Orkney Tapestry

by george-mackay-brown

Some fading to the worn covers, gift inscription. Orders received by 3pm Sent from the UK that weekday.

Genres: Scotland, Nonfiction, Poetry, History, Travel

211 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Cornelius Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intricately crafted portrait of the Orkney Islands, beautifully woven together from history, legend, folk lore, poems and ballads (many in Scots, slowing the pace for the reader, but turning the path richer), plays, and drawings. Lamentably, this treasurable book from 1969 appears to have been out of print a small eternity. Open its pages, though, an a much greater eternity spreads itself before you - as bracing as a long walk along an Orcadian shoreline in wintertime.

[^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t remember when I began reading this book; “a fate-blown wisp to a pearl of incalculable price” (p.55). It became one of those books whose destiny was to be picked up periodically; but only a page or two, or four, or seven, read at any one sitting.

I rarely read short (211 pages) books so slowly. I like to get my mind into a book, stay with it, and see it through to a satisfactory closure in a matter of days. But this book had other ideas, and would brook no disobedience from me. The written words between the covers chastised me to remember that there is time and place to pause, to think, to sigh over, to question, and to conjecture & find answers; and that this book wanted nothing more than to sit quietly in the background to my life, occasionally tapping on my shoulder; and that it had laid down that decision and would brook no opposition from me.

No hurry, no hurry. I mulled over accounts of long, ago; and of legends of very long, long ago. Of observation of the human condition, and, above all, social custom, ritual and a dry humour formed from the very fabric and rhythms of island life in the North. In plays, in poetry, and in prose this book affirms Life as lived in the real world; a world far away from the life of selfish ‘what can I get for me’ that we too frequently label present-day ‘civilisation.’

[Mairead · Rating 3 out of 5]

appreciated parts of this but other parts just draaagged

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 4 out of 5]

"An Orkney Tapestry" is a compelling genre-hybrid: part poem, part play, part fairy tale, part memoir, part nature writing, part myth making and myth unmaking, George Mackay Brown's piece of literature is both exciting and overwhelming. After reading you feel like you know more about Orkney but also realise how very little you know at all. The book invites you to explore yourself, to meet some of the characters in real life, to experience the weather, to read this book again somewhere on an island. I have to admit that some parts were more interesting to me than others, but I think I should like to revisit the book from time to time. I will also quote from it in my PhD about Nan Shepherd :) 4 stars

[Hexenwelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intimate and intricate portrait of the Orkney Isles. With a mix of poetry, prose and drama Brown manages to weave a picture of a place you can see is widely important to him. It is a portrait of a place, a people and an attitude, unapologetic and certainly not objective, but all the more beautiful for it.

[Althea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to/from and during the Orkney Folk Festival, it is a marvelous impressionist folk history of the area. Very helpful, also beautiful. Especial shout-out to the play "The Watcher" that makes up the last chapter of the book. It has a supernatural element I really like.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of George Mackay Brown but this book, containing some of his earliest published writings has recently been reprinted. I picked this up in a bookshop in Orkney when I was there recently. Really enjoyed coming back home and revisiting the islands with George Mackay Brown as my guide. This book contains short stories, poems, historical pieces, and even a short, Orkney-based play derived from a Tolstoy short story. A lovely mixture of pieces, and a man trying to educate you whilst he entertains you.

[Isla Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

20. I often think we are not really interested in the past at all. There is a new religion, Progress, in which we all devoutly believe, and it is concerned only with material things and a vague golden-handed future. It is a rootless, utilitarian faith, without beauty or mystery; a kind of blind unquestioning belief that men and their material circumstances will go on improving until some kind of nirvana is reached and everyone will be rich, free, fulfilled, well-informed, masterful.

[Annette Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of the Orkneys with poems, plays, ballads and folklore, many in Scots dialogue, woven together to create a whole. They seem mainly to lurch from battle to battle while converting to Christianity. Lovely line drawings by Sylvia Wishart.

[Chris Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For lovers of literature, this is an absolutely brilliant companion for a trip to Orkney. But if you don't love poetry and literature, this could be a slog. I loved it, especially the Viking section and the Watchers play.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this at school. I actually enjoyed the book as it gave me more information about a place I have never visited- Orkney. I would like to read this again one day and see how an older mind reacts to the information!

[Dayna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of writing about Orkney seen through the eyes of a poet. This work examines Orkney via travel writing, nonfiction articles, myth, poetry, and drama. This work is magnificent. It makes you want to pack up and head to England. Anglophiles will love it.

[Paul Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm Guite recommended this. A unique work, the poesy really takes one as one leans in to the more obscure parts - the archaic language and so on - that it really takes one out of oneself and transplants one into the long gone days of the far north of Britain.
He finishes by adapting a short story of Tolstoys; a complete delight, and a gratifying introduction to the shorter works of Tolstoy. A gem.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather mixed feelings on this one.
Some bits I loved, but it's very much of it's place..... & language!