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Canongate Classics
Sun Circle
First published in 1933, Sun Circle belongs to Gunn's most creative period. A story of love and awakening set in a time of critical upheaval during the dawn of Scottish history, Breeta's people are the ancient, newly Christianized Pictish tribes living in Northern Scotland in the 9th century. Assailed by the pagan Vikings from across the sea, the clash of Christianity and paganism, of old and new, of Viking and Pict, is a conflict from which the Scottish nation is forged.
- GenresScotland
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
50 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
November 30, 2024
Schottland im 9. Jahrhundert. Langsam bringen Mönche das Christentum zu den pikitischen Stämmen und nur noch wenige Menschen hängen dem alten Glauben an. Die zentrale Figur der Geschichte ist Breeta, ein junges Mädchen. Ihr Stamm trat erst vor kurzer Zeit zum Christentum über und manch einer glaubt noch an die alten Götter. So gibt es zwar einen Priester, aber auch noch den alten Meister und dessen Novizen, in den Breeta verliebt ist. Aber sie hat Angst vor ihren Gefühlen und kann sich nicht zu ihnen bekennen. Breetas Mutter ist die Amme des Sohns von Drust, dem Stammesoberhaupt. Drust ist zwar Christ, aber er schwankt noch zwischen den alten Göttern und dem neuen Glauben. Seine Frau, Silis dagegen ist Christin und kann sein Schwanken nicht verstehen. Aber das ist nur das kleinste von Drusts Problemen. Die Wikinger bedrohen die Küste und er und seine Männer müssen sich zum Kampf gegen eine Übermacht rüsten.
Wie oft in Neil Gunns Büchern sind die Dinge, die zwischen den Zeilen stehen manchmal interessanter als das gedruckte Wort, besonders was Breeta und ihre erste Liebe betrifft. Überhaupt führt eigentlich alles, was in Sun Circle passiert immer wieder zu Breeta zurück. Dabei ist sie eher passiv und läßt Dinge auf sich zukommen. Trotzdem ist sie sogar die Person, die Barden z neuen Liedern inspiriert. Das kann ich nicht ganz verstehen, denn auf mich wirkt sie wie der typische Teenager der seine erste Liebe erlebt und gegen die Mutter rebelliert.
Ich habe in einer anderen Rezi schon geschrieben, dass Neil Gunn nur selten recherchiert. Das merkt man bei diesem Buch leider sehr deutlich. Es ist eine Mischung aus bekannten geschichtlichen Begebenheiten und der eigenen romantischen Vorstellung des Autors. Leider passt das nicht immer sondern wirkt eher schwülstig. Sun Circle war schon beim ersten Lesen nicht mein Liebling von G unter den Büchern von Gunn und wurde beim zweiten Lesen eher noch unbeliebter.
Wie oft in Neil Gunns Büchern sind die Dinge, die zwischen den Zeilen stehen manchmal interessanter als das gedruckte Wort, besonders was Breeta und ihre erste Liebe betrifft. Überhaupt führt eigentlich alles, was in Sun Circle passiert immer wieder zu Breeta zurück. Dabei ist sie eher passiv und läßt Dinge auf sich zukommen. Trotzdem ist sie sogar die Person, die Barden z neuen Liedern inspiriert. Das kann ich nicht ganz verstehen, denn auf mich wirkt sie wie der typische Teenager der seine erste Liebe erlebt und gegen die Mutter rebelliert.
Ich habe in einer anderen Rezi schon geschrieben, dass Neil Gunn nur selten recherchiert. Das merkt man bei diesem Buch leider sehr deutlich. Es ist eine Mischung aus bekannten geschichtlichen Begebenheiten und der eigenen romantischen Vorstellung des Autors. Leider passt das nicht immer sondern wirkt eher schwülstig. Sun Circle war schon beim ersten Lesen nicht mein Liebling von G unter den Büchern von Gunn und wurde beim zweiten Lesen eher noch unbeliebter.
February 13, 2023
I have enjoyed nearly all of Neil M Gunn's books but I struggled with this one. A historical novel set in early Scottish history should be ideal for me. However the language and style defeated me and I found myself skipping to the end after100 pages
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews