Description
The fourteen short stories in this collection correspond in number and quality with David Garnett's fifteen novels and were written over much the same period. The first, The Old Dovecote, appeared thanks to E. M. Forster's recommendation to the editor of the English Review, as long ago as 1919; the last was completed after the publication of The Sons of the Falcon in 1972. The title of the collection, Purl and Plain, is that of one of the most original and imagina- tive of the stories. It also reflects a distinction in this collection, for whereas in Mr Garnett's best-known novel, Lady into Fox, the fantasy and realism are inextricably compounded, his short stories tend to be all purl or all plain. The straightforward knitting outnumbers the fancy stitch, and the direct narrative draws much of its inspiration from the author's experi- ence of life on the land fifty years ago, in Russia before the revolution as well as in the world of the creative artist.
