I hugely enjoyed the new novel by Susanna Clarke, prompted to read it in part because I knew of her interest in Owen Barfield.
It did not disappoint and I wanted to share why by talking about it in relation to four levels of meaning: the literal, moral, tropological and anagogic.
I’d go so far as to say it’s an important book for our times, in its modest way – that attitude being key. It doesn’t try to change anything, preach anything, worry about anything, but says instead, look, love, link. There is nowhere to go, nothing to escape, everything to perceive.