About the Book
Nearly as old as the hills themselves are the man-made monuments that dot their slopes: the cairns, burial chambers, and stone circles that seem to mark out, in some mysterious way, man's relationship to the landscape. We do not know what impulse drove our earliest ancestors to cluster boulders and prop slabs against the skyline, but as successive generations have stood before these strange stones and pondered their origins, such sites have been imbued with significance and overlaid with myth.
In Rising Ground, Philip Marsden sets out on foot to explore the power of the landscape and the continuing hold it has upon our imagination. Starting in Bodmin Moor and moving westward along the narrowing Cornish peninsula to Land's End with a growing awareness of the great ocean beyond, Marsden travels an ancient route of pilgrimage towards the setting sun, rehearsing the soul's passage after death. Along the way, he seeks out others whose have felt similarly compelled by the landscape, from Geoffrey of Monmouth and the inventors of the Arthurian legends to Tudor topographers and 18th century antiquarians; and from Romantic scholars to post-industrial poets, abstract painters, and new-age seekers. As he camps on clifftops, criss-crosses the moors, and digs around in the archives, Marsden reflects on the spirit of place, asks how we are shaped by our connection to the landscape, and takes us right to the heart of what it means to belong.
About the Author :
PHILIP MARSDEN is a writer and journalist. He is the author of several works of travel writing and non-fiction, including most recently The Levelling Sea and The Barefoot Emperor, and a novel, The Main Cages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Cornwall with his wife and children.
Review :
The most incredible book
Equally entertaining and enlightening... A timely volume, describing in beautiful prose the opulence of our natural and human fabric. A superb and educative work which should be read everywhere
Marsden is a born writer. Elegance seems as natural to his prose as the breeze from the west to his adopted homeland. He wears his learning lightly, and his curiosity is boundless
[A] superb "search for the spirit of place", which takes Cornwall as its focal terrain, and the idea of sacred landscape as its subject
The nature writing is just gorgeous... But it offers much more than evocative writing... this is a passionate argument for a particularly local kind of history, one defined by a deep connection with landscape... For a travel writer, home is the hardest of all subjects, but it has inspired Marsden to write one of his best books yet... Wonderful
Superb... He writes with a historian's eye and singular sensitivity... While the book's aim is to discover the spirit of place, what it reveals and celebrates best is the spirit of people. [A] fine book
Fascinating and hauntingly evocative... A truly wonderful and enjoyable book
[A] fascinating study of place and its meaning in prehistoric Britain, and much, much more
Marsden's beautiful 'search for the spirit of a place', [makes this] a book that is genuinely essential for all of us, from whom place is being stolen on a daily basis
Wonderful and evocative... His research is not only wide-ranging, but integrated impeccably with a narrative stuffed full of poetry and myth... In Marsden's hands, these gossamer-like threads of myth, mist and mystery become solid, the cornerstones of a substantial and beautiful narrative of place
[Marsden has] an astonishingly keen eye for detail and a beguiling gift for the description of landscape... Extraordinary, complex and fascinating
A deft and compelling blend of cultural history, travelogue and observation
His writing is just so good. Short, pacey chapters and an intimate and aphoristic style complement his powerful evocation of different terrains
Thoughtful... Rising Ground is a wonderful topographical history of the West Country but also a great essay on why some places exert such a psychological pull on us
Lively and entertaining... Marsden paints rich, colourful and enticing pictures with his finely-crafted and meticulously honed words... Both personal and inspiring
Evocative
Beautiful
It is Marsden's close attention to the immediacy of his experience that keeps him, and us, interested in this journey
His writing weaves cultural and natural history in a book which is both memoir and travelogue. Every rock, hill and cliff holds a tale or a legend and Rising Ground shows that such landscapes are not just close to our hearts but are a crucial part of our culture too
Vivid... filled with beautiful description and vibrantly painted encounters with a variety of personalities... [it] offers a fresh, well researched and stimulating perspective of some of Cornwall's most historically rich locations
Marsden has a gift, not only for language and metaphor, but also for imagining places as they have felt to others... in the process, [he] finds a Cornwall of his own
Marsden's often solo walk is described in such evocative detail readers can envisage the rough Cornish landscape without previous knowledge of it. His probing yet conversational style [is] both informative and entertaining
Marsden paints rich, busy, colourful and enticing pictures with his finely-crafted words. Personal and inspiring
Intriguing
Pitch-perfect prose
One of those literary wonders that achieves many things. It is, in one sense, a personal, profound book about the nature of belonging and man's desire to lay down roots and explore his surroundings. It is also a book that beautifully and succinctly evokes those surroundings... (and often with a refreshing sense of fun)
Marsden writes with charm and passion... vivid epiphanies [are] scattered throughout the text. [Rising Ground] wears its philosophy lightly and informs as it entertains. It is beautifully written, and a labour of love
Fascinating... If you have an interest in Cornwall, or sensing that spirit of place anywhere, then Rising Ground is the book for you and well worth a read
[Y]ou will find Philip Marsden here at his best; combining his acute eye for observing places and people with his deep understanding of the past. This Wainwright Prize shortlisted book is not only testament to his great writing, but also the result of his love for Cornwall - a place you will immediately want to visit after reading this
For a travel writer, home is the hardest of all subjects, but it has inspired Marsden to write one of his best books yet
Antiquarian Philip Marsden's elegant quest takes him from Bodmin Moor's Neolithic's to whit mud clay pits in search of the historical spirit of Cornwall
A love letter to Cornwall
Takes the reader on a powerfully evocative walk through Cornwall's ritual sites and explores the profound relationship between man and landscape
This beautifully written book about Cornwall weaves together history, mystery, myth and memory.
Stunning
