Reviews for The green and the gold

The average rating for The green and the gold based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-01-17 00:00:00 Guylaine Maine This book was a find in a used book store closeout. The subtitle hooked me, linking Andrew Marvell, poet author of "To His Coy Mistress," and much more, with politics and espionage. Sold. Marvell is shown as a person who comes to play important roles in the 17th Century English Civil War. He serves, in turn, both the rebel Cromwell and then King Charles the Second, (whose father had lost his head, literally, in this telling, to Cromwell), when the monarchy is restored after Cromwell's "assisted" demise. The account author Christopher Peachment offers is of a cerebral (and literary) James Bond character. The read was fun, but seemed most unlikely, so I went to some standard reference sources including the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Checking Marvell's chronology and travels in the record, it seems Peachment has found for his character "world enough and time" to accommodate the storyline. One might say: The facts provide fair bones on which to build this body, And clothe it in a lusty tale, one that's far from shoddy. (My apologies.) The book has Marvell recruited while at Cambridge to become an "intelligencer" working abroad to gather useful information for the government of England. Upon graduation, he is said to depart for the continent to visit countries of interest to the government. The reference sources note that he did travel abroad then, but that little is known of what his travels involved. The story connects him with "Paradise Lost" author, John Milton. The sources note that Milton was at one time his boss in government service. Marvell relates his travels to Russia in diplomatic service with Lord Carlisle. He describes the incident in which Carlisle is nearly incinerated in a bogus Guy Fawkes celebration in which the Russian peasants join. The sources confirm that Marvell spent two years on this trip with Carlisle, but not the bonfire story. In the book, Marvell tells stories about his relationship with other poets, writers, and aristocrats. The sources confirm some of these interactions. Marvell writes of the patronage at "The Horn," "a louche drinking club." He relates, "It was mainly writers and politicians that gathered there, with the occasional lawyer, though not if it could be helped." All told, many kudos to the author for weaving an exciting, sometimes erotic, account of a major literary figure, an account that might be true. As written, Marvell is the first person narrator. He often speaks directly to the reader, noting that he will tell them something else later, or commenting that he has already mentioned a topic. He shows a sometimes caustic sense of humor. He says of his poems," Once you have understood them, there is very little more to be said about them. The trouble is that very few people seem to understand them." The characterization of Marvell is quite nuanced. He is shown as a very private person, one who seeks to maintain control of his life and affairs. He does not drink in public company, although he does imbibe in private, sometimes extensively. Often he seems amoral in his decisions and attitudes, admitting that he has a "conscience flexible." He frequently disagrees with others in public, oftentimes through letters to the newspapers. The sources agree on this behavior, as well. In addition to strong characterization, the story offers opportunity to consider the literary creative process. Marvell cautions, "One final piece of advice if you seek to become a poet. Resist the temptation." He later adds, "not to write at all is by far the safest course in life." But, on the other hand, " If you are going to write, then write a lot." There are many allusions to literature which the reader may catch. This makes for a rich reading experience, a bonus beyond the exciting adventure the author provides. Yes, you are right. I am recommending the book. Anyone interested in writing will find much to enjoy. History enrichment is at hand in the doings of the English Civil War. Social relationships abound, although some of them are quite negative. Nonetheless, good writing here makes them all interesting. And the best news is, Peachment wrote an earlier book, "Caravaggio." The review blurbs make it sound as entertaining as this.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-03-14 00:00:00 Tom Monasmith Jr An interesting take on Andrew Marvell's other occupation other than poetry. Andrew Marvell was a contemporary of John Milton and John Donne. As a poet, he is a far lesser light than Donne or Milton, although as far as poems read in their entirety, Marvell may be the better known, as he was the author of "To His Coy Mistress," the classic "let's make hay while the sun shines" seduction poem. It was Donne who wrote such memorable lines as "for whom the bell tolls" (in a sermon that is rarely read anymore) and Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost (and other huge poems that few people read today), it was Marvell who made the marvelous line, "my vegetable love grows ever grows / vaster than empires and more slow." Donne and Marvell are typically remembered as members of a group of "metaphysical poets," which Donne certainly was, though Marvell wears the title reluctantly: "One final piece of advice if you seek to become a poet," Christopher Peachment's fictional Marvell says. "Resist the temptation." In Peachment's slow-off-the-mark novel about Marvell, his life and times, the poet is an especially reluctant metaphysician. The autobiographical Marvell of The Green and the Gold is, rather, a naughty spy of both the voyeuristic and espionage types, and an egoist who loves talking about his own poetry (even though he insists he never talks about it). The book is spotty because, although the title of the novel includes the word "politician," the fictionalized Marvell merely mentions in passing that he was a Minister of Parliament, then brushes that fact aside, saying, Forget about that. And while the first battle of the Civil War, one that resulted in the loss of King Charles' head and the tyrannical reign of Oliver Cromwell, is drawn in excruciating detail, much of the rest of the War is ignored. The book's slow opening scenes ' one from childhood, the next from young adulthood ' are so slow that many readers may well put the book down before working through the first fifty pages. But for the reader who does wade through the first fifty pages, there's a treat in store. Once Peachment settles down and lets Marvell narrate the events that really interest him, the book gets good and funny. What interests this Marvell is sex, manipulation, and his own poetry (even though he insists he never talks about it ' one of the inconsistencies that make the character come alive). Inasmuch as the novel is an investigation of the origins of some of Marvell's more famous poems, it works pretty well, even if Peachment's investigations are largely speculative. For instance, there's what amounts to a shaggy-dog story about the couplet from "To His Coy Mistress" which runs: "But at my back I always hear / Time's winged chariot hurrying near." This "translates," of course, as "hey babe, we're all going to die, so let us take our pleasure now while we may." But the back story Peachment invents is a literal tale of a near-death experience, giving the couplet in its, so to speak, pre-publication form as: "And at my back I clearly hear / Ten Spanish cut-throats hurrying near." One Don Coyote, a malapropism that adds leaven to this sometimes-uneven novel, saves Marvell from these cutthroats. The "great long streak of piss of peace, [the] decade of bible-thumping and God-bothering and general all-round sniffiness" of Cromwell's Puritan rule finally gives way to the Restoration of Charles II. For Marvell the spy, this brings new problems, but the amazing true fact is that he stayed in the good graces of both Cromwell's regime and the new king. The Marvell of The Green and the Gold is a man of action, by God, so he says, "It is hard to do nothing. You should try it some time." To stir things up a bit, he starts the Fire of London in order to blame it on the Catholics, who are thought to be wooing the impoverished Charles II (They were, through the offices of Louis XIV, the moneybags King of France). As if to demonstrate that politicians never change, Marvell says he "sat on the Parliamentary committee which was convened to investigate the cause of the fire…. [W]e finally came to the conclusion that it probably was not the Catholics who caused the fire after all, though that didn't stop me from circulating anonymous pamphlets claiming that they did." Peachment has produced an interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes touching, occasionally brilliant novel that will interest readers wanting to add color to the cheeks of Marvell's poetry, or who are otherwise interested in the seventeenth century. The narrative is quirky, which seems a proper reflection of the man who could write the carpe diem sex poem he's so famous for as well as the contemplative poems about mowing grass (a labor Marvell only ever observed, never engaged in). If the first few chapters disappoint readers, much better is in store, including some truly insightful ruminations on the composition of poetry.