Red Shift (1973) is a fantasy novel by Alan Garner. It spans over a thousand years but one geographical area: Southern Cheshire, England. Garner evokes the essence of place, allowing his characters to echo each other through time, as if their destinies may be predefined by the soil on which they walk. These are themes explored more tangibly in his easier, earlier work The Owl Service, but brought here to maturity in a weave of rapid, impressionistic dialogue. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 293 × 473 pixelsFull resolution (293 × 473 pixel, file size: 51 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned either by the artist who created the cover or the... Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill in Staffordshire in England. ... Alan Garner (born Congleton October 17, 1934) is an English writer whose work is firmly rooted in his local Cheshire. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Look up Fantasy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary For other definitions of fantasy, see fantasy (psychology). ... Collins may refer to: Tom Collins - RENT, a character in the musical. ... September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Alan Garner (born Congleton October 17, 1934) is an English writer whose work is firmly rooted in his local Cheshire. ... The Cheshire Plain - photo taken adjacent to Beeston Castle The Cheshire Plain - photo taken towards Merseyside The Cheshire Plain panorama - photo taken from Mid-Cheshire Ridge Cattle farming in the county Black-and-white timbered buildings on Nantwich High Street Cheshire (or, archaically, the County of Chester)[1] is a... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... The Owl Service (ISBN 0152017984) is a teenage fantasy novel by Alan Garner first published in 1967. ...

It is set in three intertwined time periods: Roman Britain, the siege of Barthomley Church during the English Civil War, and a caravan site near the M6 in the modern day. The English Civil War consisted of a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians (known as Roundheads) and Royalists (known as Cavaliers) between 1642 and 1651. ...

Plot introduction

This is primarily a novel about adolescent despair, but one that uses devices of fantasy such as having events at different times in history influencing each other. It is said to be inspired by the legend of Tam Lin,^[1] where a man or boy kidnapped by fairies is rescued by his true love. The author said that a piece of graffiti seen at a railway station, "Not really now not any more" became the focus of the novel's mood. It forms the last line of the story. Tam Lin is the hero of a Scottish Borders legend about fairies and mortal men (one of several Thomases in myth, such as True Thomas also known as Thomas the Rhymer). ... Graffiti (strictly, as singular, graffito, from the Italian — graffiti being the plural) are images or letters applied without permission to publicly viewable surfaces such as walls or bridges. ...

Explanation of the novel's title

The title of the novel arises from the mind of the teenage character Tom. He talks of astronomy, cosmology and other subjects he is learning. He declares that he is too "blue", i.e. sad, and needs a "red shift". Since the cosmological red shift results from galaxies moving away from each other, this may be a metaphor for his need to get away from his current life. Hubbles law is the statement in physical cosmology that the redshift in light coming from distant galaxies is proportional to their distance. ...

There are multiple occurrences of the colour red in the story. After killing many in Barthomley, Macey's skin is painted red by the tribal girl, using dye from alder bark. This marks him as a "redman", one who has killed, possibly one who has done so under the influence of a god. It is also an ancient symbol of rebirth. In Civil War Barthomley, the stone axe-head is wrapped in a petticoat which has been dyed with alder. A petticoat can also be called a "shift". In modern-day Barthomley Tom notices some red colour on the Rector's undergarment — again a "shift". Binomial name Alnus glutinosa L. Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) is an alder tree native to most of Europe, including all of Britain, and locally in southwest Asia. ... Binomial name Alnus glutinosa L. Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) is an alder tree native to most of Europe, including all of Britain, and locally in southwest Asia. ... Madame de Pompadour in an elaborately embroidered gown with matching petticoat, 1760s A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing for women; specifically an undergarment to be worn under a skirt, dress or sari. ... Fashionable young men in early 16th century Germany showed a lot of fine linen in a studied negligence. ...

Plot Summary

In the modern day Tom is a teenager living cooped up in a caravan at Rudheath with his parents. He is sustained by his relationship with his girlfriend Jan, who is leaving to become a student nurse in London. To keep their relationship alive they agree to meet regularly in the railway station at Crewe. One day they follow an ancient path from Crewe to the village of Barthomley. Returning next time on bicycles, they go further to Mow Cop, a hill dominated by a folly tower. Here they find a stone axe-head embedded in an old chimney. They decide to make it a symbol of their love. Tom and Jan have been avoiding sex, but Jan reveals that she had an affair while working as an au pair in Germany. After this, Tom becomes unstable. He insists on having sex with Jan, but having done this he becomes even more self-destructive and unbalanced. He tells Jan that he has donated the axe head to a museum, as it was a valuable Neolithic artifact. Their relationship dissolves and they bid a final farewell as Jan's train leaves again for London. Vale Royal is a local government district and borough in Cheshire, North West England. ... Map sources for Crewe at grid reference SJ705557 Crewe is a town in south Cheshire, in the north west of England. ... Barthomley is a village and civil parish in the Crewe and Nantwich district of Cheshire, England. ... Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill in Staffordshire in England. ... Broadway Tower, Worcestershire, England The folly at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, England, built in the 1700s to resemble Gothic-era ruins In architecture, a folly is an extravagant, useless, or fanciful building, or a building that appears to be something other than what it is. ... Au pair is an anglicization of the French term au pair, which means on par or equal to and describes a young person living on an equal basis with a host family in a foreign country. ...

In the time of the English Civil War, Thomas Rowley lives in Barthomley with his wife Margery. They find a stone axe-head buried in an old mound, and call it a "thunderstone", believing it to have been created by lightning striking the ground. They intend to build it into a chimney to guard against future strikes. The village is besieged by Irish Royalist troops searching for John Fowler, the village head man who has sided with Parliament. The troops eventually kill Fowler and all the other men of the village. Thomas and Margery are rescued by Thomas Venables, a former villager with the Royalists who once desired Margery. He leads them to a shanty town settlement at Rudheath and tells them to go to his family on Mow Cop once Thomas is recovered from his wounds. They take the thunderstone with them and embed it in the chimney of their new home, where it is found by Tom and Jan. Shanty town in Manila, Philippines. ...

In Roman times, Macey is an ex-soldier with a group of deserters. He has berserker fits in which he fights like ten men, using an old stone axe. Escaping from a local tribe. the "Cats" at Rudheath, the soldiers find a stockaded Cat village at Barthomley, which they pillage, killing all the inhabitants except for a young girl, whom they take as a slave. They try to "go tribal", pretending to be members of another tribe, the "Mothers", and settle on Mow Cop. This is a sacred site to the Cats, and the girl is their corn goddess. The Cats mine millstones on Mow Cop, and bring food as offerings. The soldiers think they have engineered a truce, but the girl poisons their food and they have hallucinations, killing themselves. Only Macey is spared, as he never touched the girl, who was raped and impregnated by the others. He and the girl leave together, but first he returns to Barthomley where he buries his talisman, the stone axe head, in the burial mound, asking forgiveness for killing so many villagers. The axe head is later found by Thomas Rowley. Berserkers (or Berserks) were norse warriors who fought in an uncontrollable rage or trance of fury, the berserkergang. ... A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide some security. ...

Characters in "Red Shift"

In modern days

Tom and Jan are teenagers in love. Tom lives in a caravan park in Rudheath with his parents. Tom's father is a Sergeant Major in the Army, but Tom's mother refuses to live in the barracks like other wives. There is no privacy for Tom. He has to pretend not to hear the doings of his parents at night, especially after "Mess night". Jan's parents are doctors, possibly mental health specialists. They also leave Rudheath, removing one of Tom's sanctuaries, as he used their house for studying, though his parents accuse the couple of using it for sex. Caravan parks are privately-owned locations which provide a stopping point - overnight or for weekly stays - for people traveling in a caravan, also known as a trailer or motorhome. ... Vale Royal is a local government district and borough in Cheshire, North West England. ... This article is about a military rank and position. ...

Tom is highly intelligent and knowledgeable. He quotes cosmology, poetry and Shakespeare constantly, mostly as a defense against the world around him. He is polite, almost florid in his speech with strangers, even as he can be curt and sardonic with those close to him. As the novel progresses we see that he, like Holden Caulfield before him, is descending into mental breakdown. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Jan's commitment to Tom comes partially from the rootlessness of her upbringing, moving from place to place as her parents work at different hospitals. Tom to her represents stability, and to some extent so does the axe-head. She calls it her "Bunty", a "real thing". When Tom gives the axe-head away it removes that token of stability, even as Tom himself is becoming unstable.

Tom's parents seem to be living in a different world. Tom's mother does not like Jan, seeing her as a schemer who will derail Tom's chance at an education, just another girl who will get pregnant, possibly by some other boy. Tom's father is unable to communicate with his son, especially about sex. Both parents try to find refuge in an idealized family life, having Tom pose for pictures while pretending to cut his birthday cake. Even though Tom's father is near the top of the non-commissioned ranks in the Army, the family is constantly short of money.

Tom's fate is to abandon all stability, real, imagined or symbolic.

During the English Civil War

Thomas and Margery Rowley live in Barthomley. Thomas has epileptic fits in which he has visions of another person in turmoil, who may be Tom. The village regards John Fowler, the son of the Rector, as their leader. He is charismatic, educated, and has sided with the Parliamentary forces. He is wanted by the Royalists. He may also be a sociopath. He taunts Thomas about his fits, about Margery, and about their old rival Thomas Venables, a former villager, enemy of John Fowler and a rival to Thomas Rowley for Margery. Venables was born on Mow Cop, a place thought to be cursed. He is now a soldier with the Royalists. Thomas Rowley stands watches in the church tower, but he only stares at Mow Cop, as if that is the centre of the universe. In fact in Roman times the local tribesmen believe that to be true. Barthomley is a village and civil parish in the Crewe and Nantwich district of Cheshire, England. ... Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a personality disorder which is often characterised by antisocial and impulsive behaviour. ... Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill in Staffordshire in England. ...

In Roman times

A group of Roman soldiers are on the run from the army, the local tribes and anybody else who might threaten them. They are led by Logan, their former cohort leader, who reminds them constantly that they are "the Ninth", possibly meaning the lost Ninth Legion. Logan also complains that they are "soldiers, not bricklayers", suggesting that they have been involved in the construction of Hadrian's Wall. Initially the other soldiers are Face, Magoo and Buzzard, along with Macey, who is subject to fits and berserker rages. In these states he fights like ten men but has strange visions, even claiming to be someone else, somewhere else while his body fights. Roman invasion of Britain: Britain was the target of invasion by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire several times during its history. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Berserkers (or Berserks) were norse warriors who fought in an uncontrollable rage or trance of fury, the berserkergang. ...

In some ways Logan reflects John Fowler. Both use others to benefit themselves. Macey is Logan's weapon of choice — when there is killing to be done it is Logan who knows the "big words" that incite Macey's fits. Logan also kills Buzzard for disobeying him, even though Buzzard is the best at scouting territory.

The girl-goddess-priestess sees all the soldiers as being lost from their tribes. This rootlessness echoes Tom and Jan's failure to find a place to call their own.

Accents and dialects

As in his other works, Garner peppers his characters' speech with the dialect of Cheshire. The inhabitants of Civil War Barthomley speak the broadest version, naturally, and the dialect is heard least among the rootless modern-day characters. The Roman-era characters speak, in the case of the soldiers, an Englishman's perception of Vietnam-era military jargon, and for the rest an English peppered with Cheshire dialect and pagan references. In attempting to "go native" Logan tries to master the differences between "Cats" speech and "Mothers" speech. The differences in vocabulary suggest that the "Mothers" tribe speaks a Yorkshire dialect, e.g. calling a yard or enclosure a "garth". // Introduction This page is about the English dialects and accents used in the English county of Yorkshire. ...

Choosing the name "Cats" for the Cheshire tribe is clearly another Lewis Carroll allusion. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Major themes

The stone axe head is one of two links between the stories. The characters Thomas Rowley and Macey also have shared visions of blue, silver and red. Macey seems to participate in the Civil War massacre while killing at the Barthomley stockade, and while on Mow Cop he has visions of the folly tower. Tom in the modern day seems to be the source of the madness, although he too has intimations of contact with the other two. It is as if his tortured soul finds release in the savagery of the Roman times and the devotion of Thomas Rowley to his wife. After he and Jan are falsely accused of having sex in Jan's house, Tom puts his hands through a glass window in his rage. The narrative immediately switches to Macey in the grip of a berserker rage, after which he tells Logan of seeing hands pressing towards him from far away.

Blue, silver and red are the colours Tom sees as the train pulls out of Crewe, taking Jan away from him. At the time they were the standard livery colours for British Rail Inter-City trains.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

According to a plaque in the church of modern day Barthomley, there was indeed a siege of the church during the Civil War. The villagers were flushed out by fire and massacred. Barthomley is a village and civil parish in the Crewe and Nantwich district of Cheshire, England. ...

The site of Mow Cop is not particularly isolated, in the sense that there is a village on the hilltop. According to local sources, there may have been a Roman watchtower there. The nearby A34 is a former Roman road. The folly was built to look like a ruined castle in 1754, and was used as a summerhouse for Randle Wilbraham of Rode Hall, 3 miles away.^[2] Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill in Staffordshire in England. ... The A34 is a major road in England. ... A Roman road in Pompeii Road Construction on Trajans Column The Roman roads were essential for the growth of the Roman empire, by enabling the Romans to move armies. ...

Maps show Rudheath as a suburb of Northwich. Approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of this is an area called Rudheath Woods, near the villages of Allostock and Goostrey. There is a caravan park outside Allostock, with nearby lakes, as described in the novel. Alan Garner lives in Goostrey. Arms of Northwich Town Council Statistics Population: 19,259 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ651733 Administration District: Vale Royal Shire county: Cheshire Region: North West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cheshire Historic county: Cheshire Services Police force: Cheshire Fire and rescue: Cheshire Ambulance... Allostock is a village and civil parish in the Vale Royal district of Cheshire, England, about five miles south of Knutsford. ... Goostrey is an old farming village in central Cheshire, in Congleton Borough. ...

Awards and nominations

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1978 the BBC produced Alan Garner's own script adaptation of the story as an episode in the series Play for Today.^[3] It was not well-received and is not available on video. The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... Alan Garner (born Congleton October 17, 1934) is an English writer whose work is firmly rooted in his local Cheshire. ... The Play for Today logo, seen here in the opening title sequence from 1976. ...

Release details

Trivia

Tom and Jan agree each to look at the star Delta Orionis, also called Mintaka, every night at 10 p.m. This is so that they can feel together even when apart. When inciting Macey to fight, Logan makes him focus on Mintaka. Delta Orionis (δ Ori) is one of the three stars of the belt of the constellation Orion. ...

The end papers of the book are covered with a coded message. In the story, Tom and Jan write letters to each other in ciphertext, using a method they find in works by Lewis Carroll. For a key, Tom suggests "Tom's a-cold", representing his isolation and loneliness. This is itself a quote from King Lear (Act III, Scene iv). The message in the end papers can be decoded using the key sequence "TOMSACOLD". According to some, it indicates that Tom is considering suicide. A polyalphabetic cipher is any cipher based on substitution, using multiple substitution alphabets. ... Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) - believed to be a self-portrait Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman, and photographer. ... Title page of the first quarto edition, published in 1608 King Lear is generally regarded as one of William Shakespeares greatest tragedies. ...

The decoded message is:

I love you. If you can read this you must care. Help me. I’m writing before we meet, because I know it’ll be the last. I’ll put the letter in your bag, so you’ll find it on the train afterwards. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. Everything’s clear, but it’s too late. I’ll be at Crewe next time. If you don’t come I’ll go to Barthomley. I love you. The smell of your hair will be in my face.

Sources, references, external links, quotations

1. ^ Charles Butler, 'Alan Garner's Red Shift and the Shifting Ballad of "Tam Lim"'
2. ^ Mow Cop website
3. ^ Red Shift (Play for Today episode) at the Internet Movie Database

4.The Night is For Hunting of the Tomorrow series, Red Shift is mentioned by Lee, page 242 , John Marsden The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Tomorrow series is a series of novels written by Australian author John Marsden, detailing a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. ... John Marsden (born September 27, 1950) is an Australian writer. ...