The Flight of the Heron: a retrospective

[regshoe]

Looking over my first post about Flight of the Heron, nearly a year ago, I think I can say I was right to predict that 'it's going to be an all-time fave'. :D Since then I've read six more books by D. K. Broster, and now that my read-through has got back up to the publication of FotH I thought I'd do a post reflecting on how reading these earlier books has put Flight of the Heron (1925), Broster's seventh novel and fifth solo novel, into context...

Of course, the most striking difference between FotH and the earlier novels is the historical setting. With the exception of The Vision Splendid (which is an aberration in several ways, probably due to G. W. Taylor's input), Broster's first few books are all set in and around Revolutionary France, and form a fairly straightforward historical progression, from Chantemerle in the early days following the Revolution to The Wounded Name and 'Mr Rowl' towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars. She starts to branch out a little with 'Mr Rowl', with the action taking place entirely in England—although the main character is French—and removed from the Royalist resistance settings of the books before it. Flight of the Heron, however, is a much more ambitious change: set fifty years earlier than any of the other books and in Scotland. Broster's care and attention to historical detail is one of my favourite things about her writing, and I think it's even more impressive to know that she could put that amount of detail into a book, not only in what's clearly her favourite historical period, but in one completely new to her.

There are obvious parallels between the Royalists and the Jacobites, and it's not hard to see why an author interested in one would like the other as well. Interestingly, Charles is a far more important presence in FotH than the Bourbons are in any of the French books; but in both contexts, while Broster writes sympathetically about characters who are loyal to the monarchs in question, she's clearly not ignorant of their faults. The new setting provides plenty of opportunity for Broster to explore her favourite themes of loyalty, honour, duty and sacrifice, which are central to the plots of basically everything she's written so far, and to create those beautiful twisted set-ups of conflicted loyalties, betrayal, damaged honour and misunderstandings that she loves so much. Her interest in exploring both sides of historical conflicts also seems to be developing—while in the early books all the sympathetic characters are Royalists, 'Mr Rowl' features a Bonapartist protagonist forming various relationships with characters on the British side—although most of the British characters don't seem that invested in their loyalty to their side as such. FotH takes the obvious next step, with its central relationship between two characters deeply committed to opposite sides of an ongoing conflict.

Comparing Flight of the Heron with the two books immediately preceding it, The Wounded Name and 'Mr Rowl', Broster clearly has a very specific type of m/m hurt/comfort-focussed relationship dynamic that she likes. It's kind of charming how it appears almost out of nowhere in TWN—there are hints of similar close relationships between male characters, and a few memorable hurt/comfort scenes, in the earlier books, but not this very specific dynamic—and immediately takes over the next three books. I think FotH makes the most effective and emotionally compelling use of this dynamic, thereby producing the most shippable pairing. Aymar/Laurent is really pretty imbalanced as a relationship, with Laurent not having much in the way of his own character development and Aymar's side of the relationship not being explored that much; Raoul/Barrington is very affecting, but it doesn't turn up until halfway through the story and isn't the most important relationship for Raoul or for the book as a whole. In contrast, Ewen/Keith is absolutely central both to the plot and to the emotional core of Flight of the Heron; both characters are well-developed and set up such that both sides of the relationship become deep and compelling, and the whole thing is a great deal more symmetrically meaningful. It's possible to see it as syncretising elements from some of the best relationships in the earlier books: combining 'that one m/m dynamic' from TWN and MR with the emotional arc of Fortuné de la Vireville and his relationship with Raymonde from Sir Isumbras at the Ford.

Another interesting new element in FotH is its use of folklore and fate. Broster has been making use of these for a while—significant folkloric elements make major appearances in SIatF and The Yellow Poppy, and TWN features folk beliefs connected to the fate of a major character—but the heron prophecy in FotH is much more developed and much better integrated with the plot. Indeed, it's what gives the plot its structure, which is another thing I think is particularly good about this book compared to the others—it feels more tightly and surely put together in both plot and emotions, and the fated feel that the prophecy gives to the whole thing is an important part of that. Structuring the plot around a prophecy also avoids some of the issues that the previous books have with contrived coincidence—and here there are no problems with characters acting in ways that don't make sense to move the plot along. Instead the fated plot is bound up with the characters acting in ways perfectly characteristic of them.

Speaking of which: Broster is not as fond of killing off characters as I got the impression she was after reading only FotH and the first two books with G. W. Taylor! If anything, up to this point her endings have been getting tamer over time—both those first two kill off a major character, as does TYP, and SIatF seriously threatens it more than once, but in TWN and MR, although the characters face plenty of deadly peril, I never really felt that anyone was in actual danger—and everyone does survive in the end. But FotH, of course, reverses this trend. It'll be interesting to see how her varied endings go in the later books...

There are plenty of other things I've always liked about FotH that I now recognise as general features of Broster's writing—like the detailed nature descriptions, the carefully-chosen literary epigraphs (although FotH lacks the whimsical chapter titles of SIatF and MR—perhaps it's too serious a book for that sort of thing), the swordfights, the engaging cast of minor characters, and of course her beautiful, eloquent prose. I love getting to know the characteristic elements of an author's style like this, and I think it makes me appreciate that style more in the favourite book I read first.

Overall, much as I've enjoyed the read-through as a whole so far, I have no hesitation in saying that Flight of the Heron is still my favourite of Broster's books. And now I'm going to ruin it by reading the sequels!

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

It's so interesting to read comparisons of her books--and you reading them in the proper order is really useful to see her growth as a writer, how she developed the characters she seems to like best (mostly, the "proto-Keith" type, heh!) and the way she builds stories and plots, and then re-uses some key elements from them.

Having read some of her later work, I still haven't read one that tops the perfect combination of a good story, emotional descriptions, characterisaton and landscape she created in Tfoth, so it remains my fave too ("The yellow poppy" and "Sir isumbras" are good at all those things too, so they are up for second faves, at least while I read everything else!)

I read an article about Broster that talked about how she never planned to write about the '45, but she got caught up in the spirit of the Highlands while on holiday there, and the story came into her head there and then. It kind of fits with the fate/prophecy ideas in the book, and her love of the place really shines through in her prose! <3

And now I'm going to ruin it by reading the sequels!

I look forward to reading your thoughts about them! (If it's any consolation, they have chapter titles that are a bit more whimsical than the ones in Tfoth!)

[regshoe]

reading them in the proper order is really useful to see her growth as a writer, how she developed the characters she seems to like best (mostly, the "proto-Keith" type, heh!)

Indeed! I think Keith is a worthy successor to Barrington and La Vireville :) There's also the 'proto-Ewen' I think you can see in Aymar, and perhaps slightly so in Raoul—in both cases, FotH is the best example. It'll be very interesting to see if those types recur again later on, or whether she agrees with me that she's perfected them here and doesn't do any more.

I read an article about Broster that talked about how she never planned to write about the '45, but she got caught up in the spirit of the Highlands while on holiday there, and the story came into her head there and then. It kind of fits with the fate/prophecy ideas in the book, and her love of the place really shines through in her prose! <3

Oh yes, I think I've read the same one. I was really impressed that she just... picked it up and went with it, in such beautiful detail and so well (she visited in 1923, and must still have been working on Mr Rowl at that point, and it only took her two years to get to the publication of FotH).

I look forward to reading your thoughts about them! (If it's any consolation, they have chapter titles that are a bit more whimsical than the ones in Tfoth!)

Hehe, I opened up the table of contents of Gleam in the North yesterday to prepare myself and noticed the chapter titles :) Although interesting that the structure is so different from FotH, with chapter titles but no division into Books.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I think that she never lets go of the types she likes best, but her post-Keiths and Ewens will never better than the originals, of course not ;) Her honour, loyalty, betrayal and misunderstanding plots remain strong, though! She sure knew what she liked, and I totally respect that!

I was really impressed that she just... picked it up and went with it, in such beautiful detail and so well

Yes, exactly! Talk about inspiration! :D And even if it was a random event which led her to it, it seems to have remained a lifelong interest--another article I read mentions her collection of Jacobite leaflets and pamphlets, which her housemate donated to the British Museum after Broster's death. How cool is that? I wonder if they are still there?

Although interesting that the structure is so different from FotH, with chapter titles but no division into Books.

Yep...it's almost like she wants to remind us that there aren't going to be five meetings to look forward to *cries forever*

[regshoe]

And even if it was a random event which led her to it, it seems to have remained a lifelong interest--another article I read mentions her collection of Jacobite leaflets and pamphlets, which her housemate donated to the British Museum after Broster's death. How cool is that? I wonder if they are still there?

Oh, that is very cool! Heh, I like her taste—it is a fascinating period of history, and it's good to know she kept up that interest in it. And here's the British Museum's collection of objects related to Charles Edward—perhaps some of her stuff is in there?

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Oh, I bet that would be an excellent collection to see (and a very cool museum to explore, overall! Have you ever been there?) It would indeed be super cool if some of her stuff was still there! Here is a description of the collection, by the way!

[regshoe]

Very nice, thanks for linking! I've not been to the Museum itself (I was more interested in the Natural History Museum when visiting London :D), but I have briefly been to the British Library, which I realise was still part of the Museum at the time of Broster's death—so if her materials were mostly printed pamphlets etc. they'd probably have ended up there. I have managed to find one of the things mentioned in that description on the Library's website, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to give details of who donated what, so I can't be sure that that's Broster's copy!

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I can totally see how a Natural History museum would have been more tempting :D And yes, it makes sense that printed stuff could have made its way into the library, like this one you found! (it has a BM stamp, and also a date stamp at the end that says June 56, so not that far from when it was donated--maybe it's a coincidence...or maybe it was hers!!)

ETA: It looks like it's totally her stuff!--check this out (look for item D12h- Ephemera relating to Government, Politics and Campaigning) So cool! :D

[regshoe]

Oh, that's amazing—brilliant detective work :D

[luzula]

Oh, interesting post! You're right that the prophecy structure really does make sense as a structuring device. And yes, I like that though the book has both characters be devoted to their own side, she does also show the faults of both sides.

Hmm, I'm thinking about Keith's devotion to his own side. Ewen's is shown very clearly, but Keith's actually a bit less so, and I want to make sure it's not just fanon... He calls himself a 'loyal subject of King George', and is generally dismissive of the Jacobites, but we don't get the same sort of enthusiasm for his own side as Ewen shows. Which of course could be down to the difference in their personalities--Keith is just not prone to the sort of youthful idealism that Ewen shows. Actually I think it's clearest at the very end, where it is after all very difficult for Keith to choose between saving Ewen and doing his duty and capturing him!

Looking forward to what you think of Gleam in the North!

[regshoe]

Keith's attachment to his own side is really interesting, actually—you're absolutely right that he's not personally, emotionally devoted to the Hanoverian cause the way Ewen is to the Jacobite, but he is still absolutely fixed in his allegiance and sees it as his duty to remain loyal to his King. His arc is all about recognising the personal worthiness of his enemies, but I don't think there's any hint that his admiration for Ewen makes him question his own loyalty or his actions in support of the Hanoverians.

And, of course, he does also recognise that many of the things his side do are wrong—but again, his dislike of Cumberland et al. doesn't lead him actually to break from them. I think (inspired by a recent comment from jealousofthetea on my latest fic...) that Keith sees the wrongs done by the Hanoverians as an aberration, a departure from a code of duty and honour that they otherwise follow, but historically it's also pretty clear that he's wrong to think so. It would be very interesting to explore how you might get him to the point of giving up his allegiance (more so than for Ewen, where it'd just be sad...).

Looking forward to what you think of Gleam in the North!

I already know so much about it (enough to be fairly certain what I'm going to dislike about it, heh) that it'll be interesting to see how it compares to my expectations!

[luzula]

Obviously I'm thinking about Keith's and Ewen's attachment to their own sides because it's going to come up in my alternate ending. : )

But actually...okay, I started writing something about Ewen's allegiance to his own side and what happens to it at the end of GitN, but then I realized it would be a spoiler. So let's just wait until you get there. : )

[regshoe]

Obviously I'm thinking about Keith's and Ewen's attachment to their own sides because it's going to come up in my alternate ending. : )

Indeed! I look forward to seeing what you make of it :D

I'm about a quarter of the way through GitN now, and there's already been some good stuff about Ewen's thoughts on the costs of Jacobitism—the thorns of the white rose, indeed... It's very interesting to see Broster take on this subject, after not really making very much of her character' political loyalties in the earlier books!