A Green and Pagan Land

British literature often refers to pagan and classical themes through richly detailed landscapes that suggest more than a mere backdrop of physical features. The myth-inspired writings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Algernon Blackwood, Aleister Crowley, Lord Dunsany and even Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows informed later British films and television dramas such as The Owl Service (1969-70), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973), Excalibur (1981) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). The author analyzes the evocative language and esthetics of landscapes in literature, film, television and music, and how “psycho-geography” is used to explore the influence of the past on the present.

David Huckvale has worked as a researcher, writer and presenter for BBC Radio and as a lecturer for various universities in England. He lives in rural Bedfordshire.

David Huckvale
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 227
Bibliographic Info: 33 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7050-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2993-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction: Into the Woods 5
One. The Return of King Arthur 23
Two. Who Is the Grail? 46
Three. The Green Man Cometh… 64
Four. Tristan and Isolde 74
Five. Celtic Twilight 83
Six. The Garden of Pan 104
Seven. Et in Arcadia Ego 129
Eight. The Golden Bough 145
Nine. Witchcraft in the Village 158
Ten. The Road to Penda’s Fen 179
Chapter Notes 197
Bibliography 207
Index 211

“Huckvale digs deep into the origins of British media obsessed with pagn rituals and ancient cults”—popcultureshelf.com