麻豆社

Orkney was George Mackay Brown鈥檚 inspiration, helping him to become a writer of international significance. Winning praise for his poetry and short stories, he went on to write six novels. Cathy MacDonald explores the themes of his most popular one, Greenvoe.

Greenvoe imagined an Orkney island community, Hellya, based on Stromness, being threatened by a mysterious defence project that would tear the island apart. It was prophetic. A few years later plans were laid to mine uranium around Stromness 鈥� a plan the community successfully resisted.

Suffering from ill health, George was unable to serve in WW2 and suffered low self-esteem because of that. He drank heavily, but beat his demons to become a revered author. Cathy reveals that Brown credited his mixed Orkney/Gaelic heritage for his style and inspiration.

Ged a b鈥檈 Arcaibh a mhisnich George Mackay Brown, b鈥檈 sgr矛obhadair le luchd leantainn eadar-n脿iseanta a bh鈥檃nn. Sgr矛obhadair air a mholadh son a sgeulachdan goirid, b脿rdachd 鈥榮 sia nobhailean gu l猫ir. Tha Cathy Dh貌mhnallach a鈥� rannsachadh nan cuspairean san fhear a b鈥檉he脿rr dhiubh, Greenvoe.

Ann a Greenvoe, chruthachadh Hellya, st猫idhte air coimhearsnachd Stromness, a bha an cunnart a bhi m矛llte le pr貌iseact d矛on d矛omhair. Bha seo f脿isneachail. Bliadhna neo dh脿 as a dheidh, chaidh planaichean ga-r矛ribh chuir an s脿s son i霉r猫inium a mh猫innearachd mu chuairt Stromness-plana a shabaid a鈥檆hoimhearsnachd na aghaidh gu soirbheachail.

Cha robh George comasach air p脿irt a ghabhail san D脿rna Cogadh le d矛th na shl脿inte agus dh鈥檉hag seo trom-inntinneach e. Bha e ag 貌l cus deoch-l脿idir-ach rinn e ch霉is air a seachnadh agus chosnaich e inbhe s脿r sgr矛obhadair. Tha Cathy a鈥� nochdadh a bhuaidh a bha鈥檓 beachd George a thug dualchas Arcaibh 鈥檚 G脿idhlig air a chuid sgr矛obhaidh.