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The Serpent
Opening with a premonition of death, this is the story of a young man's conflict with the spiritual authority of his father, of a spirit of skepticism set against an authoritarian Calvinism. This conflict succeeds in bringing alive both the psychological and economic position of the Highlands in the early years of the 20th century: the book as a whole gives a powerful vision of what the Highlands might have been but for the Clearances.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
38 people want to read
About the author
Neil M. Gunn
63 books49 followersNeil Gunn, one of Scotland's most prolific and distinguished novelists, wrote over a period that spanned the Recession, the political crises of the 1920's and 1930's, and the Second World War and its aftermath. Although nearly all his 20 novels are set in the Highlands of Scotland, he is not a regional author in the narrow sense of that description; his novels reflect a search for meaning in troubled times, both past and present, a search that leads him into the realms of philosophy, archaeology, folk tradition and metaphysical speculation.
Born in the coastal village of Dunbeath, Caithness, the son of a successful fishing boat skipper, Gunn was educated at the local village primary school and privately in Galloway. In 1911 he entered the Civil Service and spent some time in both London and Edinburgh before returning to the North as a customs and excise officer based (after a short spell in Caithness) in Inverness. Before voluntary retirement from Government service in 1937 to become a full-time writer, he had embarked on a literary career with considerable success.
His first novel, The Grey Coast (1926), a novel in the realist tradition and set in Caithness in the 1920's, occupied an important position in the literary movement known as the Scottish Renaissance. His second novel, Morning Tide (1931), an idyll of a Highland childhood, won a Book Society award and the praise of the well known literary and public figure, John Buchan. The turning point in Gunn's career, however, came in 1937, when he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial prize for his deeply thought-provoking Highland River, a quasi autobiographical novel written in the third person, in which the main protagonist's life is made analogous to a Highland river and the search for its source.
In 1941 Gunn's epic novel about the fishing boom of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, The Silver Darlings, was widely acclaimed as a modern classic and considered the finest balance between concrete action and metaphysical speculation achieved by any British writer in the 20th century. It was also the final novel of a trilogy of the history of the Northlands, the other novels being Sun Circle (1933) on the Viking invasions of the 9th century and Butcher's Broom (1934) on the Clearances. In 1944 Gunn wrote his anti-Utopian novel, The Green Isle of the Great Deep, a book that preceded George Orwell's novel on the same theme, Nineteen Eighty-Four, by five years. The novel, using an old man and a young boy from a rural background as characters in a struggle against the pressures of totalitarian state, evoked an enthusiastic response from the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
Some of Gunn's later books, whilst not ignoring the uglier aspects of the modern world, touch more on metaphysical speculation in a vein that is not without humour. The Well at the Worlds End (1951), in particular, lays emphasis on the more positive aspects of living and the value of that approach in finding meaning and purpose in life. Gunn's spiritual autobiography, The Atom of Delight (1956), which, although similar in many ways to Highland River, incorporates a vein of thought derived from Gunn's interest in Zen Buddhism. The autobiography was Gunn's last major work.
In 1948 Gunn's contribution to literature was recognised by Edinburgh University with an honorary doctorate to the author; in 1972 the Scottish Arts Council created the Neil Gunn Fellowship in his honour, a fellowship that was to include such famous writers as Henrich Boll, Saul Bellow, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Nadine Gordimer and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Born in the coastal village of Dunbeath, Caithness, the son of a successful fishing boat skipper, Gunn was educated at the local village primary school and privately in Galloway. In 1911 he entered the Civil Service and spent some time in both London and Edinburgh before returning to the North as a customs and excise officer based (after a short spell in Caithness) in Inverness. Before voluntary retirement from Government service in 1937 to become a full-time writer, he had embarked on a literary career with considerable success.
His first novel, The Grey Coast (1926), a novel in the realist tradition and set in Caithness in the 1920's, occupied an important position in the literary movement known as the Scottish Renaissance. His second novel, Morning Tide (1931), an idyll of a Highland childhood, won a Book Society award and the praise of the well known literary and public figure, John Buchan. The turning point in Gunn's career, however, came in 1937, when he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial prize for his deeply thought-provoking Highland River, a quasi autobiographical novel written in the third person, in which the main protagonist's life is made analogous to a Highland river and the search for its source.
In 1941 Gunn's epic novel about the fishing boom of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, The Silver Darlings, was widely acclaimed as a modern classic and considered the finest balance between concrete action and metaphysical speculation achieved by any British writer in the 20th century. It was also the final novel of a trilogy of the history of the Northlands, the other novels being Sun Circle (1933) on the Viking invasions of the 9th century and Butcher's Broom (1934) on the Clearances. In 1944 Gunn wrote his anti-Utopian novel, The Green Isle of the Great Deep, a book that preceded George Orwell's novel on the same theme, Nineteen Eighty-Four, by five years. The novel, using an old man and a young boy from a rural background as characters in a struggle against the pressures of totalitarian state, evoked an enthusiastic response from the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
Some of Gunn's later books, whilst not ignoring the uglier aspects of the modern world, touch more on metaphysical speculation in a vein that is not without humour. The Well at the Worlds End (1951), in particular, lays emphasis on the more positive aspects of living and the value of that approach in finding meaning and purpose in life. Gunn's spiritual autobiography, The Atom of Delight (1956), which, although similar in many ways to Highland River, incorporates a vein of thought derived from Gunn's interest in Zen Buddhism. The autobiography was Gunn's last major work.
In 1948 Gunn's contribution to literature was recognised by Edinburgh University with an honorary doctorate to the author; in 1972 the Scottish Arts Council created the Neil Gunn Fellowship in his honour, a fellowship that was to include such famous writers as Henrich Boll, Saul Bellow, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Nadine Gordimer and Mario Vargas Llosa.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 2, 2021
A moving and unusual book. Difficult to read due to the intensity of the telling, references to other works and the richness of images used but well worth the effort, and will certainly be reread to examine these deeper in the future.
Didn't the find the introduction in this edition useful at all, in fact, quite the opposite as it gave away some of the story without adding insight to the themes. Read it after reading the book!
Didn't the find the introduction in this edition useful at all, in fact, quite the opposite as it gave away some of the story without adding insight to the themes. Read it after reading the book!
November 30, 2024
Tom ist alt geworden. Schon längst ist er nicht mehr der Aussenseiter in seinem Heimatort, sondern ein geschätztes Mitglied der Gemeinschaft. Doch das war auch einmal anders. An einem Sommertag macht er eine Wanderung aus dem Dorf heraus in die Berge, die es umgeben. Hier hat er sich immer am wohlsten gefühlt und hier zieht er Bilanz eines Lebens, das viele Höhen und Tiefen gesehen hat.
Als junger Mann verlässt er sein Dorf um in Glasgow Geld zu verdienen. Als sein Vater krank wird kommt er zurück um die kleine Farm zu übernehmen. Aber nach dem Leben in der Stadt ist das Dorf zu klein für ihn und seine Ansichten geworden. Genauso wie er die Leute und den strengen Calvinismus dort engstirnig findet, so kommen sie mit seinen modernen Ansichten nicht zurecht. Besonders sein Vater hält ihn für einen Heiden und Verführer, der die jungen Leute vom rechten Weg abbringen will. Der Konflikt zwischen Vater und Sohn schwelt lange unter der Oberfläche. Als er endlich ausbricht hat es für alle Beteiligten schlimme folgen.
Tom ist ein aufgeschlossener junger Mann- zu aufgeschlossen für die Menschen in seiner alten Umgebung, wo man nicht laut über Glaubensdinge nachdenken sollte. Der Autor beschreibt die Menschen in Toms Heimatdorf sehr engstirnig, fast schon wie eine Sekte. Der Vater, der in seinen Briefen an den Sohn und in dessen Erinnerung aufgeschlossen und freundlich wirkt wird in der Realität zu einem Despoten, der keine andere Meinung als seine eigene zulässt. Tom muss ständig gegen ihn kämpfen, nichts ist dem alten Mann gut genug. War er anfangs noch stolz auf seinen Sohn, so kann der ihm jetzt nichts recht machen. Fortschritt oder neue Ideen werden wie Teufelswerk angesehen.
Tom findet nur kurzfristig Anerkennung in der neuen/alten Heimat. Dann zeigen ihm kleine Gesten, dass er nicht mehr erwünscht ist. Es dauert lange, bis er seinen Platz gefunden hat. Sein Rückblick ist schmerzlich. Auch wenn er zufrieden ist war er doch nicht glücklich.
Wie bei vielen von Neil Gunns Geschichten ähnelt auch diese einer anderen Erzählung, hat aber einen völlig anderen Ausgang. Die Geschichte entwickelt sich sehr langsam, aber wer sich über den zähen Anfang gelesen hat wird mit meiner Meinung nach einer der besten Geschichten des Autors belohnt.
Als junger Mann verlässt er sein Dorf um in Glasgow Geld zu verdienen. Als sein Vater krank wird kommt er zurück um die kleine Farm zu übernehmen. Aber nach dem Leben in der Stadt ist das Dorf zu klein für ihn und seine Ansichten geworden. Genauso wie er die Leute und den strengen Calvinismus dort engstirnig findet, so kommen sie mit seinen modernen Ansichten nicht zurecht. Besonders sein Vater hält ihn für einen Heiden und Verführer, der die jungen Leute vom rechten Weg abbringen will. Der Konflikt zwischen Vater und Sohn schwelt lange unter der Oberfläche. Als er endlich ausbricht hat es für alle Beteiligten schlimme folgen.
Tom ist ein aufgeschlossener junger Mann- zu aufgeschlossen für die Menschen in seiner alten Umgebung, wo man nicht laut über Glaubensdinge nachdenken sollte. Der Autor beschreibt die Menschen in Toms Heimatdorf sehr engstirnig, fast schon wie eine Sekte. Der Vater, der in seinen Briefen an den Sohn und in dessen Erinnerung aufgeschlossen und freundlich wirkt wird in der Realität zu einem Despoten, der keine andere Meinung als seine eigene zulässt. Tom muss ständig gegen ihn kämpfen, nichts ist dem alten Mann gut genug. War er anfangs noch stolz auf seinen Sohn, so kann der ihm jetzt nichts recht machen. Fortschritt oder neue Ideen werden wie Teufelswerk angesehen.
Tom findet nur kurzfristig Anerkennung in der neuen/alten Heimat. Dann zeigen ihm kleine Gesten, dass er nicht mehr erwünscht ist. Es dauert lange, bis er seinen Platz gefunden hat. Sein Rückblick ist schmerzlich. Auch wenn er zufrieden ist war er doch nicht glücklich.
Wie bei vielen von Neil Gunns Geschichten ähnelt auch diese einer anderen Erzählung, hat aber einen völlig anderen Ausgang. Die Geschichte entwickelt sich sehr langsam, aber wer sich über den zähen Anfang gelesen hat wird mit meiner Meinung nach einer der besten Geschichten des Autors belohnt.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews