Forrest Reid (1875–1947)

Forrest Reid was a very popular and highly-respected writer in his day, the friend of E.M. Forster and Walter de la Mare, but is almost totally forgotten these days. You are unlikely to have come across him unless you have a particular interest in Ulster writers or in pioneers of gay writing (two interests that don't necessarily coincide very often!).

This novel is the third part of his "Tom" trilogy, published in 1944. The three parts were written in reverse chronological order: in this one we meet Tom at the age of eleven, living an idyllic life in rural Ireland in his last summer of freedom before starting proper school. It's all very Natural History, full of early-20th century charm (you half expect Romany of the BBC to turn up with his gypsy caravan and tape recorder). If you can get past the dogs, squirrels and water-rats — beware: they talk (Reid was a fan of the Doctor Doolittle books) — then there is a charming and innocent friendship with a farm boy that may or may not be suggestive, but you may well feel as though you're drowning slowly in syrup before you ever get that far.… (més)

Forrest Reid was an Ulster novelist, literary critic and translator, friend of EM Forster and Walter de la Mare. His best known work is "Young Tom", a novel about boyhood. What we have here is a collection of short - sometimes very short - poems from several anthologies spread over 1000 years. The earliest, that of Meleager (between 160 - 130 BC) is now lost, and in his introduction Reid summarises the rather complicated history of what remains to us from the ancient and the medieval world. In making his selection he says he has omitted those which seem to be slight variations on themes already treated or mere metrical exercises. He also mentions the attitude of the Greeks, to whom "youthful beauty was in itself a thing to be worshipped as almost divine" and that "the admiration it aroused cannot be dismissed as merely sensuous. It was a source of inspiration, not only to the plastic artist but also to great poets, and, as Plato explicitly tells us, to Socrates himself."

Although Reid disparages his ability as a translator many of his verses display a true Greek spirit, and it is a pity that the Greek originals were not printed along with his own versions in English.… (més)