Later in her life, Welsh writer Margiad Evans suffered from epilepsy as the result of a brain tumour. This claimed her life before she reached the age of 50. Despite this tragedy, Evans’ pen remained active, producing letters, a journal recounting a trip to Ireland and other writing, included in The Nightingale Silenced; whilst A Ray Of Darkness is a first-hand, personal account of this debilitating illness.
Comparing her brain to “a roundabout”, this latter book acts as an eloquent testimony and unflinching exploration of her life with epilepsy, and is heartwrenching to read, although Evans is never self-pitying. Rather, she’s honest, self-questioning and philosophical, although her observations may run to the domestic and the every day, as well as to loftier musings as well as the loveliness of nature. Her lucid, liquid prose is equally compelling whether she takes us with her into “a grove of enchanting oaks” or into her own “despairing” state as she contemplates the savagery of illness and the “stunned mind” that results from it.
Nevertheless, both books are beautifully written and imbued with a wonderful elegance. Five poems included at the end of Nightingale, written whilst at the Burden Neurological Institute, are particularly affecting, with their images of death and tears, ghosts and goodbyes to loved ones. Evans embraces her own end in these, it seems. A remarkable voice and vision, sadly curtailed by ill health, this is a writer who should definitely be better known, and who lives on in the Welsh canon with good reason. Please do seek her out.
The Nightingale Silenced / A Ray Of Darkness, Margiad Evans (Honno)
Price: £9.99 / £10.99. Info: here / here
words MAB JONES
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