1. By Graham Swift

2. Main Characters  Tom Crick, History Teacher  Dick, Tom’s Brother  Mary Metcalf, Tom’s Wife  Freddie Parr, a young boy killed by Dick  Tom’s Father, a lock-keeper

3. Which kind of Novel is that?  Detective Story: murder and investigation  History Book: Saga of Atkinson family  Natural History Treatise: eels’breeding habits and long journey from the Sargasso Sea to theEuropean Seas.

4. Postmodernist Features  A lot of digression and shifts in time  Tom doubts to know the past with certainty  Psychic disorder  Problematization of History  Open Ending

5. What’s History? …It goes in two directions at once… There are no compasses for journeying in time. So… Tom tells his students stories:  Of the waterland he comes from  Of his family  Of his own life

6. The importance of Fairy-tale  Both Tom’s parents usually told him stories  He lives in “a Fairy-Tale Place”  There isn’t a scientific explaination of events - ‘Do you know what the stars are? They are silver dust of God’s blessing…’