Brian Jacques

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Brian Jacques

James Brian Jacques (born June 15, 1939) is an English author, best known for his Redwall series of fantasy books, as well as the Tribes of Redwall and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also completed two collections of short stories entitled The Ribbajack and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.

Biography

Jacques (pronounced "jakes") was born in Liverpool, England, growing up in the area surrounding the docks of Liverpool. He is known as Brian because both his father and one of his brothers are called James. Yo yo yo Jacques showed a knack for writing at an early age. At age ten, he was given an assignment of writing a story about animals, and he wrote about the bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. It was so good that his teacher refused to believe a boy could have written it and so had him caned for plagiarising a story. He had always loved to write, but it was only then, that he realized that he had a talent for writing. He attended St. John's School until the age of 15. It was at St. John's that Brian met a teacher, Alan Durband (who also taught Paul McCartney and George Harrison). After five years of school, he set out to find adventure as a merchant sailor. He travelled to many ports and eventually grew tired of being a sailor and returned to Liverpool, where he held a series of different jobs including stevedore, truck driver, policeman, bus driver, comic, boxer, and folksinger. He has also written three stage plays, 'Brown Bitter', 'Wet Nellies', and 'Scouse' to his credit. Redwall was written for the children of the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind. He first met them when he delivered milk there as a truck driver. He began to spend time with the children and eventually to write stories for them. He is considered a patron of the school. This accounts for the very descriptive style of the novel, and the ones to follow. He paints pictures with words so that even the blind can imagine the story. His script gained acclaim when Alan Durband, his childhood English teacher, showed it to a publisher without notifying Brian. This gave him the contract to write the next 5 books in the series.

Brian Jacques admits that the characters in his stories are based on people he has encountered. He based Gonff, Prince of Mousethieves, on himself when he was a young boy hanging around the docks of Liverpool. Mariel is based on his granddaughter. Constance the Badgermum is based on his grandmother. Other characters are a combination of many of the people he has met in his travels.

The Redwall books have been criticized in some quarters for allegedly promoting an overly simplistic view of race and ethnicity. Critics point out that the "good" and "bad" animal characters are drawn exclusively along species lines, so mice, squirrels, badgers, hedgehogs and otters are exclusively "good" whereas rats, foxes, stoats and ferrets are exclusively "bad." These criticisms have been advanced as a concern, as the books are primarily read by children and young people. There is also a "class" element involved in these criticisms, with the denizens of Redwall being either educated, aristocratic animals such as badgers, or rustic, simple creatures such as moles. This contrasts with the "vermin" who are almost exclusively portrayed as a greedy, stupid, and violent rabble commanded by a charismatic evil leader. These narrative structures do resemble in many ways the British class system, with the "upper class" animals governing the "working class" ones, and the Abbey remaining an ever present and strong symbol of religious authority. It is likely that Jacques, who once worked as a docker in Liverpool is very aware of class in his books.

Currently he hosts a radio show called "Jakestown" on BBC Radio Merseyside. Ever the performer, Jacques is well-known for applying his acting and entertainment background in his presentations to legions of young fans at schools across the United Kingdom and the United States. He still volunteers time and money for the Royal School for the Blind, as well as sponsoring a local children's writing contest. Jacques has two grown sons: Marc, a builder, bricklayer and carpenter; and David, who is a professor of art and a muralist. He spends spare time doing crosswords as well as walking his West Highland Terrier named "Teddy". He also still enjoys reading, however, he avoids children's authors to keep from being influenced.

In 2001, Jacques suffered a mild stroke, but recovered. On March 16th, 2004, Jacques suffered a heart attack, but once again recovered.

Bibliography

Redwall Series

Tribes of Redwall Series

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman Series

Books not in a Series

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