CATCHING THE READER’S HIGH TIDE by John A. A. Logan
“There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune…” - Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3 This may be very true, but it is not quite the kind of tide I have in mind. That said, it may be that all the High Tides source from the same Well-Spring. I can also apportion these Tidal Phases to certain discrete periods in my own reading life. Period One: Aged 11 years and under – it was during this phase, the primary school years, that a great deal of varied material was imbibed, much of it forgotten now, though still present in the subconscious as shadowed form, the great edge of some dark beast’s ear, the looming shoulder of some half-formed presence. This period, for me, was in the 1970s. First, all the Peter and Jane books at school were devoured, from adventures with golden labradors, to sunned...