The Province of the Cat: A Journey to the Radical Heart of the Far North

by George Gunn

A poet's journey through Caithness, its landscape, culture, people and history. In The Province of the Cat you can experience the unique blend of Norse and Gaelic cultures which has given Caithness its distinctive place in Scotland's story.

270 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2015

About the author

George Gunn (b. 1956) is a Scottish author and poet. He is the founder of Grey Coast Theatre Company in 1992 and with them has produced many plays and educational projects. In the 1970s and 80s he worked in the fishing industry and in the North Sea oil industry and his first play on that theme, Roughneck, was performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 1984. He has written over twenty stage plays, plays for BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 4. He has also written and presented several series, such as “Coastlines” and “Islands” for the same. He tutors in drama at The North Highland College – University of the Highlands and Islands. He lives in Thurso with his partner Christine Russell.

Reviews

[John Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Phew, thank God I've finished that! Truly in the 'miserablist' school of Scottish writing. I learned some things, so that's good. I enjoyed the introduction to Walter Benjamin and his metaphor of history as an angel surveying the wreckage of the past, but with its back turned on the future. I share much of his politics, but his analysis is just so set in 70s sub-Marxism that it fails to inspire.
Much hyperbole: his various comparisons of modern Scotland to communist East Germany are an insult to the German people who endured the daily oversight and humiliations by and of the STAASI.
For him there seem to be two historical highpoints: the time before the Normans, especially the uniquely evil Keiths [ here I declare a conflict if interest]; and the time his grandparents lived in, when people were more honest, straightforward and at one with the land (doesn't everyone think that?). Like an aging Castro there is no place in his world view for LGBTQ+ people and the lumpen proletariat are hopeless without direction from an 'intellectual' like himself. The best bits are where he tries to mimic Neil Gunn.