Watch the North Wind Rise by Robert Graves
"Watch the North Wind Rise," written by Edward Venn-Thomas, presents a narrative set in a post-World War II context where the protagonist, a poet, is transported to a utopian society known as New Crete. This society is characterized by its harmonious, antimaterialistic, and antitechnological ethos, where women hold a higher status and the community is structured into five distinct estates. The story explores themes of societal critique as Venn-Thomas reflects on the hypocrisy and violence of the twentieth century, while simultaneously becoming intrigued by the comforts and customs of New Crete.
As he navigates this new environment, Venn-Thomas becomes embroiled in a complex romantic dynamic involving several women, including a platonic relationship with Sapphire and the aggressive pursuit from the witch Sally. His ties to his wife Antonia from the twentieth century add depth to the conflict. The narrative unfolds with elements of seduction, betrayal, and ultimately a confrontation that forces Venn-Thomas to recognize the limitations of New Crete’s seemingly idyllic existence.
The climax reveals that his experience in New Crete may have been orchestrated by the Goddess, whose intervention serves to challenge the status quo. By invoking the North Wind of change, Venn-Thomas aims to disrupt the complacency of New Crete and return to his own time, ultimately bringing Sapphire back as their daughter. This story invites readers to consider the balance between tradition and creativity within societal structures.
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Subject Terms
Watch the North Wind Rise
First published: 1949 (published in Great Britain as Seven Days in New Crete, 1949)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—utopia
Time of work: The distant future
Locale: New Crete
The Plot
A poet of the post-World War II era, Edward Venn-Thomas, is called into the future by magicians of New Crete. New Crete is a harmonious, antimaterialistic, antitechnological society where women enjoy higher status than men and where the dominant forces are custom and the worship of the triune Goddess, who is Nymph, nurturing Mother, and withered Fate.
Questioned by New Cretans, Venn-Thomas criticizes the twentieth century for the hypocrisy and hectic pace of its scientifically and economically oriented society, as well as for the violence of the age. He is intrigued and at first attracted by New Crete’s alternative to twentieth century life. New Cretan society is divided into five estates or classes. The most numerous, the commoners, includes farmers and craftsmen. Other estates are servants, including priests and teachers; recorders; captains; and magicians—witches and poets serving as legislators and magistrates of sorts. People take their places in one estate or another according to their temperaments, and every village harmoniously incorporates members of all five estates. Occasionally disputes between villages give rise to “wars,” day-long contests similar to large games of capture-the-flag. The monarchy of this theocratic society is defined by rituals culminating in the human sacrifice of the king or his proxy.
As Venn-Thomas learns more, he is increasingly troubled by New Crete’s lack of true creativity and of what might be called “character.” When he asks one of his hosts what would happen in case of a general malaise in society, his informant says—after some hesitation—that the Goddess would have to intervene in person.
Venn-Thomas finds himself involved in an increasingly complex tangle of amorous interests. He enjoys a platonic relationship with a young woman named Sapphire; however, the witch who evoked him, Sally, pursues him sexually with increasing aggression. This romantic triangle is further complicated both by Venn-Thomas’ fidelity to his twentieth century wife, Antonia, and by the unaccountable appearance in New Crete of Erica Turner, another twentieth century woman with whom he had been romantically involved.
The unfolding action is marked by seduction, betrayal, murder, and suicide. Venn-Thomas is ultimately mobbed by New Cretans who blame him for the disruption of their peaceful life. He realizes that the woman he thought was Erica Turner is actually a manifestation of the Goddess and that his visit to New Crete has been at the behest of the Goddess precisely so that New Crete’s complacent routine might be disrupted and a new order born. In the denouement, on behalf of the Goddess, Venn-Thomas invokes the North Wind of change against New Crete. He then returns to his own time and to Antonia’s side in their conjugal bed, bringing Sapphire with him to be reborn in the twentieth century as their daughter.