k of a prologue commentary

Suppose	The great Romantic poet/critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge said that a proper response and enjoyment of story and literature requires 'a willing suspension of disbelief'. But such 'suspension' is not always that conscious or deliberate: some (most?) novels make an impression by requiring us to identify with the main character. During a reading of David Copperfield the reader is as if David; his emotions are ours. That identification is freely and automatically given - if the novel is working for us. However Knowledge of Angels makes the process deliberate and so, self-conscious. We are invited to imagine by the first sentence, not made to imagine. The difference is intended. Much of the Prologue is concerned to define what the reader's relation should be to this text - and it is more thoughtful and almost distanced than would generally be required by most 'traditional' novels. This has much to do with the book's sense of its own genre: it is more a fable than a historical novel (though since genre is never a neat concept/ label, the text will have some features of the historical novel). A fable is a narrative which seeks to imply clear, distinct lessons, morals or ideas to consider over and above the intrinsic interest of the story. Against the reading of the text as a historical novel is the writer's note which precedes the text proper: '..A fiction is always, however obliquely, about the time and place in which it was written'. This novel, whatever the apparent distance of some of its material (the organisation of a medieval society, the arguments and assumptions of medieval theology) is always about the issues in our society - has thoughts for us to consider.
contemplating	To contemplate is to observe, think about, consider - without the prospect of immediate or strong emotional involvement. In a way, there is a danger in this first sentence of being 'too cool' and distanced. In fact, the story, I think, is very emotionally involving - deliberately so. Perhaps it is the confidence of the author - knowing her intended material and its likely effects on the reader, it is the more intellectual effects which need underlining or selling; the others will look after themselves.
island	Islands are the preferred settings for fables of the kind Knowledge of Angels can be associated with; in English literature alone, there are Utopia, Gulliver's Travels, Erewhon, Lord of the Flies. Why then an island? Perhaps because an island - cut off, entire in itself - allows the writer to present -in miniature, a model as it were - a picture of society, any society. This can be seen in K of A by it s concern to present fairly complete ranges, representative types - of landscape, of class, of personality type - something which definitely informs the plot and writing in the novel.
not any island known to you	'Not known' because, of course, it is fictional; as with the comment in the note (..an island somewhat like Mallorca, but not Mallorca..) the author is concerned with preserving the room for movement given by fiction. But there is also a deliberate irony in the phrase as well: of course, this society is known to you - as it will involve the same type of errors, desires, good and bad intentions as we might be surrounded by any day - 'a fiction is always about the time and place in which it is written.'
a great height	The great height aids that distance of contemplation suggested by the first sentence. Obviously the idea of height and distance will be further elaborated in the Prologue by the elaboration of the analogy between angels and the reader - but it might also be worth thinking about that this is also where the novel ends - with Amara glancing down on the island below her, though for her then, she is without curiosity, any taint of interest. (What the reader's relation to this dismissal of the concerns of the island is by this stage must be considered when reading these final passages).
little towns	There's an aspect of the description of the panorama of the island in this first paragraph which emphasizes the 'charm' of the island: 'little..clustered round..beaches of bright sand...well-watered valleys...From this perspective it seems a picture, fixed and untroubled. Of course, when the story proper starts, and the novel descends to the level of characters - for them nothing is fixed, and the narrative will, at the least, trouble them. However this first perspective - of distance - is never entirely cancelled, since the writing will frequently return to this mode of describing the landscape. There's a further point: a central question in the novel will be whether Nature is enough, whether humans can live with just knowing Nature alone. The 'charm' of the picture perhaps suggests an initial positive answer.
both parched and fertile	However, one doesn't want to overdo the charm: the landscape has its hardships, its difficulties for humans ( intermittent violent torrents...the great mountains... their thick mantles of snow..). Within this first paragraph is a suggestion of range - the variation within the society which will be supplemented by the variation within the society as the novel progresses.
more like that of an angel than any islander	Emphasizing the distance of the reader from the characters - there's a difference between living a (human's) life and reading a book. Obviously, one is real and the other is fictional - but the issue here is different, and it's one of knowledge and approach. A life cannot be contemplated since one lives it with the only partial knowledge and perspective available moment to moment; one cannot know consequences. The characters in the book cannot know the consequences and the full context of their actions; even when their intentions are good, the effects of their actions will not be what they intended. The irony of action will be a major strand through the book.
still had any credibility	Just a phrase in passing - but the first note of rejection of the (medieval) religious view - as something to be believed in.
a hovering, gravely attentive presence	A description - a recommendation - of how, at a certain level, the reader might approach the story: serious, concentrating but not involved in the sense of just considering alone the events as they happen, not fixed on those events in the sense of not entertaining the possibility of other outcomes.
nothing is concealed	Implied here is something about the relation of the narrative voice to the characters: the narrative is omniscient - that is, comments on characters are complete and trustworthy; it can move with equal confidence between the minds and motives of all characters. Obviously not all novels take this approach: much of the reader's work can be in the assessment of how far the narrative is to be trusted, working out where there are gaps or distortions in knowledge. That task is not necessary here; the reader has other forms of judgment to make. If hearts and minds are as open as the landscape, that does not remove the task of judgment - perhaps it requires that that judgment, from so privileged position (one never available in 'real life'), be more careful, considered and generous.
time	The time the angels 'live' in is the same as the time a reader can read in - in relation to what is read. If 'everything is always present', then for any event, its causes and effects can be looked at in any order (imagine a chain of events written down as a diagram: time translated into space). The characters in fiction, like Hamlet, live as we do in our 'real' lives - in one direction; as readers we can stand in the position of angels, overlooking others' lives.
the climb to them is irrevocable	If a 'real' life and a fictional life are lived in one direction, then an action once done is done; it cannot be gone back over. Consequences of actions will be central in the novel - but we must consider the characters in two ways: as characters read about we can consider their actions at our leisure - looking ahead, looking back; but these characters (the party of young men) now introduced into the novel, at their level, are living just as we do - the future is unknown, what they are about to meet, the story, is unknown to them. But not to us if we are attentive readers - able to read more than once.

Prologue		Do you agree/disagree with this commentary? Anything you want to add? stevebrown@clara.co.uk return to text