#steall

Steall Waterfall by JamesPicture on Flickr.

when i get back someone throw a brick at my face with a note attached to it that says, "FINISH STELLA YOU FUCK ASS"

"Steall à Iomadh Lòn," by Seonaidh Ailig Mac a' Phearsain. (Clàr, Inverness, 2011), is another book with a Uist connection. At 393 pages, this book is a hefty piece of work in any language, and in the language of Seonaidh Ailig, it's a masterpiece. I have discussed this book with many native Gaelic speakers, most of whom have commented on the incredibly broad vocabulary in the book. Mac a' Phearsain seems to have remembered (and used) every word he ever heard, and uses vocabulary which is specific to North Uist as well as old Gaelic words which have fallen out of use. His book is much more than just the language in which it is written, however; it is the story of a man's life, and what a life! After a childhood spent in Harris and North Uist, Mac a' Phearsain eventually found his way to Canada, where he worked in a number of different jobs, including a stint as as the head of PR at a Canadian nuclear power plant. He has also worked as a broadcaster, educationalist, poet and essayist, in both Canada and the UK, and his book includes entertaining anecdotes about his work and the people he has met. More information about this book can be found here.

I discovered the work of the Canadian broadcaster and writer, Linden MacIntyre, thanks to a mention of the author in Mac a' Phearsain's book. MacIntyre's most recent novel is the prize-winning "The Bishop's Man," (Random House, 2009). The writing in this book is serviceable, and occasionally elegant. And, while the plot of the novel moves along at a good pace, "The Bishop's Man" isn't a book you would want to read in a hurry, as there is much to contemplate along the way. It concerns, among other things, the nature of relationships between family members, and between members of a small community, and between men and women, and between men and other men, and between Man and God. It is set mostly in a rural area on Canada's East coast, which I presume to be Nova Scotia. For me, reading this book was a sort of home-coming, as the Nova Scotia that MacIntyre knows and describes so well reminds me very much of my childhood in Vermont.

Ri fhaighinn an seo.