{"title":"Scotland - Literature, Landscape \u0026 Heritage","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781849950220_belief-in-ourselves","title":"Belief in Ourselves","description":"Introduction by Dairmid Gunn  Neil M Gunn (1892 - 1973), one of Scotland's most distinguished and highly regarded novelists of the 20th century, was a prolific writer. While he is best known for his fictional work Gunn was also a perceptive and meditative essayist who wrote extensively throughout his life on a wide range of subjects from landscape, nature and fishing to politics, nationalism and current affairs. Belief in Ourselves is a collection of essays that focuses on politics in the widest sense, embracing group activity in all its forms from nationalism to both communal work in a social sense and co-operation in crofting and fishing; the focus extends also to literature as a source of inspiration for a nation and a provider of national identity. That most of the essays were written between the two world wars - a period of political uncertainty and economic crisis - brings a sense of urgency to the writer in terms of the resolution of the problems and the exploration of the ideas aired by him. Many of the problems he identifies remain with us, albeit in different forms.\u003cbr\u003e\n\nIndeed, the imaginative and enlightened way in which Gunn looks at the events of his day have a strange relevance for today's world. This forms a sister volume to the earlier Landscape to Light, which concentrates on his native landscape and culture and the spiritual aspects of his life and thought.  As with Landscape to Light, much of what Gunn writes informs his fictional work","brand":"Neil Gunn","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733657366902,"sku":"9781849950220","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849950220.jpg?v=1764233826"},{"product_id":"9781904445043_the-mountain-of-light","title":"The Mountain of Light","description":"This is a mixture of folk-tale, magic, myth, love story and hymn of praise to the natural world of Scotland's high and low lands, their landscapes and creatures, and the poet-guardians who timelessly maintain their care for them. It is the legend-story of the mysterious Wanderer, who comes from the North to Striveling (Stirling) and its great Castle Rock, and the tales he tells to the five men and a woman who befriend him there. Who is this Wanderer, who seems ageless, who has profound affinities with animals and birds, who can take on the shape of swans and what is his mission to the South? Who are these friends, whose friendship becomes more, as they begin to realize that they are part of the strange, timeless and mythic destiny of a country older than civilization? What is the meaning of the unearthly love of the Wanderer and the mysterious Bella?","brand":"Jim Crumley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733658087798,"sku":"9781904445043","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781904445043.jpg?v=1764233828"},{"product_id":"9781849953634_literature-of-the-gaelic-landscape","title":"Literature of the Gaelic Landscape","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLiterature of the Gaelic Landscape\u003c\/em\u003e is a richly insightful exploration of the deep connections between Scotland’s landscapes, Gaelic language and literary tradition. Examining how mountains, glens, islands, coastlines and rural communities have shaped Gaelic poetry, storytelling and cultural identity, the book reveals the powerful relationship between place and imagination in Scottish history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBlending literary criticism, cultural history and landscape studies, the book offers readers a fresh understanding of how the Gaelic world has been represented through centuries of song, oral tradition and written literature. It also highlights the importance of landscape in preserving memory, heritage and identity within Gaelic-speaking communities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIdeal for readers interested in Scottish literature, Gaelic culture, Highland history, landscape writing and Celtic studies, \u003cem\u003eLiterature of the Gaelic Landscape\u003c\/em\u003e is both an accessible introduction and an important contribution to the understanding of Scotland’s cultural and literary heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John Murray","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733659005302,"sku":"9781849953634","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849953634.jpg?v=1764233829"},{"product_id":"9781849950459_half-light","title":"Half-Light","description":"Neil M. Gunn is celebrated as one of Scotland's foremost novelists of the 20th century. Less well known is that he was also a perceptive and meditative essayist and accomplished writer of short stories. Most of his short stories were written in the 1920s and 1930s in parallel with his early novels, which they influence and inform. This collection draws some of its short stories from two previous collections but others are published for the first time. Although most are set against a Highland background, they are not in any way parochial; they touch on universal themes, which invite the serious reader to ponder and enjoy. Topics explored are: childhood and a sense of wonder; love in its deepest and most subtle sense; death as part of the cycle of existence and the place of land and sea in the development of those in search of greater self-understanding. The stories are attractive in their own right and have a freshness and immediacy that give a clarity and accessibility to the rich subject matter. They are also a gateway to a greater understanding of Gunn's essential thinking on life and living.","brand":"Neil Gunn","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733657301366,"sku":"9781849950459","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849950459.jpg?v=1764233826"},{"product_id":"9781904445906_landscape-to-light","title":"Landscape to Light","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlthough Neil M. Gunn is well-known as one of Scotland's foremost writers of the 20th century, he is less well-known as a perceptive and meditative essayist who wrote on a variety of subjects - from landscape, nature and the sea to literature, politics and matters of the spirit. Written in parallel with his novels, these essays contain many of the ideas and speculations that inform them. In this collection the focus is on landscape and the stimulus it provides for a journey of an enquiring mind from the observation of everyday life to a state of self-realisation. The essays mark the route. For example, in The French Fishing Smack there is a sense of freedom that only the sea can give; in The First Salmon a primal sense of adventure captivates; The Heron's Legs cannot but engender a sense of wonder and Light is a signal that the inner journey of the spirit has all but ended. Products of the uneasy and uncertain 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War, the essays lead not only to a more imaginative and enlightened way of looking at life in troubled times but also to a greater understanding of the mind of this profoundly thoughtful writer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey can be understood as a miniature biography of the writer himself in terms of being a series of moments of revelation and delight experienced during walks in the countryside, fishing expeditions and chance encounters with people and books. Covering 40 years of the writer's life, the essays show that the ideas derived from them evolve rather than change; there is always a sense of movement. In the later essays it is the smallest social entity of all, the human psyche, that fascinates Gunn and becomes the essential ingredient in the search for self-enlightenment. Encounters with Zen Buddhism and other disciplines and philosophies were to reassure him that he had been moving in the right direction throughout his life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Neil Gunn","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733657563510,"sku":"9781904445906","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781904445906.jpg?v=1764233827"},{"product_id":"9781849954389_reading-the-gaelic-landscape","title":"Reading the Gaelic Landscape","description":"\u003cp\u003eA comprehensive field guide to the toponymy of the Gaelic landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is essential for anyone who is interested in the Scottish Highlands and its native language. It enables people to read and understand place names in Gaelic and provides insights into landscape character and history. It enriches the experience of walkers, climbers, sailors, bird watchers and fishers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John Murray","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733659431286,"sku":"9781849954389","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849954389.jpg?v=1767164950"}],"url":"https:\/\/portopress.com\/collections\/scotland-literature-landscape-heritage.oembed","provider":"Porto Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}