I think the political reference you're spotting in The Mask of Apollo about a country/people that has never known freedom (and where tyranny is shored up by a sense of external threat) is mainly to apartheid South Africa. Renault decided to move to South Africa when she won a cash prize that enabled her to buy a house there, but that very same year the Nationalist Party won the election and implemented apartheid, so it suddenly turned out to be a very different political situation (which afaict also was what ended her partner Julie Mallard's career in nursing--I'm not sure of the details, but it seems to have had to do with her objection to the imposition of apartheid in hospitals). It doesn't seem coincidental to me that Renault quickly stopped writing contemporary fiction and moved to historical--only The Charioteer comes after her move of the modern-day novels, and that's set in a war recent but already over.
Renault's views on politics in South Africa seem reflected in her standalone historical fiction particularly, where characters who are in the elite of excellence in their social circle or profession reject both a tyrannical ruler and more populist opposition figures they see as demagogic, and the narratives are pessimistic about what will follow the overthrow even though the overthrow itself is a necessary and good thing (see also The Last of the Wine). I often find Renault's politics blinkered--she does not come off well imo in her feud with Nadine Gordimer over PEN rules and the recruitment of Black writers--and the anti-egalitarian outlook in her writing painful. But The Mask of Apollo is heartbreaking and beautiful and I love it--I think what makes it for me is Dion's refusal to disengage at the end. He isn't willing to step back from politics and his homeland and retreat into a life of philosophical calm elsewhere just because of his disillusionment. As much as his character is morally damaged by his engagement, his tragic end really is better than if Niko had succeeded in convincing him to return to Athens. He's "an old king fallen to the sad needs of sick power," but he gives his all. The penultimate chapter is a perfect work of art. Renault herself seems to be more reflected in Niko's point of view--pulled into political involvement almost against his will, but also recoiling from aspects of it and committed to his art above all.
The final chapter with Alexander is less convincing, but the line "No one will ever make a tragedy--and that is well, for one could not bear it--whose grief is that the principals never meet" has helped me make sense of Middlemarch (where the two protagonists are linked imo by the fact that they didn't meet and marry each other).
Oh, this is really illuminating, thanks. I hadn't bothered placing Renault's own biographical timeline against the time when she wrote this book. I actually really loved the Alexander entrance, though I am not sure I could say why.
I'm not sure I'm convinced by the "mirrors the structure of the ballad" claim (if nothing else, the structure has still got to work as a novel and I don't really think it does!), but, well, nobody's reading Tam Lin for its tight narrative pacing.
I think the link was supposed to be to a post about Saul Bellow? But since it's about Tam Lin, I have been told that the odd pacing of the novel reflects the pacing of the ballad, which is a neat trick.
Have always considered reading Mary Renault and now this wonderful review has tipped the scale in her favor . I do not recommend “Dear and Glorious Physician “ about Luke by Taylor Caldwell. I can handle a certain amount of purple prose and I will give her a great deal of historical license but on both of these scores she went too far . Also she was into some esoteric stuff that was a bit more of the flavoring in this dish than I would have liked . I had very high hopes for this one so this reflects my disappointment perhaps more than her deficiencies .
I think the political reference you're spotting in The Mask of Apollo about a country/people that has never known freedom (and where tyranny is shored up by a sense of external threat) is mainly to apartheid South Africa. Renault decided to move to South Africa when she won a cash prize that enabled her to buy a house there, but that very same year the Nationalist Party won the election and implemented apartheid, so it suddenly turned out to be a very different political situation (which afaict also was what ended her partner Julie Mallard's career in nursing--I'm not sure of the details, but it seems to have had to do with her objection to the imposition of apartheid in hospitals). It doesn't seem coincidental to me that Renault quickly stopped writing contemporary fiction and moved to historical--only The Charioteer comes after her move of the modern-day novels, and that's set in a war recent but already over.
Renault's views on politics in South Africa seem reflected in her standalone historical fiction particularly, where characters who are in the elite of excellence in their social circle or profession reject both a tyrannical ruler and more populist opposition figures they see as demagogic, and the narratives are pessimistic about what will follow the overthrow even though the overthrow itself is a necessary and good thing (see also The Last of the Wine). I often find Renault's politics blinkered--she does not come off well imo in her feud with Nadine Gordimer over PEN rules and the recruitment of Black writers--and the anti-egalitarian outlook in her writing painful. But The Mask of Apollo is heartbreaking and beautiful and I love it--I think what makes it for me is Dion's refusal to disengage at the end. He isn't willing to step back from politics and his homeland and retreat into a life of philosophical calm elsewhere just because of his disillusionment. As much as his character is morally damaged by his engagement, his tragic end really is better than if Niko had succeeded in convincing him to return to Athens. He's "an old king fallen to the sad needs of sick power," but he gives his all. The penultimate chapter is a perfect work of art. Renault herself seems to be more reflected in Niko's point of view--pulled into political involvement almost against his will, but also recoiling from aspects of it and committed to his art above all.
The final chapter with Alexander is less convincing, but the line "No one will ever make a tragedy--and that is well, for one could not bear it--whose grief is that the principals never meet" has helped me make sense of Middlemarch (where the two protagonists are linked imo by the fact that they didn't meet and marry each other).
Oh, this is really illuminating, thanks. I hadn't bothered placing Renault's own biographical timeline against the time when she wrote this book. I actually really loved the Alexander entrance, though I am not sure I could say why.
And YES, sorry, the Bellow link was supposed to be this: https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/a-return-to-the-thought-murders/
I'm not sure I'm convinced by the "mirrors the structure of the ballad" claim (if nothing else, the structure has still got to work as a novel and I don't really think it does!), but, well, nobody's reading Tam Lin for its tight narrative pacing.
I think the link was supposed to be to a post about Saul Bellow? But since it's about Tam Lin, I have been told that the odd pacing of the novel reflects the pacing of the ballad, which is a neat trick.
That postscript after the Demon story was wild!!!
Have always considered reading Mary Renault and now this wonderful review has tipped the scale in her favor . I do not recommend “Dear and Glorious Physician “ about Luke by Taylor Caldwell. I can handle a certain amount of purple prose and I will give her a great deal of historical license but on both of these scores she went too far . Also she was into some esoteric stuff that was a bit more of the flavoring in this dish than I would have liked . I had very high hopes for this one so this reflects my disappointment perhaps more than her deficiencies .