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''Weymouth Sands'' (1934) (published as ''Jobber Skald'' in Britain) was the third of John Cowper Powys's so-called Wessex novels, which include ''Wolf Solent'' (1929), ''A Glastonbury Romance'' (1932), and ''Maiden Castle'' (1936).〔Herbert Williams, ''John Cowper Powys''. Bridgend, Wales: Seren,1997, p.94.〕 Powys was an admirer of novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, part of Hardy's mythical Wessex. American scholar Richard Maxwell describes these four novels "as remarkably successful with the reading public of his time".〔"Two Canons: On the Meaning of Powys's Relation to Scott and his Turn to Historical Fiction", ''Western Humanities Review'', vol. LVII, no. 1, Spring 2003, p. 103.〕 The setting of this novel is the English seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset. ==Background== Powys's paternal grandmother lived in Weymouth, and when his father became a curate in nearby Dorchester. the family took temporary lodgings behind Brunswick Terrace, where she lived in 1879.〔Morine Krissdottir, ''Descents of Memory, p. 29.〕 Weymouth remained throughout Powys's life the place where he was most at home and "()lways in () memory was the pebbled seashore opposite Brunswick Terrace".〔Morine Krissdottir, ''Descents of Memory'', p.29.〕 C.A. Coates in her book on Powys notes the importance of Weymouth for his imagination, quoting from ''Autobiography'': "every aspect of the Weymouth Coast sank into my mind with such a transubstantiating magic" that "it is through the medium of these things that I envisage all the experiences of my life".〔''John Cowper Powys in Search of a Landscape'‘. Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble, 1982, p.. 119. See ''Autobiography'', London: Macdonald, 1967, p. 151.〕 When he died in 1963 Powys's ashes were scattered on nearby Chesil Beach. Powys notes in his Diary on Valentine's Day 1932 that "I'm really going to begin my Weymouth Book" and he also records that he had been given "Hardy's ''Well-Beloved'' by his lover Phyllis Playter, a novel which is set in on the Isle of Portland where Jobber Skald, the protagonist of ''Weymouth Sands'', comes from.〔''Petrushka and the Dancer: The Diaries of John Cowper Powys 1929-1939'', selected and edited by Morine Krissdottir. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1995, pp. 95-6.〕 ''Weymouth Sands'' is the title of the American first edition and an English edition then appeared in 1935, but prior to its publication Powys and his English publishers were successfully sued for libel by Gerard Hodgkinson, who claimed that the character of Philip Crow in ''A Glastonbury Romance'' had been based on him. The damages awarded crippled Powys financially, and he was forced to make substantial changes to the British edition of ''Weymouth Sands''.〔Morine Krissdóttir, ''Descents of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys’'. New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2007, pp. 301-2, 304-7, 320.〕 The title of the English version was changed to ''Jobber Skald'' (1935) and all references to the real-life Weymouth were cut.〔Morine Krissdóttir, ''Descents of Memory'', pp.307-8〕 "Powys tells the story of Jobber Skald - a large, somewhat brutish man, obsessed with the urge to kill the local magnate of the town because of the man's contempt for the workers of the local quarry - and his redeeming love for Perdita Wane, a young girl from the Channel Islands. Weymouth Sands boasts a striking collection of human oddities including a famous clown, his mad brother, a naive Latin teacher, a young philosopher, and an abortionist."〔(Powys Society's webpage )〕 Novelist Margaret Drabble comments, "''Weymouth Sands'' is a celebration of the seaside town () had loved as a child, but its tone is far from innocent. The novel features a sinister clown figure and Punch and Judy shows: Powys was not one to shy away from the suggestions of violence and child sex abuse that are now routinely associated with such entertainments."〔(The English Degenerate", ''The Guardian'' 12 August, 2006. )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Weymouth Sands」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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