Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard
Jan. 13th, 2012 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinThe final part of Sara Wheeler's five-part series on the men of the Terra Nova is a subject close to my heart, and evidently close to hers as well, because she wrote his biography.
To Strive and Seek: Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Chronicler
Mentioned photos:
Setting out for Cape Crozier
Returning from Cape Crozier
The story of the Polar Party is very sad, indeed tragic, in every sense of the word, even (especially) the classical. The thing about tragedy, though (especially the classical), is that it carries with it an element of catharsis. When I tell people about this obsession of mine, if they know anything about it already they tend to roll their eyes a bit and go 'Oh gosh, that's so depressing...' While I do find it intensely sad, oddly I don't find it depressing at all. No, what is depressing is Cherry's post-Antarctic biography. Merely surviving to a ripe old age is not always the happy ending.
On a lighter note: I've managed to deal with it for the rest of the series, but it's just really weird to hear Cherry's words delivered by anyone but Matt Green, who played him in the radio play that introduced me to all of this, and in my opinion was brilliantly cast and note-perfect in his portrayal. One of the reasons I put off reading the book so long was that I didn't want it to have a different 'voice' than what was in the play, but it was exactly what Mr Green (and the writer and director) had led me to expect, and as a result I 'hear' Cherry's words in that voice whenever I encounter them. I really really hope that the signs of centenary interest visible on Radio 4's scheduling mean that they're going to rerun the radio play this year, so I can point everyone in its direction ...
To Strive and Seek: Apsley Cherry-Garrard, ChroniclerMentioned photos:
Setting out for Cape Crozier
Returning from Cape Crozier
The story of the Polar Party is very sad, indeed tragic, in every sense of the word, even (especially) the classical. The thing about tragedy, though (especially the classical), is that it carries with it an element of catharsis. When I tell people about this obsession of mine, if they know anything about it already they tend to roll their eyes a bit and go 'Oh gosh, that's so depressing...' While I do find it intensely sad, oddly I don't find it depressing at all. No, what is depressing is Cherry's post-Antarctic biography. Merely surviving to a ripe old age is not always the happy ending.
On a lighter note: I've managed to deal with it for the rest of the series, but it's just really weird to hear Cherry's words delivered by anyone but Matt Green, who played him in the radio play that introduced me to all of this, and in my opinion was brilliantly cast and note-perfect in his portrayal. One of the reasons I put off reading the book so long was that I didn't want it to have a different 'voice' than what was in the play, but it was exactly what Mr Green (and the writer and director) had led me to expect, and as a result I 'hear' Cherry's words in that voice whenever I encounter them. I really really hope that the signs of centenary interest visible on Radio 4's scheduling mean that they're going to rerun the radio play this year, so I can point everyone in its direction ...
