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Jan 2005 On loan from Pamela, my Landscape-gardener girlfriend.
First, incase you should ever read this book yourself, I must inform you, that it
is not simply a book off of Pamela's bookshelf: It is not, in fact, the kind of
book she would read normally at all. It was given to her under strange
circumstances by a stranger on a train. And She never read more than the first
couple of chapters. This is understandable, because if one goes into this book
expecting... well, a book about gardening, then one will be... uncertain.
You see, this is not exactly a book about gardening... it's more... well... it's difficult to pin down; It could be said that it's more about decadence, and some of the ways that decadence has been expressed through gardening... as well as plays, poetry, and so on. The form the book actually takes, is a collection of plans, made by the two authors, for an extensive, expensive, and all-inclusive garden. -This is then augmented by the poems and stories that inspired them, as well as a play that they intended to perform there to celebrate it's completion. (An exceedingly vulgar sexual farce, purportedly from 1689.)
I am not sure that the play ever existed though: there are many places in this book where I haven't a clue if it's fiction or... truth. In the end, I'm not even sure if... the plans actually WERE... plans, that were then edited by a couple of other people. (The story is, -and I considered it to be only a silly story,) that the two authors disappeared, after a scandal in the town this garden was being built. -But in the end, Only these two people are mentioned as the authors, and then names are given for the two editors. So... it makes me wonder.
Anyhow, I was saying before that I am unsure in everything, because there are references to poems, and traditional stories, which are absolutely authentic, (Charls Swinburne's A Forsaken Garden I believe to truly be his work, and there's a passage from Hamlet.) -So, if none of the references are made up, then there was an immense amount of research that went into this book. The references were wide, and varied: from ancient Japan, to India, to assorted nobility in Europe, through all ages. -Not to mention the research on strict, proper Gardening, and horticulture.
Anyhow... As for my actual reactions to this book.
It was... not the most interesting. -From a plot sort of view. although, there was no "Plot" per say... so I should amend that to a... can't-put-it-down, and read-chapter-after-chapter sort of view. It was interesting... to see what it would go on about. To continue reading, to see what the other gardens were planed like, for, you must see, the idea was to have no fewer than 9 separate gardens, all contained in one grounds, as well as notes on Gardens that were purely conceptual, and impossible to actualise. The gardens ranged in subject from Eden, to Lust, to Water, to Cruelty, to death, and so on.
A few of the things said were outright interesting, -On an intellectual level, or just plain appealing to my curiosity. And some of the quotes and poems are just sublimely wonderful. (The Swinburne for example. There were also a few translations of ancient Japanese Geisha's songs, which were... outstanding for their images.)
I suppose that now, with an overview of the entirety of this work, I can say that it's made me think about gardens, and how they have been used for such diverse purposes. -and designed with such diverse methods, and ideals, and concepts, and such. Also, because I love foreign folktales, I found the few that were inserted from the East, or Persia, really marvellous.
More than that... comes not to my mind at the moment. It was a decent book, though not... perhaps, to be taken seriously.