"At the striking of noon on a certain fifth of March, there occurred within a causal radius of Brandon railway station and yet beyond the deepest pools of emptiness between the uttermost stellar systems one of those infinitesimal ripples in the creative silence of the First Cause which always occur when an exceptional stir of heightened consciousness agitates any living organism in this astronomical universe." (from JC Powys' A Glastonbury Romance)
[John Cowper Powys, one of the most important influences on my work, is mentioned frequently in "The Long Habit of Living." Quotes from his works are everywhere in my room, in my notes, and in my dreams. His novels "Weymouth Sands" and "Wolf Solent" made indescribable impressions on me, fueled me, drove me crazy. Who was he? Here is a little blurb from The Powys Society: "John Cowper Powys (1872-1963)was a prolific novelist, essayist, letter writer, poet and philosopher, and a writer of enormous scope, complexity, profundity, and humor. He spent over 30 years as a lecturer in the U.S., during which time he wrote his first four novels. In 1930, he retired to up-state New York and turned to full-time writing: it was there [in Hillsdale, NY, which Joe Savino and I visited by the way nearly 30 years ago; and a friend Kenny Donohue, who is also a Powys fan, not only visited but bought land in the area and built himself a house there for his retirement; in fact, the Hillsdale resident who showed Kenny where Powys' small white house was situated was also Joe's and my guide when we were there] that he produced his Autobiography, A Glastonbury Romance, and Weymouth Sands. He returned to Great Britain in 1934, settling in North Wales in 1935, where he wrote the historical novels Owen Glendower and Porius, the critical studies of Rabelais and Dostoevsky, and The Brazen Head, and others."
These are the JCPowys books I’ve read so far: After My Fashion (written 1919, published 1980); Ducdame (1925); Wolf Solent (1929); A Glastonbury Romance (1933); Weymouth Sands (1934); Maiden Castle (1936); The Brazen Head (1956); The Complex Vision (1920); Autobiography (1934).
Here is a link to The Powys SocietyI'll be posting quotes from JCP from time to time.]
