Of Mud and Flame: A Penda's Fen Sourcebook

i stumbled across this brilliant and stimulating play almost by accident, i cannot actually remember where i first heard about it but was lucky enough to be able to find a copy to watch on youtube, and i was glad that i did. it is utterly unique and i have not yet found anything else quite like it. with pleasure, i encountered this book on an amazon search (there is apparently at least one more book on penda's fen which has been written) and decided to purchase it as i felt that it would be fascinating. in a way it is, although i must also say that it could be described as extremely heavy reading, certainly not entertainment and on a completely different level from your standard review or criticism. the insights provided here are truly serious, deeply considered and couched in very intellectual terms which at times made it hard to read, or to understand, nevertheless i was still gripped by the idea and very much wanted to carry on in order to challenge myself in a way which i have never tried before, and i am glad that i did, for it has provided me with my very first introduction to serious criticism and study, and is full of examining thoughts on its subject. there is a lot of insight here, stephen franklin learning about his homosexual nature and the impact which it has upon his life in an often negative way is the central theme and really important, faith also appears to be a theme as stephen makes consultations with his religious minister. stephen also has an encounter with the spirit of the composer elgar which is really important as music is where stephen's main talent lies. there is much examination of the role of free will as opposed to social order and how it can be destructive to suppress one's true nature for the sake of society, individuality being given high importance here. paganism does enter into the story in the form of an ancient king called penda, his name has been given to the location known as pinvin and he makes a personal appearance right at the end. stephen is a foster child and this also factors into his story in an important way, with a kind of apprehension of his foster parents which eventually comes to the surface. the military are involved at one point due to some kind of mysterious accident which has left a man seriously burned, although i did not feel that this was explained in enough depth to be understood; the king penda eventually turns out to be affected in a similar way, like a kind of stigmata. there is far more here to think about than you will find in much of television, making this a truly exceptional experience likewise reading the criticism contained in this book is also unusually stimulating

This is a seminal book that anyone who has even a passing interest in the film needs. Superb.

It's available at a good price after being OOP for a long time. However, I don't know what they quality was like of the original edition, but this is Print On Demand, and you know that means cheap quality paper, poor quality photographs etc. Never mind, at least it's available to buy.