Green Darkness (Rediscovered Classics)
by Anya Seton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anya SetonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-01
ISBN: 1556525761
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Book Reviews of Green Darkness (Rediscovered Classics)
Book Review: Standout depiction of sectarianism but uneven in other places
Summary: 3 Stars
Seton's Green Darkness makes for a frustrating reading experience.
On the one hand, the characterization and, at times, writing style, are highly uneven, fluctuating to the point that I would put down the book for weeks at a time, unwilling to finish. On the other hand, Seton's depiction of Roman Catholic-Anglo Protestant sectarianism is multi-dimensional, well-crafted, satisfying. In the end, I finished the novel, which I would be willing to give another chance, perhaps in part because some of the better-written reviews here on Amazon speak so persuasively of GD's and Anya Seton's merits.
Many of GD's selling points--historical British setting; religion, folk belief, and mysticism; forbidden love; depiction of historical conflict--number amongst my favorite elements in fiction. The main conceit--newly married American woman relives a portion of her "past life" in 16th century Egnland, where she was a young girl (Celia) in love with a Catholic cleric--is a promising one.
Seton's deft treatment of sectarianism--not so much its causes but its manifestations in the ideologies of "average" people--is enough to make GD worth reading. Seton offers us multiple characters, each representing different levels of religiosity, piety, prejudice, apologetics, unbelief, or ecumenicalism. She gives us Ursula, a Roman Catholic loyalist whose devotion relies on a rudimentary but earnestly-conceived understanding of theological tenets (laypeople in that age did not often have first-hand knowledge of doctrinal issues), as well as on the folk belief of the day. Her kinswoman (girl, rather) Celia is, for me, a more compelling mixture of childish misapprehension of religion, superstition, misplaced religious fervor, and, towards the end of the book, agnosticism bordering on unbelief. Celia clings to Catholicism for very different reasons than Ursula (including, perhaps, Celia's association of Stephen with Catholicism) and this contrast is compelling.
Julian is meant to be our closest approximation to a neutral; as a lapsed Catholic and man-of-the-world who has studied non-Christian religions, and as a non-Anglo European, Julian observes with a slightly jaded eye the sectarian violence unfolding around him.
Sir Anthony is an interesting portrait of piety without self-awareness. He believes that he Believes, and it is this very insistence on his religious credentials that blinds him to his own inconsistent application of Belief. He may after all be convinced that his religious expediency (switching denominations to suit the politics of the hour) is itself a form of piety, in that it preserved him in secret service to the "one true faith" of Catholicism.
A number of minor characters add layers to Seton's presentation of sectarianism, for example, the Protestant officer sent to check up on Sir Anthony's household. His interior monologues dismiss Catholicism as a jumble of superstitious rituals, yet the officer deals fairly with Anthony, refusing to abuse his power as an agent of a newly Protestant realm. Seton could have further diversified her analysis by giving us Protestant characters with equal depth and importance to the story, but I think she has done a fine enough job illustrating the complicated nature of Belief and its relation to (or dismemberment from) sectarianism.
Sadly, Seton is less adept at convincing us of several key points on which the plot hinges. Her treatments of Stephen and Celia are but the two most glaring examples of the poor characterization that plagues the novel. Stephen is inconsistently defined for us, unevenly displaying genuine piety, indulgent self-righteousness, worldly ambition, and almost unholy pride. I say "unevenly," because, as Colleen McCullough has proved in her excellent characterization of Father Ralph ("The Thorn Birds"), it is quite possible to convincingly portray a "man of God" battling a driving thirst for worldly prominence and power.
Stephen's early aversion to Celia is understandable, especially in light of his era's medieval-residual Madonna/Whore interpretation of the female character. We can allow that he feels a surface attraction to Celia, and that he is disgusted by his carnal urges, and determined to do away with the perceived source of them. What is far less easy to understand is his alarmingly abrupt acquiescence at the end, when we are given to believe this ambitious and self-important young cleric is suddenly eager to rush into the arms of a woman who, by all indications, would be his professional and spiritual undoing.
I don't believe Seton means Celia to be a sympathetic character. At least, I hope Celia's unpleasantness was planned by the author, and not a by-product of inept characterization. Although her religious psychology interested me, Celia's self-interest seems more childish and less delightfully calculating than that of, say, Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara, who exemplifies how a character with strongly negative traits--selfishness, vanity, overweening ambition--can endear herself to readers.
Every character suffers from bizarre fluctuations in motivations, actions, and reactions. I want to stress that by no means do I advocate authors' use of one-note, stagnant characters without complexity or self-confliction. I don't even bother reviewing books with characters like that. But Seton could have found more subtle ways to showcase, say, Julian's ambivalence toward Ursula and Celia, than having Julian feel rushes of warm affection for the duo in one scene and, in another scene, violently despising the very sight of Ursula, to the point that he goes out of his way to hide from her.
Look carefully at her treatment of several characters--Magdalen, Anthony, Ursula, Julian, Celia, Stephen--and decide for yourself whether Seton is engaged in multi-layered characterization or a fragmented, scene-by-by-scene approach that ascribes wildly varying motivations and reactions to the same character without sufficient evidence allowing for the sudden change.
Finally, Seton's prose style is as inconsistent as her characterization. I am frankly surprised that Philippa Gregory--whose vastly superior historical works I have enjoyed since 1990--has written in mild praise of Seton. Seton's style can be hackneyed (witness the many "hissed," "whispered," and adverb-laden dialogue tags), yet once in a while she'll sprinkle in a statement of surprising insight. Her addiction to literally-rendered and thus almost unreadable dialect is most unfortunate, and I'm very glad only a few characters hail from Scotland and the North Country.
In the end, I was disappointed by Green Darkness' generally uneven level of quality, but Seton's thoughtful depiction of sectarianism in 16th century Britain is enough to recommend the novel. I intend to read other of Seton's works, and return to Green Darkness with, perhaps, further perspective on a book so well-loved by so many.
Summary of Green Darkness (Rediscovered Classics)
This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems to be going well. But now Richard has become withdrawn, and Celia is constantly haunted by a vague dread. When she suffers a breakdown and wavers between life and death, a wise doctor realizes that only by forcing Celia to relive her past can he enable her to escape her illness. Celia travels back 400 years in time to her past life as a beautiful but doomed servant. Through her eyes, we see the England of the Tudors, torn by religious strife, and experience all the pageantry, lustiness, and cruelty of the age. As in other historical romance titles by this author, the past comes alive in this flamboyant classic novel.
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