Читать книгу Literature of the Gaelic Landscape онлайн

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If hidden worlds are revealed, our reading of a landscape will change. Things can be seen through a window of knowing what has happened, or what has been imagined in a place (Basso 1996). We cannot look at Loch Bràigh na h-Aibhne (ssss1 and front cover) in the same way, once we know that this is where Kenn in Highland River discovered the source, discovered his source. At an unlikely spot in the wilderness, he completed his quest (Gunn 1937). We cannot look at Ais an t-Sìdhein, in the same way, once we know that this is where Donnchadh Bàn Macintyre composed Praise of Ben Dòbhrain. Perhaps going barefoot like Frank Fraser Darling following the deer, would raise our threshold of awareness (Darling 1941). We might feel the tread of the bards and songsmiths who passed the same way; once upon a time – latha a bha suid. The day that was yonder.

Our deer hunt is metaphorical. We will track down where some well-known Gaelic legends, poems, songs and stories have been situated and how an awareness of setting extends their appreciation. We will trace how precedents, both recent and ancient, relate to the landscape of the Scottish Highlands and to ideas of place-naming, wayfinding and mapping. There is a concentration on literature, which makes active use of place-naming in the description of landscape and the development of character and plot.