INTERVIEW: Dr Philip W. Errington

Dr Philip W. Errington, a world expert on John Masefield, discuss The Box of Delights and his work on a new illustrated celebration of this enduring Christmas classic …

The 1984 BBC TV adaptation of John Masefield’s The Box of Delights seems to have been the moment a generation rediscovered the book. Was this the case for you? And what is it about the TV adaptation that captures the essence of the book so well?

I was lucky enough to discover the book about a year before the BBC TV series. So I was really excited about the broadcasts. I still remember making a chart to tick off the days until episode one… it was far more exciting than Christmas that year! Suddenly everyone was reading and talking about my favourite book. That TV adaptation is, I believe, something very special. It had a script which kept closely to the book, sympathetic direction, wonderful acting, evocative music and some jaw-dropping special effects. I suggest that, for kids in the 1980s, this was the equivalent of the film release of the first Harry Potter film! The book is a wonderful blend of menace, magic, humour and fun which is swept along by a narrative drive which translated incredibly well to six half-hour episodes.

When published in 1935, where did The Box of Delights belong in Masefield’s literary canon? Was the fantasy novel well-received from the outset?

Masefield’s first three books for children were written around 1910 when he was desperately short of money. They’re traditional adventure stories and fit into the sort of thing published around that time. Then Masefield published the first of the Kay Harker adventures in 1927. This was a fantasy novel that appears to have come from nowhere! It was followed, of course, by The Box of Delights. Masefield is remembered as a poet. But he was also a novelist, playwright, essayist and critic. His two Kay Harker fantasy novels are just part of his rich body of work. At the time of publication the book was well-received: I particularly like the review by The Daily Telegraph which stated it had “…just the right touch and true ring of extravaganza that demands the real imagination of genius to achieve”. But it wasn’t a best-seller at the time and the late 1930s/early 1940s weren’t, it seems, a great time for fantasy literature. Then in the dark days of World War II, the BBC broadcast a version on the radio and the book seems to have become a vital experience for many.

 

 

The Box of Delights is also known as When The Wolves Were Running. How did it come to have two titles?

This is typical of Masefield! He frequently used evocative sub-titles. His long narrative poem Reynard the Fox from 1919 has the sub-title “or The Ghost Heath Run” and his novel The Bird of Dawning from 1933 has the sub-title “or The Fortune of the Sea”, for example. I think it’s a great sub-title for The Box of Delights. At first the reader has no idea what the title means but there’s menace and threat presented by the intriguing wolves.

What was Masefield’s inspiration behind the main characters, Kay Harker, Cole Hawlings and Abner Brown?

Kay Harker has a lot of the young John Masefield about him. As an orphan Masefield was brought up by an uncle and aunt. The aunt was, by all accounts, a vile woman blending a Victorian sense of moral behaviour with hugely unpleasant treatment of her nephew. I’m delighted to have uncovered an additional fact about Aunt Kate in Opening The Box of Delights. There were five Masefield children alive in when Aunt Kate died in 1927. Of these five, only four attended her funeral. It was John Masefield who didn’t. Instead he made her into the witch Sylvia Daisy Pouncer in The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights. Cole Hawlings represents, for Masefield, the spirit of ancient magic and tradition in contrast to the evil scheming of Abner Brown. As is typical for Masefield, some characters appear in a number of his works. This is true of Abner. He first enters the pages of English Literature in Masefield’s novel from 1924 entitled Sard Harker. If we pull together all details about Abner across different texts, it’s been suggested that Abner may represent – consciously or not – T.S. Eliot. Masefield always tried to be aware of new schools of poetry (and even instigated the Royal Medal for Poetry to promote new poets). But one wonders whether Modernism and The Waste Land feed into Masefield’s imagination for Abner Brown?

 

Opening the Box of Delights contains more than 300 pictures and illustrations. Tell us a little bit about the illustrators of the various editions published down the years?

The Box of Delights was first illustrated by Masefield’s daughter, Judith. During research I found almost all of Judith Masefield’s original drawings split between a library in America and one in Canada. What is remarkable about the originals is the level of detail which is lost when published. Judith was simply working on a larger scale and, when published as small illustrations, they tended to become saturated and rather blobby. Opening The Box of Delights includes a few of Judith’s illustrations reproduced photographically for the first time. One of Roald Dahl’s first illustrators, Faith Jaques, worked on the book in the 1980s. I’ve uncovered a couple of her abandoned drafts which appear for the first time too. Then, continuing with the Dahl theme, the legendary Quentin Blake produced illustrations in the 1990s. There’s one of his illustrations reproduced in Opening The Box of Delights which has never been published in the U.K. before. I should also say that Sir Quentin kindly provided scans of his work and the book therefore reproduces scans of his originals (rather than photos of printed reproductions). Then in the 2010s the artist and printmaker Sara Ogilvie published her illustrations in an edition from The Folio Society. Sara kindly provided her insights into working on the book. But Opening The Box of Delights also presents all manner of other illustrations plundered from archives, photo libraries and private collections. One of the most exciting discoveries is a sketch map by Masefield of the topography of the book. This is still with the Masefield family and has never before been published.

Where does The Box of Delights feature, today, in the pantheon of Christmas literature?

For many The Box of Delights is a perennial Christmas favourite along with A Christmas Carol and The Snowman. Ever since the BBC radio adaptation in 1940s there’s been a great affection for The Box of Delights. (Someone even wrote to the personal column of The Sunday Times in 1970s seeking to make contact with others who’d found it an “unforgettable experience”)! What with subsequent BBC radio adaptations in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1990s there’s been a consistent and loyal following. But that’s nothing to the fans of the BBC TV adaptation in the 1980s. Then, of course, there have been productions of a musical adaptation, a theatrical presentation (adapted by the fabulous Piers Torday) and even a dance interpretation. What inspired me to write Opening The Box of Delights was the enthusiasm of the appreciation society on Facebook. There are over 2000 members and they are rather an inspirational bunch. Indeed, I think it’s one of the nicest groups on the internet! It struck me that over thirty years research on Masefield had revealed some interesting facts about Masefield’s magical book and that Opening The Box of Delights would provide an opportunity to share them. I finished the book during lockdown and if ever there was a rich and comforting text promising the eventual triumph of light over darkness, then it’s The Box of Delights.

 

Opening The Box of Delights: A stunning visual celebration of John Masefield’s Christmas Classic is available for pre-order in hardback now, priced £20.