Book Review

Diana Wynne Jones: Children's Literature and the Fantastic Tradition
by Farah Mendlesohn
Published in hardback by Routledge, 2005, ISBN 9780415970235

Farah Mendlesohn is senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Middlesex, UK. She is also a Hugo Award-winner (for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy), taking the prize in 2005 for Best Related Book: The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by Mendlesohn and her husband, Edward James.

So it's no surprise that this book is a serious literary study and, as part of the series Children's Literature and Culture, is a valuable contribution to academia.

At the same time, Mendlesohn is also a fan of DWJ. And it shows. Her enthusiasm bubbles up throughout this book, oozing into the chapters and colouring all the academic stuff with the in-depth knowledge and appreciation of a true fan. This knowledge and enjoyment of Jones's works allows this book to become not just a study, but a celebration of DWJ's work.

To another fan, such as myself, this is one of the book's most appealing aspects. Although the chapters are structured and organised, Mendlesohn is enough in the know to be able to skip between topics and books. She can happily pick up an event from one novel and relate it to an event in another, or, almost in passing, mention important and relevant points from several books.

Perhaps the main aim of the book is to explore how DWJ writes what she writes. In the course of this exploration Mendlesohn freely draws from philosophers and physicists, literary critics, and writers themselves. An enthusiasm for examining the craft of writing is as clear as her enthusiasm for Jones's books.

Right at the beginning, Mendlesohn acknowledges the complexity of DWJ's work, and stresses the fact that Jones's books are open to multiple interpretations. This applies even within her own book, as she openly admits of her own ideas: "In this book there are three distinct interpretations of Fire and Hemlock."

At this point DWJ fans are smiling and nodding. That very rich complexity is one of the reasons why fans are so devoted, and is what gives scope for a book such as this devoted to the works of just one author.

Another important point Mendlesohn makes is that Jones always overturns expectations or subverts the fantasy "rules". You never know what you are going to get from a new DWJ novel, and that mystery is part of the enjoyment.

A particularly fascinating idea that Mendlesohn makes is to propose that DWJ had to "grow her critics". She points out that for quite a long time, despite several popular novels, Jones was almost ignored in critical circles. It was not until her childhood readers, grown up, were themselves writing about her, that DWJ's books became a subject for serious discussion. As she says, the books "open up across a lifetime of reading". In part, this book is about how Diana "teaches her readers".

Although probably all DWJ's books are at least mentioned, this book does tend to focus on just a few. There is a chapter supposedly focussing on Wilkins' Tooth (Witch's Business in the USA) but which, as already mentioned, explores aspects of many other books as well.

There is an excellent examination of the long short story The True State of Affairs. Although she offers some poignant insights into the story, Mendlesohn is honest enough to admit to being baffled by part of it, just as every other reader is. If DWJ was simple, we probably wouldn't like her so much.

I was intrigued by Mendlesohn's suggestions for ways of looking at the books. For example, we all know that A Tale of Time City and The Time of the Ghost centre around different viewpoints and different experiences of time. But, I wasn't aware until reading this book that the beginning of The Magicians of Caprona could be seen as a "time game".

For fans like myself, reading about Diana's books is almost as good as reading one of the books themselves. Not quite, but almost. As a substitute for DWJ's novels, this book is definitely a good, entertaining read, as well as offering many insights and challenging ideas.

One of the nice things about it is that, just like the wood in Hexwood, you are not constrained to reading it in a linear fashion. You don't have to start at the beginning. Instead, you can easily dip in and enjoy an extract from the middle. I write this with one proviso – read the introduction first before jumping around!

This is not a superficial or trite study, but a thoughtful and thought-provoking survey. Mendlesohn introduces a great many concepts such as relative time, as well as containing lots of academic references.

This leads me on to the only difficulty I have with this book: I felt there are slightly too many references for my liking to works of critical analysis. But after all this is an academic book by an academic. For this reason the reader is expected to intelligently cope with phrases and concepts such as metafiction, monosemy, polysemy, mimesis and mimetic.

I am not an academic or a critic, and although overall I found the book well-written and easy to read, I am not ashamed to admit I had to consult a dictionary to discover what some of those words mean!

One final problem for some people is that the book is clearly aimed at libraries and academic institutions. It is a pretty chunky £50 to buy. If DWJ fans don't have access to a decent library which is likely to stock the book, they may not be able to read it. And that would be a shame.

reviewed by Meredith