The Plain of Pillars
by D. Firth Griffith
Style: Mythology & Folklore / Celtic
ISBN: 9781735492292
Print Size: 264 pages
Reviewed by Samantha Hui
A pointy critique of colonization, apathy, and individualism
The Plain of Pillars retells Celtic myths and revitalizes historic folkloric traditions, utilizing traditional storytelling methods to light up truths that resonate with modern society. Like, humanity could also be dashing towards its personal destruction—striving for progress with out questioning its true route. And, the worldview of colonization is unimaginative domination; its remedy lies in a worldsense of limitlessly artistic love.
“‘Concord is when resonance reincarnates explicit truths into common significance.’”
The city of Siraide exists outdoors the constraints of time and prioritizes concord and unity above all else. On this idyllic place, people are born from natural world, and all the pieces is valued for its service to the group. Even the gods are drawn to take human type, looking for to be a part of this interconnected concord.
Nonetheless, this peaceable existence is threatened when the Oceaners, a colonizing and harsh pressure led by their god-king Balor, declare struggle on Siraide. In distinction to the Individuals of Siraide, the Oceaners elevate their males to the standing of kings, glorifying their rulers as divine.
The story follows Lengthy-Arms, a human born from a mare with a golden-tipped mane. His journey towards understanding the artistic, peaceable concord of the Individuals of Siraide simply could be the key to defending towards the brutal colonization of the Oceaners.
“They eliminated them from their outdated language, pressured them to chop their hair, and denuded the Land’s Artwork into information. That is the method of colonization: language, id, after which relationship.”
The Individuals of Siraide are in direct opposition to the tyrannical rule of the Oceaners. Whereas the Oceaners worth energy and domination, the Individuals prioritize concord amongst all issues. The flowers are lovely, the Persons are lovely, and collectively they embody magnificence itself. This harmonious worldview is mirrored of their method to instructing. Lengthy-Arms learns from his mare mom, a raven, and a tree, all of whom train him via questions. They don’t impose information upon him however encourage him to find his personal fact. Their methodology is certainly one of mild steerage, serving to him mirror on his beliefs and ideas.
In distinction, the Oceaner prince Breoch is taught by his father, the authoritarian Balor. The Oceaners view instructing as a technique of filling the pupil, a mere vessel, with the superior information of the grasp. There is no such thing as a room for questioning or impartial thought; the pupil should take in the teachings blindly, with out alternative or dissent.
“Our our bodies are surrendered stars. Gentle at their finish but in addition, quickly, a starting. Exploding, we die again and again, and that’s the function of the pillars—to stay as soon as once more.”
The Individuals’s reverence for concord extends to their understanding of life and dying, which they view as equal and interconnected components of a bigger cycle. Life and dying serve the land as a complete, and when the Individuals die, they accomplish that in peace. The Oceaners, nonetheless, die in useless, with out decision or understanding, their lives marked by a scarcity of concord.
“Loneliness is dissonance via desolation. It colonizes because it goes. It walks like limits however unnatural like sand rippling over water.”
Griffith demonstrates a mastery of style fiction and mythology, using narrative methods which can be each lyrically spectacular and philosophically participating. For instance, the narrative is interwoven with the presence of a reworking Raven, who hovers above the unfolding occasions, bearing witness to the tragedy with out intervening. The Raven’s passages function a modern-day refrain, very like these in historic Greek tragedies. These interludes make clear the occasions for the reader and supply deeper perception into the characters and their motivations. Like a Greek refrain, the Raven addresses the reader straight, and its perspective is the one one introduced within the first particular person.
“‘Worry is religion within the mistaken route.’”
The Raven’s presence is unsettling, for its messages are unambiguous and direct. By talking on to the reader, the Raven implicates us within the unfolding tragedy, holding us accountable for the violence of colonization, individualism, and unchecked energy. Because the Raven’s phrases confront the reader, they could really feel an urge to look away, as if avoiding the symbolic eye contact between them and the narrative’s harsh truths.
“That people create is true. That people create nicely is the everlasting query.”
In The Plain of Pillars, D. Firth Griffith weaves a robust critique of the harmful forces of dissonance and unchecked energy, utilizing the timeless language of fable to light up pressing truths for the fashionable world.
By means of the contrasting worlds of Siraide and the Oceaners, Griffith explores the transformative energy of artistic, communal love within the face of violent domination. The story reveals that the battle isn’t solely certainly one of survival however of imaginative and prescient—the imaginative and prescient of a world constructed on connection, understanding, and the limitless potential of artistic love.
Because the Raven’s unsettling voice reminds us, we’re all implicated on this wrestle; the selection stays ours: to blindly observe the trail of destruction or to embrace a brand new method of being—certainly one of empathy, unity, and the braveness to query the course of progress.
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