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Wild Geese Overhead
A glimpse of wild geese proves to be a catalyst for a new way of thinking - social, political and psychological - for a journalist living in Glasgow in 1939.
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1939
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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
November 30, 2024
Will ist Journalist in Glasgow. Er arbeitet nachts, trinkt zu viel und schläft zu wenig. An seinem 30. Geburtstag macht er einen Ausflug aufs Land und verliebt sich in die scheinbare Idylle. Er beschließt, sein Zimmer in Glasgow aufzugeben und aufs Land zu ziehen. Schnell holt ihn die Realität ein: er pendelt täglich mehrerer Stunden, kann auf einmal nicht mehr schlafen und entfernt sich immer mehr von seinen Freunden. Als er in Glasgow zusammengeschlagen wird und sein Gedächtnis verliert beginnt er, seine Entscheidung zu hinterfragen.
Will ist kein wirklich sympathischer Mensch. Aufgrund einer romantischen Idee zieht er aufs Land, aber er wird dort nicht wirklich heimisch. Er sieht auf die Menschen herab und schämt sich vor seinen Freunden für das mangelnde soziale Leben auf dem Land. Er verliebt sich in Jenny, die Nichte seiner Vermieterin aber als er sie das erste Mal in der Stadt sieht und erkennt, dass sie nicht das unbedarfte Mädchen ist dass er in ihr gesehen hat verliert er das Interesse. Er zeigt keine Eigeninitiative, sondern lässt Dinge einfach geschehen. Deshalb habe ich es ihm auch kleines bisschen gegönnt dass er im Krankenhaus landet.
Die Geschichte spielt 1939, kurz vor Ausbruch des zweiten Weltkriegs. Der Handlungsort Glasgow ist ungewöhnlich für einen Roman von Neil M. Gunn. Er beschreibt die Stadt so, wie die Menschen vom Land sie gesehen haben mögen: als großes schmutziges Etwas, in dem viele Gefahren lauern. Wenn er dagegen von Wills Leben auf dem Land erzählt wirkt das viel echter. Trotzdem hat mir das Buch gerade wegen dem ungewöhnlichen Ort und Thema sehr gut gefallen.
Will ist kein wirklich sympathischer Mensch. Aufgrund einer romantischen Idee zieht er aufs Land, aber er wird dort nicht wirklich heimisch. Er sieht auf die Menschen herab und schämt sich vor seinen Freunden für das mangelnde soziale Leben auf dem Land. Er verliebt sich in Jenny, die Nichte seiner Vermieterin aber als er sie das erste Mal in der Stadt sieht und erkennt, dass sie nicht das unbedarfte Mädchen ist dass er in ihr gesehen hat verliert er das Interesse. Er zeigt keine Eigeninitiative, sondern lässt Dinge einfach geschehen. Deshalb habe ich es ihm auch kleines bisschen gegönnt dass er im Krankenhaus landet.
Die Geschichte spielt 1939, kurz vor Ausbruch des zweiten Weltkriegs. Der Handlungsort Glasgow ist ungewöhnlich für einen Roman von Neil M. Gunn. Er beschreibt die Stadt so, wie die Menschen vom Land sie gesehen haben mögen: als großes schmutziges Etwas, in dem viele Gefahren lauern. Wenn er dagegen von Wills Leben auf dem Land erzählt wirkt das viel echter. Trotzdem hat mir das Buch gerade wegen dem ungewöhnlichen Ort und Thema sehr gut gefallen.
November 7, 2024
"Wild Geese Overhead" is the story of a young Glaswegian man who, like the title's geese, feels the need to migrate and leave the city. He falls in love with the countryside but keeps working in Glasgow. He is a bit of a whiny Hamlet but I found the novel interesting in terms of setting and its political dimension. The 'romance' (if one can call it that) is super boring and the novel is a bit long on top of that. But it's well written and it's interesting to see how Gunn writes the very different parts of Scotland. 4 stars and I like geese too and would like to migrate somewhere
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews