The Black Halo: The Complete English Stories 1977-98

by Iain Crichton Smith, Kevin MacNeil (Editor)

Iain Crichton Smith wrote short stories throughout his life. Some are fragments, others almost novellas, and the best of them all show him to be an author of unique sensitivity and intelligence. The pieces in this collection form a central part of his oeuvre, demonstrating the full range and versatility of his literary talent. From humour to tragedy, from inner monologues to extrovert surrealism, the diversity of his writing indicates the extraordinary range of his own reading and mental world. Paired with the first volume in this two-volume collection, The Red The Complete English Stories 1949-76 , these collections include a large number of stories never before published in book form, as well as others that have been out of print for many years, thus making it possible to judge Crichton Smith's achievement as a writer in full.

Genres: Short Stories

608 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Iain Crichton Smith (Gaelic: Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn ) was a Scottish man of letters, writing in both English and Gaelic, and a prolific author in both languages. He is known for poetry, short stories and novels.

He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the isle of Lewis at the age of two, where he and his two brothers were brought up by their widowed mother in the small crofting town of Bayble, which also produced Derick S. Thomson. Educated at the University of Aberdeen, Crichton Smith took a degree in English, and after serving in the National Service Army Education Corps, went on to become a teacher.

He taught in Clydebank, Dumbarton and Oban from 1952, retiring to become a full-time writer in 1977, although he already had many novels and poems published. He was awarded an OBE in 1980.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of Crichton Smith’s stories contains the tremendous novellas ‘The Hermit’ and ‘Mr Trill in Hades’, two of the Argyll luminary’s finest prose works. The volume collects four previously published collections plus all the uncollected stories from anthologies and magazines. The stories are wry, poetic, mannered, moving, elegiac, and playful.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Scottish poet writes good Scottish stories about, mostly, terrible Scottish pragmatists. Steady observational tragedy, and quiet outcast statures. Recurring structure: a staid, professional male narrator tells us his profession on page 1 and admits a whole puckle of flaws. Recurring people: the censorious, crabbit islander who was not always so; the passionate and creative woman slowly eroded by island gossip, monotony, stasis; her husband, who knows this happened because of him.

Most striking are ‘The Scream’, ‘What to do About Ralph?’, ‘The Spy’, and ‘The Exorcism’ – but particularly the latter, because I recognised the worst of myself in both the little bastard obsessed with Kierkegaard and the small-souled lecturer who saves him:

I looked at him for a long time knowing that the agony was over… [But] how could I be sure that my own harmonious jealous biography had not been superimposed upon his life, as one writing upon another, in that wood where the birds sang with such sweetness defending their territory?

Much more than clever.

[Nik Maack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought while on vacation in Edinburgh, Scotland. I was in a used book store. I don't know why the book caught my attention but I demanded to be bought. I took it to the cash. The book shop owner said, "That book has been sitting on my shelves for ten years, unsold."

He seemed to be suggesting that I had chosen it for some grand purpose.

"I'm buying it on a whim," I admitted. He seemed disappointed, so I added quickly, "I have learned to trust my whims."

Most of the stories are good. I only skipped two. The theme of alienation from culture, from family, from others runs deep in it. I slowly chewed my way through the book, enjoying myself. Some of the stories are too experimental. The ones that work best are people in torment trying to understand why they are in the situation they find themselves in.

I was somewhat baffled that if never heard of Iain Crichton Smith before. It turns out the Brits don't really see Scottish literature as all that appealing, so it gets relegated to the margins. Or so I have heard anyway.

At some point, as I read, I discovered this was actually volume two of a two volume set. These stories are from 1977 to 1998. The first volume is from Smith's younger years. I am curious enough that I ordered the first volume online. It has yet to arrive.

While I enjoyed it, I am going to put the book in the free book bin for someone else to find. I like the idea that I have carried this book from Scotland to Canada and will now set it free. Let others discover the literature of Scotland.