{"product_id":"9781068379208-john-constables-the-skying-years-novel-t","title":"John Constable's The Skying Years Novel + The Play","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHistorical and climate fiction. British master sky and landscape painter, John Constable, is pivotal. The novel, then original play. Story two halves: Early C19th, children's weather game, lives challenging; Now, characters return in essence. Midsummer's Day. Climate game show. Constable's depression mirrors climate change. Friend's wife narrates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDUST JACKET FRONT FLAP\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'David's style of writing Cumulus reminds me \u003cbr\u003eof the Irish playwright, Brian Friel' \u003cbr\u003eNot a coincidence as Friel lived in the rural \u003cbr\u003enorth west of Ireland, and David grew up and \u003cbr\u003eoften lived in north west Wales. \u003cbr\u003eWELSH PLAYWRIGHT AND ACADEMIC \u003cbr\u003eWILLIAM LEWIS \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter a close read of 'Cumulus and Cirrus', \u003cbr\u003eThe 'Skying Years': \u003cbr\u003e'The play clearly draws on considerable \u003cbr\u003eresearch and knowledge-building related to art \u003cbr\u003ehistory, climate change, and the contemporary \u003cbr\u003epractices of media organisations. I learned \u003cbr\u003eabout Constable's interest in changing skies \u003cbr\u003eand clouds, about cloud science in the early \u003cbr\u003enineteenth century, and about Constable's life. \u003cbr\u003e 'Among the play's real strengths, I particularly \u003cbr\u003eliked the way the contrast is drawn between \u003cbr\u003ehis deep awareness of the ways in which \u003cbr\u003echanges in skyscapes presage change in \u003cbr\u003eweather patterns; and the ambivalence \u003cbr\u003earticulated in some areas of contemporary \u003cbr\u003esocial life regarding climate change.' \u003cbr\u003eI 'also liked the way in \u003cbr\u003ewhich the Cumulus sections depicted the \u003cbr\u003elasting friendship between John Constable \u003cbr\u003eand Edward (John) Fisher.' \u003cbr\u003eSOCIOLINGUIST \u003cbr\u003eMARILYN MARTIN-JONES \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCongratulations on publishing the book \u003cbr\u003eDR EBEN MUSE, READER IN BOOKSELLING, \u003cbr\u003eBANGOR UNIVERSITY \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDUST JACKET BACK FLAP \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClimate, soils, vegetation were influential \u003cbr\u003eparts of David Eagar's Birmingham Geography\u003cbr\u003edegree. Then, in London there was a heady \u003cbr\u003emix of copy editing with Unilever's Barry Day, \u003cbr\u003ethe pure joy of playgoing at the new National \u003cbr\u003eTheatre's Old Vic, living near Regent's Park, \u003cbr\u003eand exposure to fine art galleries. Throw into \u003cbr\u003ethe mix a childhood spent among the raw \u003cbr\u003elandscapes of Anglesey's west coast, and his \u003cbr\u003efather's love of countryside, of Bernard Shaw, \u003cbr\u003eand of Glyndebourne's early days. \u003cbr\u003e  John Constable's capacity to encapsulate \u003cbr\u003escenes and skies so engagingly came to David's \u003cbr\u003enotice one evening in 1964 at a public lecture \u003cbr\u003ein the Barber Institute of Fine Arts' Grade 1 \u003cbr\u003eListed art deco building. \u003cbr\u003e  David's concerns around ecological balance \u003cbr\u003ealso sprang to life six decades ago. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDUST JACKET BACK COVER (part)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClimate has become a matter of attention, from extreme weather events to \u003cbr\u003estatistics about how weather has been changing. The January 2025 global \u003cbr\u003etemperature was nearly 0.1 degrees Celsius higher than the January 2024's \u003cbr\u003eworld record (EU Copernicus climate service). Its 1.75 Celsius above \u003cbr\u003epre-industrial levels is well above the international Paris Agreement target \u003cbr\u003eto limit the global temperature rise to 1.5. On 6 February 2025, the BBC \u003cbr\u003ereported scientists saying, in other words, it looks like the world's getting \u003cbr\u003ehotter faster than was predicted. \u003cbr\u003e  Evidence for climate change was around before our present century. The \u003cbr\u003eoriginator of this book, David Eagar, was aware of environmental issues for \u003cbr\u003edecades. Retiring from a career mostly in countryside planning, he wanted \u003cbr\u003eto find a dramatic way of illustrating one of our many environmental \u003cbr\u003echallenges.\u003cbr\u003e  Two centuries ago, the British painter John Constable became supreme in \u003cbr\u003ecapturing the detailed complexity of skies. At its zenith, in 1820-22, was the \u003cbr\u003eseries of fifty paintings he made of skies seen from north London's \u003cbr\u003eHampstead Heath. David Eagar - and no relation of playwright David Edgar - \u003cbr\u003echose John Constable to be the principal character in this drama. \u003cbr\u003eThe 'Skying Years' is the name John Constable himself gave to those three \u003cbr\u003eyears. So exceptional and important, these paintings frequently feature in \u003cbr\u003eexhibitions. \u003cbr\u003eHere, in 'The Skying Years', we follow the artist as he and a friend devise a \u003cbr\u003eweather game for children. In the second Part we are in the present day, in \u003cbr\u003ethe world of television production. All six 'characters', who really lived their \u003cbr\u003elives two centuries ago, return in our day in a drama set around some of the \u003cbr\u003emany climate issues we are facing. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2026 is the 250th anniversary of John Constable's birth on 11 June 1776. \u003cbr\u003eHe and his wife Maria Bicknell are buried at St-John-at-Hampstead parish \u003cbr\u003echuch. Tate Britain have a major exhibition 'Turner and Constable: Rivals and \u003cbr\u003eOriginals', 27 November 2025 - 12 April 2026. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56274622120310,"sku":"9781068379208","price":22.17,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_36110879.jpg?v=1758161394","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781068379208-john-constables-the-skying-years-novel-t","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}