James Tait Black Memorial Prizes
Highland River (Canons)
This novel follows Kenn, who grows up beside a Highland river and moves between childhood memory and the experience of the First World War as he tries to recover inner calm. A vivid sense of landscape links the layers of time, bringing together the wounds of war and the possibility of renewal.
Work Information
The river’s current calls lost time back again.
One of Neil M. Gunn’s best-known novels, it closely links landscape writing with interior searching. As the narrative follows the memory of the river and the land, the slow recovery of a mind marked by war quietly emerges.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Canongate Books Ltd
- Published
- 2019-01-09
- Pages
- 242 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 12.9 x 1.6 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781782118848
- ISBN-10
- 1782118845
- Price
- 2364 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Classics
Kenn returns to the Highlands of his youth, back to the river which has haunted his dreams since boyhood. Determined to walk all the way back to its source, Kenn embarks on a journey that will lead him deep into the wilderness of his own heart. Profound and moving, Highland River is a stirring tale of what is lost and what endures, and the unexpected ways we can be renewed.
Neil M. Gunn (1891-1973), was born in Dunbeath, Caithness. The author of over twenty-seven books, he worked tirelessly as an essayist and broadcaster until his death in 1973. The Neil Gunn International Fellowship has been established in his honour.
Reviews
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Great book. Came quickly. Now want more by the same author!!!
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Not easy to follow, the story slips from present to past, goes farther back, and hints about the future of the boy Kenn who is the central character. We first meet Ken when he is nine, gleefully stoning then slowly killing a salmon. His mother, who had sent thim to fetch water from the pool, is not the least worried by the fact that he's been gone a long time! Later we find Kenn exploring the river with his older brother Angus who teaches him many ways of poaching salmon and trout, and how to make snares for rabbits! This book was first published in 1937. I am quite surprised that it has not been "edited", because the poaching lessons are explicit, and Kenn robs eggs from the nests of various birds. Some of the plundered eggs provide an Easter "treat" for the boys and their parents! I'm not a sentimentalist, but I could not bring myself to share the boys' delighted laughter when they caused -- as we are now aware -- this loss of species. Times have changed, opinions have changed, but... maybe there should be a "warning" inserted for the sensitive reader!
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Beautiful.I can understand more about my descendants from Dalbeath who settled in Waitahuna Otago NZ in the mid.1800s.They sent 2 sons back to Scotland to study Medicine and Dentistry .The dentist died on the long voyage back to NZ. The importance of education and a love of the mountains and their natural beauty are the simple qualities which they bought to NZ.They have been the founding fathers of a wonderful country which still looks back to Scotland .
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Maybe not his best book, but I always enjoy Neil Gunn's writing.
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This book provides a look into a way of life of the highlanders in Scotland during the turn of the century. A real insight into a much simpler life but one that forms the true character of the scot.