Your influences?

[morethanhuman]

Hi, as an English teacher in Ayrshire, I'm pleased to tell you my third year class loved being taught Exodus - many rushed out and bought Zenith as a result!

Therefore (as I've helped boost your bank balance!), I was hoping you could tell me what your literary influences were for the novel. I was reminded slightly of John Wyndham's The Chrysalids and wondered if you knew it?

[apogee]

Well.......slightly (just)! The Chrysalids has to be one of the best sci fi novels ever...in my opinion anyway!

[morethanhuman]

Originally Posted by apogee

Well.......slightly (just)! The Chrysalids has to be one of the best sci fi novels ever...in my opinion anyway!

Well, there are quite a few similarities between the two novels when you think about it. Both, obviously, have children as the main characters. However, consider the following:

Both have major themes to do with man's destruction of the environment: nuclear holocaust in The Chrysalids and global warming in Exodus

In The Chrysalids, David has an uncle Axel who warns him about his mutation and tries to help him - Tain provides a similar function in Exodus.

Both novels are set on islands: Labrador and Wing, and involve the characters fleeing to a different island (Sealand in The Chrysalids and New Mungo in Exodus)

In The Chrysalids, the people of Sealand live in a technologically advanced society, as do the Noorunners and Rooks of New Mungo.

Any thoughts?

[Julie Bertagna]

I was aware of The Chrysalids as a teenager. (Wasn't there an old '50s film?) I read quite a bit of John Wyndham when I was in my teens. But I'm honestly not sure if I read that one. Must get a copy of the book and have a look - I'll tell you if so!

Interesting though. Sometimes things slip into your subconscious and pop out in other forms years later.

That's really great that your class enjoyed Exodus - especially the Ayshire connection. Just back from holiday so will get back to you on the influences... but sometimes (se above) that's almost impossible to answer...

George Mackay Brown's Orkney poems and novels for sure, though.