Lewis Grassic Gibbon

LewisGrassic Gibbon galvanised the Scottish literary scene in 1932 with SunsetSong, the first novel of the epic trilogy A Scots Quair, which drewvividly upon his upbringing on a croft in Aberdeenshire to capture thezeitgeist of the early twentieth century and provide a compelling moral mandatefor social and political change in the inter-war period. Yet his literarylegacy of seventeen volumes produced in his short life, under his own name ofJames Leslie Mitchell as well as his Scots pseudonym, testify to hisversatility, as historian, essayist, biographer and fiction writer. Set againstan informed conspectus of the author's life and times and incorporatingsubstantive new source material, this study highlights his core principles,rooted in his rural upbringing: his restless humanitarianism and his venerationfor the natural world. Subsequently, he is seen as a combative writer whosefame in recent years - as cultural nationalist, left-wing libertarian,proto-feminist, neo-romantic visionary and trailblazing modernist - has carriedfar beyond his native land. In tune with the intellectual climate of theinter-war years, Gibbon emerges as a passionate advocate of revolutionarypolitical activism. In addition, as a profound believer in the overarchingprimacy of nature, he stands as a supreme practitioner in the field ofecofiction. Coupled with his modernist accomplishments with language andnarrative, this firmly establishes him among the foremost fiction writers ofthe twentieth century - uniquely, one whose achievement has consistently wonboth critical and popular acclaim.