Flemish Tales by J. Redwood-Anderson (1913)

This is a volume of five long poems, all set in Flanders. They have a definite group-feeling, a collective identity in that they all, in one way or another, involve landscape-entrenched buildings, the wide Flemish plain and it's intersections of water and fields, and also humble people in this milieu, trying to eke out an existence and cope with love, betrayal and lost passion. Redwood-Anderson's work is a revelation, given his complete obscurity now. I know John Cowper Powys thought a lot of him, and provided a preface to a volume in the '40s. He first published a volume of verse in 1904; his last was posthumous in 1971 - a long career. I think I can see why he hasn't lasted - sadly, it's the old bugbear: modernism. His work is traditional in style, but wildly effective and affecting in content. The darkly stormy brooding deep greyey-green mood of these pieces as each reaches its climax is strong stuff and very dramatic - I can imagine a reading of them going down brilliantly as these stories take hold of an audience. He's not afraid of a violent or confronting scene; he's also not afraid to touch on big themes, so, alongside love, his characters' morality is given an airing in a powerfully personalised and meaningful way, with retribution and the symmetry of fate a constant turbulent presence.