based on his doctoral thesis, produced for the [[University of London]] in 1980.{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=9}} In this study he noted that "''The Stone Book'' quartet marks a watershed in Garner's writing career, and provides a suitable moment for an evaluation of his work thus far."{{sfn|Philip|1981|p=17}}

===''Strandloper'', ''Thursbitch'', ''Boneland'', ''Where Shall We Run To?'' and ''Treacle Walker'': 1996&ndash;present===

[[File:Garner in the field.jpg|thumb|right|Garner at his home in Blackden, 2011]]

In 1996, Garner's novel ''[[Strandloper (novel)|Strandloper]]'' was published. 

In 1997, he next wrote ''The Voice That Thunders, a'' collection of essays and public talks that contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with [[bipolar disorder]]), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. In ''The Voice That Thunders,'' he reveals the commercial pressure placed upon him during the decade-long drought which preceded ''Strandloper'' to 'forsake "literature", and become instead a "popular" writer, cashing in on my established name by producing sequels to, and making series of, the earlier books'.<ref>Alan Garner, ''The Voice That Thunders'' (London 1997), p. 35.</ref> Garner feared that "making series ... would render sterile the existing work, the life that produced it, and bring about my artistic and spiritual death"<ref>Garner, ''Thunders'', p. 36.</ref> and felt unable to comply.

Garner's novel ''[[Thursbitch]]'' was published in 2003. 

The novel ''[[Boneland]]'' was published in 2012, nominally completing a trilogy begun some 50 years earlier with ''[[The Weirdstone of Brisingamen]]''.

In August 2018, Garner published his first set of memoirs, ''Where Shall We Run To?'', which describes his childhood during the Second World War.

The novel ''[[Treacle Walker]]'' was published in October 2021 and nominated to the shortlist for the [[2022 Booker Prize]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/news/booker-prize-longlist-dominated-by-indies-as-judges-pick-youngest-and-oldest-ever-nominees|title=Booker Prize longlist dominated by indies as judges pick youngest and oldest ever nominees|first=Sian|last=Bayley|magazine=[[The Bookseller]]|date=26 July 2022|access-date=31 July 2022}}</ref>

In October 2024, a week before his 90th birthday, Garner published a second set of memoirs, ''Powsels and Thrums'', framed and inspired by his grandfather. This book contains short essays on a variety of people and events in Garner's life from his starting at Manchester Grammar in 1946 through to his discovery of Alderley Edge in the 1950s, interspersed with poems.