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Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Born	James Leslie Mitchell; 13 February 1901; Hillhead of Seggat, Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Died	7 February 1935 (aged 33); Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England
Pen name	Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Scottish
Period	1928–1935
Genre	General fiction
Subject	Scottish country life; Science fiction; Historical novels
Literary movement	20th-century Scottish Renaissance
Notable works	The trilogy A Scots Quair, in particular the first book Sunset Song
Children	Rhea Martin
Website
	www.grassicgibbon.com

James Leslie Mitchell^[1] (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), known by the pseudonym Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Scots pronunciation: [ˈluːɪs ˈɡrasɪk ˈɡɪbən]), was a Scottish writer. He was best known for A Scots Quair, a trilogy set in the north-east of Scotland in the early 20th century, of which all three parts have been serialised on BBC television.

Biography

Mitchell was born into a farming family in Auchterless and raised from the age of seven in Arbuthnott, in the former county of Kincardineshire.^[2] He was educated first at the parish school and then at Mackie Academy in Stonehaven.^[3] Mitchell started working as a journalist for the Aberdeen Journal in 1917 and later for the Farmers Weekly after moving to Glasgow.^[4] During that time he was active with the British Socialist Party.^[5]

In 1919, Mitchell joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in Iran, India and Egypt before enlisting in the Royal Air Force in 1923.^[6] In the RAF he worked as a clerk and spent some time in the Middle East.

When he married Rebecca Middleton (known as Ray) in 1925, they settled in Welwyn Garden City.^[7] He began writing full time in 1929, producing numerous books and shorter works under his real name and his pseudonym. He suffered an early death in 1935 from peritonitis, brought on by a perforated ulcer.

Fiction

Mitchell gained attention from his earliest attempts at fiction, notably from H. G. Wells, but it was his trilogy entitled A Scots Quair, and in particular its first book Sunset Song, with which he made his mark. A Scots Quair, with its combination of stream-of-consciousness, lyrical use of dialect, and social realism, is considered to be among the defining works of the 20th century Scottish Renaissance. It tells the story of Chris Guthrie, a young woman growing up in the north-east of Scotland in the early 20th century. All three parts of the trilogy have been turned into serials by BBC Scotland, written by Bill Craig, with Vivien Heilbron as Chris. Additionally, Sunset Song has been adapted into a film, released in 2015.^[8] Spartacus, a novel set in the famous slave revolt, is his best-known full-length work outside this trilogy.

In 1934 Mitchell collaborated with Hugh MacDiarmid on Scottish Scene, which included three of Gibbon's short stories. His stories were collected posthumously in A Scots Hairst (1969). Possibly his best-known is "Smeddum", a Scots word which could be best translated as the colloquial term "guts". Like A Scots Quair, it is set in north-east Scotland with strong female characters.^[9] In 1976 the BBC produced a Play for Today, Clay, Smeddum and Greenden, a dramatisation of three of his short stories by Bill Craig.^[10] As of February 2024 it is available on BBC iPlayer for 11 months.^[11] Also notable is his essay The Land.

Remembrance

The Grassic Gibbon Centre, attached to the local village hall, was established in Arbuthnott in 1991 to commemorate the author's life. Within it is a small museum about his life and work, as well as a café. There is a memorial to him and his wife, and other members of the Mitchell family, in the western corner of the village churchyard (parish church of Saint Ternan) of Arbuthnott Church, nowadays in Aberdeenshire.

In 2016 Sunset Song was voted Scotland's favourite novel in the BBC Love to Read campaign. A feature article on the novel has been written by Nicola Sturgeon, who edited a recent edition.^[12]

Bibliography

Hanno: or the Future of Exploration (1928) [1]
Stained Radiance: A Fictionist's Prelude (1930) [2]
The Thirteenth Disciple (1931) [3]
The Calends of Cairo (1931) [4]
Three Go Back (1932)[5]
The Lost Trumpet (1932) [6]
Sunset Song (1932), the first book of the trilogy A Scots Quair [7]
Persian Dawns, Egyptian Nights (1932) [8]
Image and Superscription (1933) [9]
Cloud Howe (1933), the second book of the trilogy A Scots Quair [10]
Spartacus (1933) [11]
Niger: The Life of Mungo Park (1934) [12]
The Conquest of the Maya (1934) [13]
Gay Hunter (1934) [14]
Scottish Scene (1934), with Hugh MacDiarmid
Grey Granite (1934), the third book of the trilogy A Scots Quair [15]
Nine Against the Unknown (1934) [16]
The Speak of the Mearns (1982), published posthumously

Adaptations

Clay, Smeddum and Greenden, a 1976 Play for Today adapting three of his short stories, dramatised by Bill Craig and directed by Moira Armstrong.
Sunset Song (2015) written and directed by Terence Davies, starring Agyness Deyn, Peter Mullan and Kevin Guthrie

Reviews

Glenda Norquay, "Echoes from The Mearns", reviewing The Speak of the Mearns, in Sheila G. Hearn, ed., Cencrastus No. 13, Summer 1983, pp. 54–55

References

^ Joseph F. Clarke (1977). Pseudonyms. BCA. p. 70.
^ McKean, Charles (1990), Banff & Buchan, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, p. 71, ISBN 978-1-85158-231-0
^ "Lewis Grassic Gibbon – Stonehaven Heritage Society". www.stonehaven-heritage.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
^ "BBC Two - Writing Scotland - Lewis Grassic Gibbon". Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
^ "Paul Foot: Poet of the Granite City (2001)". www.marxists.org. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015.
^ Manson, John, "Lewis Grassic Gibbon: A Biography", in Mathers, Neil (ed.), Epoch 9: December 1996, The Corbie Press, Montrose, pp. 12 -14, ISSN 0967-6856
^ Hadley, Tessa (8 August 2008). "Rereading: Life on the land". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ Bonnar, Mark; Mullan, Peter; Deyn, Agyness; Guthrie, Kevin (4 December 2015), Sunset Song, archived from the original on 18 June 2018, retrieved 31 March 2017
^ "review of "Smeddum"". Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
^ Play for Today website Archived 30 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Play for Today - Series 6: Clay, Smeddum and Greenden".
^ New Statesman, 31 January 2020, pp. 42–44.