| Abstrakt: |
Crispin Clare, a twenty-five-year-old anthropologist who has experienced a physical and emotional breakdown. Suffering from malaria, he attempted to commit suicide. Recuperating in isolation at The Hole Farm in Suffolk, England, where his ancestors lived, Crispin attempts to accomplish in writing a goal that he cannot verbalize. Between visits and games with his cousin's children, Clare reads Latin tales of twelfth century England. When he writes, the children, the locals, and Crispin's visitors dissolve into a mysterious blend of medieval legend, superstition, folk tales, and twentieth century culture: Medieval children play Monopoly, and a twelfth century merman is enchanted by a transistor radio. Fascinated by a mysterious young woman seen locally, whom he associates with the medieval “girl green as elderflower,” Clare writes his way back to health. He grapples with his past through the visit of his friend Matthew Perry, with the present through the children, and with the problem of good and evil through his contact with the disaffected American priest Jim-Jacques Maunoir. |
