the Fiction of Neil M. Gunn John Burns PhD. University of Edinburgh 0E* ý*Af n

242 Pages·2009·14.96 MB·English

Celebration the Light: the Fiction Neil M. Gunn
of of
John Burns
PhD.
University Edinburgh
of
1982
0E*
rn
X
ctp
ý*Af
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hereby declare that this tnesis is
John Bums
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CONTENTS
ABSTRACT.
i
CONVENTIONS ii
ACKNOWLEDGEWTS
iii
CHAPTER ONE 1
CHAPTER TWO
28
CHAPTER THREE
53
CHAPTER FOUR 84
FIVE 113
-CHAPTER
CHAPTER SIX 142
CHAPTER SEVEN 171
CHAPTER EIGHT 197
BIBLIOGRAPHY 223
i
This thesis
re-examines and re-assesses the fiction of Neil
M. Gunn in the light Gunn's demonstrable interest in, latterly
of
and
Eastern Zen Buddhism Taoism. These
study of, such philosophies as and
their belief in the Enlightenment to
philosophies with possibility of
the "Suchness" the through the
reality or of world practice-of meditation,
be to illustrate Gunn's
offer a philosophical model which can used vision
the Delight. Gunn's idea that
of world as a realm of wonder and man can
does to this "other landscapg" Delight in brief flashes
and penetrate of
intuitive insight the Zen
of closely parallels concept of satorl or
91sudden illuminatioe'. Yet it late in his-life,, towards the
was only end
his Gunn the between his
of writing careerpthat recognised parallels
fundamental these long-established Eastern
own philosophical stance and
thought. And this life Delight-is
ways of while concept of as often'
ignored disparaged by it is this that
or critics, around very concept
Gunn's fiction All his interests historical,
coheres. other political,
-
find their here.
sociological and psychological - common centre
The followed has been to discuss Gunn's
method a selection of navels
in to the development this
chronological order so as show scope and of
6f his fiction. Simultan--Ously, is
aspect each chapter concerned with
different the is to both
aspects of process of meditation which central
Zen Taoism, that the is Gunn's interest in
and so reader made aware of
Eastern living intellectual
philosophy as a reality and not simply as an
concept.
The is that the his
conclusion when each of varied elements of
fiction is in harmony with this central intuition, then Gunn's vision
Scotland, life, is
of and of enriched with a philosophical subtlety
in Scottish fiction.
unique
ii
CONVENTIONS
Each is identified by footnote
quotation either a or, where
by to Neil Gunn's
possible, a pmrenthetical reference one of works
identified by initials The to
and page number. page references are
the first table initials the to they
edition and a of and works which
is below.
refer given
Manuscript from the National Library Scotland
quotations of are
identified by Accession from National
number and manuscript
quotations
Library Scotland Deposit 209 further identified by box
of are number
then by folder In is identified by
number. addition correspondence
date the following
writer, recipient, and using contractions:
JB John Burns IM Iain MacArthur
GF Geoffrey Faber TN Tokusaburo Nakamura
(Hugh
CMG C. M. Grieve MacDiarmid) JBP J. B. Pick
NMG Neil M. Gunn WCW William Carlos Williams
FBH Francis Russell Hart
-0-
AD The Atom Deligh
19.56
of
B Bloodhunt
1952
BB Butcher's Broom 1934
DW The Drinking Well 1946
GIGD The Green Isle the Great Deep 1944
of
W The Grey Coast 1926
HD Hidden Doors 1929
HP Highland Pack 1949
HR Highland River 1937
KC The Key the Chest 1945
of
LC The Lost Chart 1949
LG The Lost Glen 1932
MT Morning Tide 1930
OL The Other Landscape. 1954
SS Second Sight 1940
S The Serpent 1943
Sh The Shadow 1948
SB The Silver Bough 1948
SD The Silver Darlings 1941
SC Sun Circle 1933
1951
WWE The Well the World's End
at
1939
WGO Wild Geese Overhead
t942
YAOH Young Art Old Hector
and
iii
ACKNOWIEDGEMENTS
Thanks due to: the Edinburgh Public Libraries
are staff of and
Edinburgh University Library; to the the National Library
staff of of
Scotland
to Mr Stanley Simpson, Assistant Keeper in the Department
and
Manuscripts in that Library; to Mr Diarmid Gunn for
of allowing access
to Neil Gunn's for to from them; to Colin
papers and permission quote
Nicholson, George Bruce, Alex Reid, Stewart Conn, F. R. Hart
and with
I discussed Neil Gunn's life to Alan
whom various aspects of and art;
Spence, William Dolby J. B. Pick
and who offered valuable criticism
in the the
at various stages preparation of manuscript.
Finally, I like to thanks to three
would extend a special word of
this thesis have been to
people without whom would never completed: my
Supervisor Dr. Ian Campbell; to typist Ayin MacSween; lastly to
my and
Vivien.
my wife
CHAPTER
1.
I-
For Neil Gunn, for the American William Carlos Williams,
as poet
the to become "a the light", fact
act of writing was celebration of a
Williams he to Gunn in 1959 Gunn's
which acknowledged when wrote about
The Drinking Well. Williams' letter is lost but judge
novel
we can
its tone from Gunn's
reply:
thank for letter "The Drinking Well". That
you your about
...
kind heartening the
was of you, and and more so when you
-
that both backgrounds
suggested we are writing out of and
in idioms for their for "establislunent".
own sake and not any
Though the did full I took the
meaning not come*in until air
first "The Wanderer". Then I in
with your poem, understood
-
the that is beyond just knowing. The the light,
place
sweep,
the living moment, the livingness of the moment that, there,
-
behind, it intimately,
around, what 'was all so marvellously,
I
about.
What in the
each recognised other was an ability to penetrate beyond
surfaces, to see right into the heart of things, to "the
comprehend
living the livingness
the
moment, of the to
moment", and ability convey
this
to his
same sense of wonder This is
readers.
quality encapsulated
in Williams'-- "Asphodel,
poem That Greeny Flowee' facing
where a man
death the
realises possibility of a moment of timeless peace and light
in the before the thunderstroke
split second death itself.
& of
In the huge
gap
between the flash
the thunderstroke
and
has in
spring come
deep fallen.
or a snow
Call it
old age.
In that
stretch
havý 1. ived to
we see
A kick his heels.
colt up
NMG-WCW, November 19.59. The letter in draft in NLS Dep. 2091
appears
bx. l: f. l.
2
W. C. Williams, "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower". in Pictures from
79
Breughel Connecticut, 19ý'Z 178-179-
and other poems, PP.
-(Norfolk,
2.
In this moment of freedom the poet has attained to a state of being
in time them have to
which space and as we normally experience ceased
life is in its immediacy
exist and experienced all as a realm of
delight.
wonder and
This irradiates Neil Gunn's fiction,
same quality of awareness
it is by light itself, his central image of
where often symbolised
being that literally filled light.
complete awareness of a world with
the fill
The through,, and all world would with
sun would pierce
the light
light; brim tremble
and and spill over, and off sped
over the grass and in among the wild roses and glittering across
had the
the The freshness
sea. sheer of such a moment surely
(HP
in it, first
spirit of creation a creation. P-157)
This light became the
vision of a world of still point around which
Gunn's fiction his interests historical,
coheres; all of many other
-
find their
sociological, psychological, and political common centre
-
here. This is the 'message' his The Atom
of autobiographical work, of
Delight, book
the his the
a published at end of writing career giving
his
techniques.
author's view of subjects and If the reader can grasp
this the
overriding vision of world as a creative process, then everything
0
in the falls into
else novels place.
At the heart Gunn's lies the
of vision a profound awareness of
I life And Ii., he dominant
nterrelat ýcliess of all where-s movd of modein
-
literature is bleak laid the
and pessimistic with much stress on alienation
the individual both from from his
of society and own essential nature,
Gunn's fiction integration
conveys a real sense of and wholeness -a
he to Delight. His books filled this
which referred as are with
quality
Delight intense'awareness the living the
of an of variety of
sense -
involvement in it. The boy, Kenn, in HighlandRiver,
and of man's
world,
life in its
down to the village harbour and there encounters all
g oes
3.
vibrant movement and colour.
All the life that little Highland the
of world met where
the When' the harbour to high tide
river met sea. swung and
the boats in their herring, human
came with shots of activity
brimmed the herrings the basket the two
over as over cran when
the halyard faces to the fist
men on rope, sky, pulled over
fist, in heaving Limber blue-jerseyed, lean
rhythm. men, with
belly hips, dancers. And
muscles and slender quick-footed as
dancers they They dance in the leather
great were. could sea-
boots that to their thighs, drunk-en in
came or sway a public
house feet....
on rooted
It doing. It had the
was a world of action, of warmth of
in faces flashingeyes. One to it
colour and of could rush
(HR 67)
with excitement. p. --
And in The Well the World's End, Peter Munro, in his for
at quest
has this the
enlightenment, remarkable vision of world:
As he followed the the bushes together into
slanting path came
low that had looked from distance like
a sheltering wood a a
the hillside. Stunted birch trees hazels full
coverlet on
and
of small singing or chirping birds: chaffinches, tits, green
linnets,
blackbird,
a scolding flash,
a resounding robin; a
flight,
a a scurry; with bounteous for one
green-leaved space
Looking
and all. upon this he forgot
ardent coloured world
himself
thought
and of nothing, his had time for
so eye an
extra clarity of vision, an unusual capacity to perceive and
to distinguish. It
delightful,
was forever into
shading off
the
the
subtle and rare, delight behind delight in
an objectivity
the birdnotes
external as and almost beyond him, like
as clear;
the fragrant he breathed. (WWE
air
P-102)
0
Peter Munro's encounter with life in its infinite is
variety presented
here in the the different the birds,
evocation of
colours and sounds of
r%
in the tex turv of the d_'Te: L . rei, t trees an! in the scent u. " their green -
leaved lit by the bright
space, all sunlight of a northland summer and
all held in the rhythm of the language, so that the abstract "delight
behind delight" the the birds. This kind
echoes actual movement of of
is it brings together
writing rare; abstract and concrete, and conveys
the living in is intimately
a real sense of world as a organism which man
involved. It describes, but in the that
not only also awakens reader
beyond logic, is direct
"ektma clarity of vision" which goes and a