[flickr]
'He stood staring into the wood for a minute, then said: "What is it about the English countryside — why is the beauty so much more than visual? Why does it touch one so?"
He sounded faintly sad. Perhaps he finds beauty saddening — I do myself sometimes. Once when I was quite little I asked father why this was and he explained that it was due to our knowledge of beauty's evanescence, which reminds us that we ourselves shall die. Then he said I was probably too young to understand him; but I understood perfectly.'
I Capture the Castle
[i mustn't claim the idea of using this quote, when searching for a photo to use with this post i came across the above photo, which was accompanied by this quote which was too lovely not to include. So all credit to the flickr owner, link to the photo provided above]
i thought i would talk a little about the story behind my blog name. Capture the Castle is of course a reference to Dodie Smith's lovely novel I Capture the Castle. It is a warm and thrilling tale of first love, beginning to live and a young girl's passion for writing. Cassandra Mortmain, the main character, is a 17 year old who writes with such innocent but meaningful style about the happenings around her family and their poor bohemian existence in Belmotte Tower, the castle crumbling around them in disrepair as they attempt to live their lives.
The tale of Rose pining away in the depths of the castle and Cassandra sitting in the kitchen sink scribbling away in her journal captured me completely as a young girl. I have read it at least 20 times, and as i get older i come to appreciate its soft and calm magic even more. It is not a grand book, but it is a powerful one, and the struggles of the Mortmain family to survive on a meagre existence in their castle while both Cassandra and Rose attempted to forge their existence as young women spoke to me on many different levels. Not the least on a superficial level, i have always wanted to live in a castle, and the eccentricities of life in Belmotte seemed pure perfection to my young self.
When i look at it now i see the novel that really inspired me to write. Dodie Smith's narrative voice is so strong in this, Cassandra is a first person narrator, and yet unlike so many first person narrators you never tire of her, she never bores or annoys you. At every new chapter you fall in love with her yet again. Her naivete, but also her fervent desire to write, and write about everything, is endearing. Even more than the writing itself, the characters and their passion inspired me. I wanted to get a journal like Cassandra to scribble away in about life. I wanted to have my first love, and test the waters of life a little.
So, growing up slightly odd, wearing clothes my friends didn't quite agree with and my nose always stuck in a book, I capture the castle was also a source of refuge. 'How i wish i lived in a Jane Austen novel!' Rose exclaims strongly one day, and how i agree with her. When bothered by school and australia i could retreat into the fold of the romantic english countryside, spending days wandering the halls of Belmotte and exploring its surrounding heaths. Cassandra, who states emphatically 'noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression' became like a good friend, crazy and melodramatic, hopelessly naive, kind and open-hearted, and like all youths, treading the path fraught with danger that is adolescence. Any teenage girl growing up would love this book because Dodie Smith captures so completely the spirit of youth. The invincibility, the feeling that things revolve wholly and completely around you, the dramatic and passionate outlook on life untempered by the bittersweet tinges of true adulthood, how the littlest and most inconsequential of things can seem so large and terrible in the eyes of a teenager.
that's why i named my blog Capture The Castle. I wanted a title that encapsulated what i thought the purpose of this blog is, to write about anything and everything. In that sense, it is like Cassandra's journal, although what i write about is not nearly as personal as her subject matter, and leaning rather more heavily towards the clothing end of the spectrum, but it is the same general idea. Writing. And lots of it.
I really recommend this book if you, like me, love england, writing, love stories, and tales of youth. It is the perfect accompaniment to a cold and rainy day, a cup of tea, and a piece of turkish delight.
Thankyou all for your lovely comments and wishes of luck regarding my exams... i only have one left now! it's all very exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. I love it though. Much love and a thousand good wishes!
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