On the Black Hill

Bruce Chatwin, the writer of this novel, is mainly known for his travel books. Exotic places and reflections on travelling were his specialty. Yet "On the Black Hill" is possibly his best book, though set entirely in as unexotic a locale as possible, the borderlands between Wales and England. Chatwin's evocation of the peculiar atmosphere of a small, backwards farming community in Wales and the odd characters it produces is at once more lively and more tragic than any travel book could be. The book revolves around a more or less chronological biography of twin brothers in a farmstead in Wales, written in sequential flashbacks. There is something of Xavier de Maistre in this: at the beginning of the novel, the twins are portrayed at the end of their life, living together in their isolated farm with a number of odd and antique items around them. These items then frame the telling of the tale of their life and of the people they encountered in it, so that in the telling each item becomes familiar and takes up its place in the sentimental narrative of the twins' experiences. In this manner, some of the attachment they have for their own place and their few possessions is projected onto the reader, which creates very skilfully a sense of identification with what are otherwise two very obviously highly weird people in a rather backwards and uninviting rural village. Chatwin's book is remarkable because it is very compelling, a page-turner almost, while almost nothing of significance happens in it. But because the brothers grow up so stunted by their upbringing and environment, and because of the total social and mental helplessness of all people in the community, many events that would normally be considered minor and of little impact in our lives become enormous incursions into the farm life. This gives them a meaning and a tragic nature one would not normally assign them. At no point does the book even leave the direct surroundings of the Welsh borderlands, and yet it is more intriguing than many a story of Patagonia. An accomplishment.

The conjunction of considerable brouha surrounding release with my place of residence in Central Australia compelled me to read Chatwin's ,'Songlines'. The disappointment with this inaccurate and sloppily structured book deterred further curiosity in his oeuvre. What a loss! 'Black Hill' is a brilliant description of rural Wales, resonant with some of the sweetest nature observations, and the minuatae of rural existence. Chatwin is on the top of his game in this earlier work. No wonder his press expected 'Songlines' to be the magnum that would establish an enduring reputation. The subject matter is generated by the curious tale of geriatric twin brothers who have barely ventured beyond a twenty mile radius of Black Hill. Their 80 years are sketched in without psychologising their inhibitions. For a novel that does explore those dimensions, read Michel Tournier's,'Gemini'. But Chatwin's work has an unhurried pacing spiced with effortless aliterations('spider webs, wavering white with dew, were stitched over the dead grass'...'croziers of young bracken curled up through the cow-parsley')that seem conjured from the mists hanging over the Hill. He's as unobtrustive as the twins, cocooned as they are from the turmoils of the century, beyond their pasture. The years roll on, loved ones and rivals, all pass without Chatwin resorting to Thomas Hardy's melodramatic coicidences to paste the seasons together with wilfull moralising.I mention Hardy as Chatwin refers to him in the text. I did think of John Berger's work at times. And that's fine recommendation from me.

On the Black Hill is an elegantly written homage to the inelegant life of rural Wales, a life in which no one ever strays far from the farm--there are few opportunities and little motivation to do so. Spartan lives are enriched by stories and gossip, slights are never forgotten, feuds reach epic intensity, and bottled-up frustrations simmer till they explode. Through rich and vivid descriptions of the minutiae of daily existence, we come to know twin brothers Lewis and Ben Jones as they grow up and are shaped by their family and their small community. The townspeople become our own friends or enemies, depending on their behavior towards the twins, and we empathize with them as they use their limited resources to struggle with the Big Questions which concern us all--questions of life, love, spirituality, death, cruelty, justice, and ultimately, happiness. By paring life to the bone here, Chatwin gives us a classic example of the adage, "Less is more."

All Bruce Chatwin's books seem to have a provincial side to them. Set in outlandish places in all corners of the Earth, they all have a sort of question mark attached to them, perhaps asking: Now, what's going on here? "On the Black Hill," is, I maintain, set in as outlandish a spot as any of them. The Welsh countryside has bred just as odd examples of humanity as the green hills of Kentucky or the wide veldt of South Africa. Yet Chatwin sees through them all, down to some sort of common denominator, and what we have in this book is the most human story to issue from this pen. The story of the twins will not only delight for its old-fashioned setting and eccentric but somehow so British behaviour, it will also draw you into Chatwin's elegant prose with its remarkable tempo (you might almost call it metre) and ability to colour scenes with gouache-like softness and light. In fact, coming to Chatwin through "On the Black Hill" may not be such a good idea. Read "The Songlines" first, and failing that, read "Utz" either before or after. In any case, although this short-lived modern writer has not left us the overwhelming legacy we might normally have expected, there is sufficient material to keep you occupied and thinking about your own and Chatwin's world, for some time to come. And in the end you'll see that Bruce Chatwin's not provincial at all.

Although each episode seems simple and mundane, they determine in important ways the men these two identical twins become. Even in the isolation of a small town in Wales the changes of the twentieth century are nothing short of remarkable, perhaps, because they are seen through such innocent eyes. The devotion of the two brothers to each other is admirable and beautiful. This portrait of one life lived by two people make this book an exceptional experience. The writing is excellent