Underground poetry.(Caverns of Magic: Caves in Myth and Imagination)(Book review)

Caverns of Magic: Caves in Myth and Imagination, by Hal G.P. Colebatch; Cybereditions, 2006, $62.95.

ALONG, DISCURSIVE and fascinating essay by Hal Colebatch, Caverns of Magic is far more than a survey of caves in human history and mythology. In little more than 100 pages it takes the reader down many subterranean passages of literature where fine imaginative writing will be recalled or discovered, whetting the appetite for more.

Hal Colebatch reveals a lifelong fascination with the caves of his native Westem Australia that he first encountered at the age of seven, and helped explore in later years. As we absorb his enthusiasm for the mysterious and sometimes alarming beauty of cave systems drawn from both life and literature, we can only agree with his statement, "speleology tends to bridge the gap between the so-called two cultures of science and art".

The author knows his subject well and imparts his scholarship deftly. We learn the significance of caves in Arthurian and other traditional mythology; the unique nature of sea caves and cave fauna are described, along with legends of troglodyte outlaws; there is a succinct history of cave tourism and speleology; and a scholarly dissertation on the fate of the cave-dwelling Neanderthals, illuminated by such differing fictional perspectives as William Golding's The Inheritors and Jean Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear.

Many thousands are now familiar with Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings but fewer will know the poetic descriptions of the Caves of Aglarond quoted from The Two Towers in Chapter 1--reminding filmgoers that the book has its own unique rewards. Seamlessly we are soon treated to a long quote from the columnist Michael Wharton, "who manages to both send up the literature and myths of cave exploration and celebrate them".

One of the book's themes is the role of the cave as a treasure house of natural wonders and fictional hoards, and indeed it is full of nuggets from literary classics, high culture, fantasy, and those traditional adventure stories that are today banished from far too many school and public libraries. Thus we learn of the importance of caves in several adventures of W.E. ...