Annotated
Bibliography
by Kim Cole
Middleton, Haydn. Guest Speaker Manchester College. Oxford, 7
July, 1997.
_____."Psychomp." A man experiencing his mid-life crisis decides to
journey
back to his hometown. He meets a beautiful young woman at the train
station with
whom he eventually decides to commit adultery.
They begin to mate, and
she begins to change in appearance. This woman
changes into his wife before they were married,
and eventually the woman becomes his mother
who molested him as a child.
_____. The Collapsing Castle. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
Daniel
Seagrief, husband and father is struggling with his career when he is
introduced to Adrian Osterburg and Eppie with whom he will live out
the myth of Vortigern and Rowena. Daniel lusts after Eppie, and
considers cheating on his wife, who is already cheating on him. Throughout the
novel, Daniel tries to understand the importance of
Osterburg and Eppie in his life while he remembers that his dying father
promised his that something "special" was about to happen to him. This
novel is full of "false constructs" and collapsing castles.
_____. The King's Evil. Great Britian: Little, Brown and Company,
1995.
Mordred is introduced as a ten year old mute. He finally begins to speak,
but has no close friends to speak of. Mordred is a law unto himself . . .
a baby that was saved in a night levy by mistake. A man
other than his father saved him that night and raised
him, realizing that Mordred was not really his son. As
Mordred matures, he is pushed out of his homeland and sent
to find King Arthur who everyone knows is his father, except
for Mordred. Mordred travels to meet his father, and kills him to end
the kingdom.
_____. The Lie of the Land. London: Macmillan, 1989. David Nennius
lost
his wife and child years ago after killing the man who
molested his son. He lives with another man and spends his time
working as an electrician and writing the myth that is his life.
The novel is structured after the legend of Brutus. Nennius
is finally reunited with his son after a social worker,
Rachel, and his live-in Quinn try fervently to help him.
_____. The People in the Picture. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987.
Jasmine summons Terence Lacy into her life. Lacy
is "Talesin," a figure from Welsh mythology who spend
his time bringing Jasmine's family, or The People in the
Picture together by sometimes drastic and unforseeable
means. Lacy introduces Jasmine to Roland King who will eventually
father her child. In this novel, we see some of Middleton's ideas about
the effects of children on our lives.
_____. The Queen's Captive. Great Britain: Little, Brown and
Company,
1996.
A continuation of The King's Evil. Mordred is nursed back
to health by
his mother (Morgan) after washing up on the shore of
Avalon. Mordred
mates with his mother, who is also his father's sister.
They recreate King
Arthur who Mordred killed in the previous text. Mordred
suffers all of
the bloodletting of the previous kingdom and future
kingdom of Arthur,
he reverts to childhood in a matter of moments, and
disappears into the
water.
Back to Haydn Middleton