Six-Way Mirror

Most books have the decency to begin at the beginning, proceed through the middle and eventually arrive at the end. Robert Saxton, however, appears to have regarded this arrangement as an unnecessarily restrictive convention. Why should literature march obediently in a straight line when it could wander off in sixty-four different directions, consult an ancient Chinese oracle and occasionally encounter a mermaid?

Six-Way Mirror (2016), published by Angle Shades Press, is a gloriously unconventional work of prose poetry that takes its inspiration from the I Ching, the ancient Chinese Book of Changes. The result is an extraordinary literary mosaic in which history, mythology, philosophy, everyday objects and the peculiarities of human existence are brought together in a succession of vivid, surprising and frequently mischievous encounters.

Comprising sixty-four sections and hundreds of miniature observations, the book explores an astonishing range of subjects across centuries, continents and the more unpredictable corners of the imagination. Readers may encounter a schoolgirl mermaid, a rather unfortunate tanning booth, a death’s-head hawkmoth, an elaborate teapot, a wandering acorn and the Defenestration of Prague. Quite how these things have ended up sharing a literary residence is part of the pleasure.

Saxton’s approach is both playful and intellectually adventurous. The ordinary is made extraordinary, the extraordinary becomes strangely familiar, and apparently unrelated subjects suddenly reveal unexpected connections. It is rather like exploring a vast curiosity shop run by an exceptionally well-read eccentric who refuses to explain why an Egyptian god has been placed next to an incident involving a poltergeist.

The book’s unusual structure adds another dimension to the experience. Readers can proceed conventionally, turning the pages in the reassuring manner established by centuries of publishing tradition, or they can use coin tosses and the book’s accompanying table to determine their reading route through the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching. Literature, in other words, becomes something of a game of chance, although considerably more intellectually rewarding than the average lottery ticket.

Robert Saxton, an accomplished British poet with a fondness for inventive literary forms, demonstrates a remarkable ability to combine wit, observation and imaginative freedom. His prose possesses the concentrated intensity of poetry while enjoying the freedom to roam wherever a particularly intriguing thought might lead.

This is not a book that insists upon delivering one straightforward message. Instead, it invites readers to discover patterns, contradictions, coincidences and the unexpected poetry concealed within the enormous clutter of human civilisation.

Condition: Good. This 2016 edition is a previously owned copy showing ordinary signs of reading and handling, but remains ready to take another unsuspecting reader on its unconventional journey.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where we generally recommend reading books from front to back, but are perfectly prepared to make an exception when ancient Chinese divination becomes involved. Six ways of looking at the world, sixty-four possible starting points, and absolutely no guarantee that any two readers will emerge with quite the same understanding.

Which, come to think of it, sounds remarkably like life itself.

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