H E Bates
	The Revelation
	Breeze Anstey

The Revelation first published in 1934 (somewhere!), then in the the May 1942 UK edition of Argosy. Collected with all the other Uncle Silas stories in My Uncle Silas published 1939 by Jonathan Cape, hardback re-issued by the Reprint Society in 1947 and again by Jonathan Cape in 1952 and 1985. Published in paperback by Penguin, 1958, re-published (without illustrations) by Mayflower-Dell 1964

Breeze Anstey first published in 1937. Collected in Seven by Five (thirty five short stories covering thirty five years of writing) published 1963 by Michael Joseph, Penguin paperback published 1972. Also included in the 1110-page scholarly work The Literature of Lesbianism, A historical anthology from Ariosto to Stonewall, published 2003 by the Columbia University Press.

First published at the age of tweny in 1925, H E Bates wrote short stories, novellas and novels until shortly before his death in 1974. His tales appealed both to the general public and the literary critics, and have been translated into many languages. He had an ability for vivid description of a scene or a person, usually in very few words - no doubt this talent was honed in his years on a local paper. Like Laurie Lee, H E Bates grew up in an almost unmechanised rural English community, and he shares Lee's deftness of touch in bringing that society to life for the reader. Bates's work is regularly re-discovered. A TV dramatisation of his "Larkin" novels, taking the title of the first, The Darling Buds Of May, not only attracted huge viewing figures, but also helped propel Catherine Zeta-Jones towards international stardom.

One significant character in Bates's early life found his way onto the page as "Uncle Silas", where he proved so popular that Bates wrote more than a dozen stories about him. This is no fictional creation - Bates writes "Silas is ... an authentic figure. ... Consequently, certain stories ... are so near to reality that they needed only the slightest recolouring on my part." The Revelation is said to be one of those stories: " Silas in plain truth never washed himself", and intertwines Silas being given his weekly bath by his housekeeper, and telling his great-nephew of an incident in his youth when some of the village girls stole the clothes of a group of lads who were swimming in the mill pond. As was the norm, they were swimming naked, which seems not to have bothered boys or girls. But to retrieve their clothes, the lads would need to get out of the water and confront the thieves - behaviour way outside conventional mores. This was one of the Uncle Silas stories filmed for television by Masterpiece Theatre, broadcast by ITV in 2001, with Albert Finney in the title role. Sadly, despite an excellent cast and production team, I felt the programmes failed to capture either the charm or the roguery of Silas - he became a caricature, almost a buffoon, and lost most of his subtlety and devilment. Perhaps the commissioning editors sought something too populist, or felt that their audience would not be capable of appreciating the very different way country folk lived a hundred or more years earlier. Or maybe their mistake was to stretch out what are little more than episodes into full-blown dramas. Either way, I advise against the televised versions, but highly recommend the source material - as illustrated in the extract. If possible, get hold of the illustrated version of My Uncle Silas. Bates himself says the "crabbed and crusty pictures are so absolutely and perfectly in the spirit of every page they illustrate". The one shown here is from another story, A Funny Thing, in which Silas and his cousin Cosmo are trying to top one another's tales. Silas tells of encountering a duchess's daughter. The young lady asked to paint Silas, and he agreed. One day he turned up, only to find her painting herself in the nude. This is nudity as foreplay, since it doesn't take long for the couple to move on from art to sampling all twenty bedrooms in the castle!

The eponymous Breeze Anstey is one of two young women who rent a cottage and small parcel of land on the edge of the New Forest, intending to grow and sell herbs. In late summer, a mild drought drives them to bathe in a woodland pool. When they get there, the impulsive Breeze decides there is no need to use the swimming costume she has brought, and encourages the older and more staid Lorn to do likewise. The shared nudity proves a significant incident in the developing relationship between the two women, which is the true subject of the story. As usual, Bates writes sympathetically and perceptively - I think this can be seen in the extract. Although there is conflict and sadness as well as joy and growth, there are no clear heros or villains - these characters are too true to normal life to fit in those exceptional categories. Breeze Anstey has also been filmed for TV, back in 1972, as part of Granada's Country Matters series - apparently this dramatisation limited the nudity to a single rear view as Breeze enters the water.

Ratings (covering both stories):

Nudity	Naturist nudity	A good read?

Last updated 2004 February 29.
 
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Other content Copyright © author Tim Forcer

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