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The Other Landscape
Walter Urquhart, a young anthropologist, journeys to a remote village in the Scottish Highlands to discover the truth about the mysterious author of a brilliant, haunting manuscript and finds tragedy, evil, misfortune, and death
318 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1990
About the author
Neil M. Gunn
63 books51 followersNeil Gunn, one of Scotland's most prolific and distinguished novelists, wrote over a period that spanned the Recession, the political crises of the 1920's and 1930's, and the Second World War and its aftermath. Although nearly all his 20 novels are set in the Highlands of Scotland, he is not a regional author in the narrow sense of that description; his novels reflect a search for meaning in troubled times, both past and present, a search that leads him into the realms of philosophy, archaeology, folk tradition and metaphysical speculation.
Born in the coastal village of Dunbeath, Caithness, the son of a successful fishing boat skipper, Gunn was educated at the local village primary school and privately in Galloway. In 1911 he entered the Civil Service and spent some time in both London and Edinburgh before returning to the North as a customs and excise officer based (after a short spell in Caithness) in Inverness. Before voluntary retirement from Government service in 1937 to become a full-time writer, he had embarked on a literary career with considerable success.
His first novel, The Grey Coast (1926), a novel in the realist tradition and set in Caithness in the 1920's, occupied an important position in the literary movement known as the Scottish Renaissance. His second novel, Morning Tide (1931), an idyll of a Highland childhood, won a Book Society award and the praise of the well known literary and public figure, John Buchan. The turning point in Gunn's career, however, came in 1937, when he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial prize for his deeply thought-provoking Highland River, a quasi autobiographical novel written in the third person, in which the main protagonist's life is made analogous to a Highland river and the search for its source.
In 1941 Gunn's epic novel about the fishing boom of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, The Silver Darlings, was widely acclaimed as a modern classic and considered the finest balance between concrete action and metaphysical speculation achieved by any British writer in the 20th century. It was also the final novel of a trilogy of the history of the Northlands, the other novels being Sun Circle (1933) on the Viking invasions of the 9th century and Butcher's Broom (1934) on the Clearances. In 1944 Gunn wrote his anti-Utopian novel, The Green Isle of the Great Deep, a book that preceded George Orwell's novel on the same theme, Nineteen Eighty-Four, by five years. The novel, using an old man and a young boy from a rural background as characters in a struggle against the pressures of totalitarian state, evoked an enthusiastic response from the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
Some of Gunn's later books, whilst not ignoring the uglier aspects of the modern world, touch more on metaphysical speculation in a vein that is not without humour. The Well at the Worlds End (1951), in particular, lays emphasis on the more positive aspects of living and the value of that approach in finding meaning and purpose in life. Gunn's spiritual autobiography, The Atom of Delight (1956), which, although similar in many ways to Highland River, incorporates a vein of thought derived from Gunn's interest in Zen Buddhism. The autobiography was Gunn's last major work.
In 1948 Gunn's contribution to literature was recognised by Edinburgh University with an honorary doctorate to the author; in 1972 the Scottish Arts Council created the Neil Gunn Fellowship in his honour, a fellowship that was to include such famous writers as Henrich Boll, Saul Bellow, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Nadine Gordimer and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Born in the coastal village of Dunbeath, Caithness, the son of a successful fishing boat skipper, Gunn was educated at the local village primary school and privately in Galloway. In 1911 he entered the Civil Service and spent some time in both London and Edinburgh before returning to the North as a customs and excise officer based (after a short spell in Caithness) in Inverness. Before voluntary retirement from Government service in 1937 to become a full-time writer, he had embarked on a literary career with considerable success.
His first novel, The Grey Coast (1926), a novel in the realist tradition and set in Caithness in the 1920's, occupied an important position in the literary movement known as the Scottish Renaissance. His second novel, Morning Tide (1931), an idyll of a Highland childhood, won a Book Society award and the praise of the well known literary and public figure, John Buchan. The turning point in Gunn's career, however, came in 1937, when he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial prize for his deeply thought-provoking Highland River, a quasi autobiographical novel written in the third person, in which the main protagonist's life is made analogous to a Highland river and the search for its source.
In 1941 Gunn's epic novel about the fishing boom of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, The Silver Darlings, was widely acclaimed as a modern classic and considered the finest balance between concrete action and metaphysical speculation achieved by any British writer in the 20th century. It was also the final novel of a trilogy of the history of the Northlands, the other novels being Sun Circle (1933) on the Viking invasions of the 9th century and Butcher's Broom (1934) on the Clearances. In 1944 Gunn wrote his anti-Utopian novel, The Green Isle of the Great Deep, a book that preceded George Orwell's novel on the same theme, Nineteen Eighty-Four, by five years. The novel, using an old man and a young boy from a rural background as characters in a struggle against the pressures of totalitarian state, evoked an enthusiastic response from the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
Some of Gunn's later books, whilst not ignoring the uglier aspects of the modern world, touch more on metaphysical speculation in a vein that is not without humour. The Well at the Worlds End (1951), in particular, lays emphasis on the more positive aspects of living and the value of that approach in finding meaning and purpose in life. Gunn's spiritual autobiography, The Atom of Delight (1956), which, although similar in many ways to Highland River, incorporates a vein of thought derived from Gunn's interest in Zen Buddhism. The autobiography was Gunn's last major work.
In 1948 Gunn's contribution to literature was recognised by Edinburgh University with an honorary doctorate to the author; in 1972 the Scottish Arts Council created the Neil Gunn Fellowship in his honour, a fellowship that was to include such famous writers as Henrich Boll, Saul Bellow, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Nadine Gordimer and Mario Vargas Llosa.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2024
Walter Urquhard kommt in die schottischen Highlands um der Herkunft eines Gedichts auf die Spur zu kommen, das ein befreundeter Verleger geschickt bekommen hat. Autor ist der Musiker Gordon Menzies, der sich nach einer privaten Tragödie völlig zurück gezogen hat. Walter will herausfinden, ob er noch mehr Gedichte geschrieben hat denn das zugeschickte verspricht, ein großer Erfolg zu werden. Er trifft auf eine seltsame Gesellschaft: Menzies lebt in der Nähe eines kleinen Hotels, in dem sich auch Walter einquartiert. Die Gäste dort, alle aus England sehen auf die Einheimischen herab, es kommt immer wieder zu Spannungen. Menzies selbst lebt völlig zurückgezogen und scheint sich für keinen der Menschen um ihn herum zu interessieren. Während Walters Aufenthalt kommt es zum lang erwarteten Eklat zwischen einem der Gäste und seinem Jagdhelfer.
Wie sehr der Verlust eines geliebten Menschen einen aus der Bahn werfen kann beschreibt der Autor in diesem Buch. Gordon Menzies verlor seine geliebte Frau Annabel bei der Geburt ihres ersten Kinds und hat seitdem allen Lebensmut verloren. Er komponiert nicht mehr und zeigt kein Interesse mehr an irgendetwas. Trotzdem findet Walter Zugang zu ihm, vielleicht weil er ein Aussenstehender ist. Auch Walter erliegt den Geschichten um die tote Annabel. Er will immer mehr von ihr wissen und verbringt so immer mehr Zeit mit Gordon. Trotzdem kann er ihn nicht von seinem Weg abbringen.
Auch wenn der Autor wieder viele bekannte Elemente verwendet hat ist diese Geschichte anders. Sie ist traurig und das nicht nur wegen der tragischen Geschichte um Annabel. Gunn erzählt von Menschen, die alle ihr Päckchen mit sich herumtragen und die nur noch wenig Freude im Leben zu kennen scheinen. Wieder ein reRead, der sich absolut gelohnt hat.
Wie sehr der Verlust eines geliebten Menschen einen aus der Bahn werfen kann beschreibt der Autor in diesem Buch. Gordon Menzies verlor seine geliebte Frau Annabel bei der Geburt ihres ersten Kinds und hat seitdem allen Lebensmut verloren. Er komponiert nicht mehr und zeigt kein Interesse mehr an irgendetwas. Trotzdem findet Walter Zugang zu ihm, vielleicht weil er ein Aussenstehender ist. Auch Walter erliegt den Geschichten um die tote Annabel. Er will immer mehr von ihr wissen und verbringt so immer mehr Zeit mit Gordon. Trotzdem kann er ihn nicht von seinem Weg abbringen.
Auch wenn der Autor wieder viele bekannte Elemente verwendet hat ist diese Geschichte anders. Sie ist traurig und das nicht nur wegen der tragischen Geschichte um Annabel. Gunn erzählt von Menschen, die alle ihr Päckchen mit sich herumtragen und die nur noch wenig Freude im Leben zu kennen scheinen. Wieder ein reRead, der sich absolut gelohnt hat.
September 18, 2022
published 1954 in Scotland.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews