Gibbon, Lewis Grassic. (1901 - 1935).

W o r k

- a Scottish novelist, one of the figures of the Scottish Renaissance

- preoccupied with Scottish rural life

A Scots Quair (1932 - 1934):

- a trilogy combining realist and naturalist narrative and lyrical use of language

- written in an artificial form of the Scottish dialect to make the language accessible to English readers

> Sunset Song (1932):

- focuses on the physical and emotional growing up of Chris, a young woman in a largely dysfunctional family facing the hardships presented by the farming life, the industrialization, and the WW I

- used as one of the defining works of the Scottish Renaissance

> Cloud Howe (1933) and Grey Granite (1934):

- the former follows the story of Chris's second marriage to a minster and her moving to a town, the latter focuses on her son from her first marriage who becomes a political activist

Quote

"Out of the World and into Blawearie they said in Kinraddie, and faith! it was coarse land and lonely up there on the brae, ... and some said there was no bottom to it, the loch, and Long Rob of the Mill said that made it like the depths of a parson's depravity. That was an ill thing to say about any minister, though Rob said it was an ill thing to say about any loch."

From Sunset Song (1932)

Basics

(Photo: Grassic Gibbon Centre).

Author
Born James Leslie Mitchell. Penname Lewis Grassic Gibbon. (1901 - 1935). Scottish.
Work
Novelist. Author of A Scots Quair (1932 - 1934).
Genres
Scottish Renaissance. Realism. Naturalism. Rural novel. Political and social novel.