Into the Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd

by Charlotte Peacock

In the 1930s Nan Shepherd was one of Scotland's best-known writers. Three novels, The Quarry Wood, The Weatherhouse and A Pass in the Grampians – as well as a volume of poetry, In the Cairngorms – were all published between 1928 and 1934 while she was in her 30s. These books established her reputation as one of the most highly respected members of the Scottish Modernist movement.

Then, much later, in 1977, came The Living Mountain, a short but powerful reflection on her experiences walking in the Cairngorms – a book which was immediately described as a masterpiece by some of the original reviewers. Incredibly, the manuscript of The Living Mountain had been in Nan's drawer since the 1940s when she first wrote it. It is now a widely read classic. But just as the manuscript had lain unpublished for all those years, it wasn't really until ten years ago that the genius of this book was truly discovered when it was re-published with an introductory essay by Robert Macfarlane. Nan died in 1981 before any of this later success took place.

Nan Shepherd was an intensely private woman. But the author of this first biography, Charlotte Peacock, has been as successful in finding her way into the life of her subject as was Nan herself, in her words, in “finding her way into the mountains”. She has had unparalleled access to all of Nan's archives and to her remaining friends and acquaintances. This biography also provides its readers with both a superbly crafted social portrait of North East Scotland in the early 20th century and a first-rate account of the Scottish literary scene and its key figures, such as Neil Gunn and Hugh MacDiarmid, during those years.

Into the Mountain unravels the mysteries of this enigmatic writer and in doing so brings her vividly to life. The book is a beautifully written and highly accessible biography of Nan that will surely lead an even wider audience to her in the years to come.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, Scotland

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2017

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Born in 1893 in Peterculter just outside Aberdeen to John and Jane Shepherd she moved when she was tiny to a home in Cults where she had a happy upbringing and was to remain almost all her life. She was educated at Aberdeen High school and went to Aberdeen University where she graduated in 1915. A job teaching English at Aberdeen College of Education followed and she was there until retiring in 1956.

She had begun writing poems whilst at university and this love of language was complemented by her love for of landscape and mountains of the Cairngorms in particular. By the 1930's Nan Shepherd had written three novels, The Quarry Wood, The Weatherhouse and A Pass in the Grampians and a small volume of poetry called In the Cairngorms; these had modest literary success as well as critical acclaim and was she considered to be one of Scotland's literati. Politically savvy too, Shepard was heavily involved in the Scottish modernist movement.

The book that was to be acknowledged her masterpiece though almost never happened. The passion and love of the mountains that she had, became the manuscript of The Living Mountain. It was first written in the 1940's and sent to various publishers, all of whom declined it. Not totally sure what to do with it, she placed it in a drawer in a unit in her hall. It was to remain there for over 30 years. Then in 1977, she fished it out of the drawer after someone expressed an interest in it. The first print run was only 300 copies, but interest grew in the book and in time it was recognised as a classic piece of landscape writing.

Nan Shepherd was a very private lady, and I think Peacock has done a reasonable job here of teasing out the stories of this reticent and stoic individual. She had access to the archives of Shepherd and spent time talking to the few friends that are left.
It was interesting finding out about an author who has made such an impact with a slender book that almost nearly wasn't. Not too bad overall and if you have a fascination with what made Shepherd who she was then I would recommend it, but it did read a little like an academic paper at times.

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

It took me ages to finish this. While parts remain speculation, Charlotte Peacock has done a great job and manages to bring Nan Shepherd closer to the reader. I am not much of a biography reader, which is why I also struggled with this book, but given sufficient motivation, I reread the rest of it today. I just wish I could've met Nan.

[Elsbeth Kwant]

Loving the Living Mountain I was curious about its author. Though there are lovely bits (lady in the train, the same bedroom for her whole life, the role of women), the whole was marred by too much information. Still worth reading, especially for her friendship and correspondence with Neil Gunn, whom she envies the power to write in a way that felt the same as going out into nature: 'but to be able to share it, in and through words - that's what frightens me. The word shouldn't have such power. It dissolves one's being. I am no longer myself, but part of a life beyond myself when I read pages that are so much the expression of myself. And also 'I love a broom-stick and also a walking stick. I want the moon and the Pleiades and buttons to fasten my coat... Are the supreme moments of human experience, very strange or very simple? I think both. We classify, but there is no real dividing line... There is a pixie element in the plainest life.'

Other memorable images are about people and books in a library 'at every contact she thrilled. 'Spirit is released'. The great room tingled with it.' She sees it as mental inertia to classify books without eye for their unique human expression.

Reactions to the first world war, superfluous women, the bullying with white feathers.

Also on becoming a person, and unrequited love 'Luke had broken her integrity, and by not loving her had put a larger wholeness beyond her reach'. Kierkegaard - 'If a person does not become what he understands, he does not really understand it.' On illness: 'while one is living through these things they seem eternal' - and how body and mind interplay.

And apposite for these times of isolation: 'a cessation of doing in which one begins to know being. Frightening sometimes. One rushes off to do things in order to escape from it. At though human nature were fit for such a miracle as contemplation!

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte Peacock has produced a splendid biography of the novelist and poet, Nan Shepherd. While Peacock sees Shepherd’s book about her engagement with the Cairngorms, The Living Mountain (written in the 1940s, but only published in 1977), as the culmination of her literary career, what I found fascinating was the new light this biography shines on relationships between the writers of the Scottish Renaissance in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Jessie Kesson, Agnes Mure Mackenze, Neil M. Gunn and Helen Cruickshank feature prominently. The book is of interest too for its account of the academic milieu at the University of Aberdeen and the experience of female students there before and during the First World War. It also provides a valuable reminder of the substantial contribution of North-East writers to Scotland’s literary revival.

The book would have benefitted from more rigorous editing. There are rather too many typos and there is some unnecessary repetition.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was largely well done. The amount of research that Peacock has managed to amass is truly impressive -- especially given that she had 3 years (!). It's really useful if you want to know more about Shepherd and particularly the responses to her work -- the alternative for getting to know the latter would be to purchase the (much more expensive...) correspondence and digging into the archives yourself.

I didn't agree with the readings of some of the poems, although these are again, perfectly legit. I also wasn't sure about using fictional material to elaborate on an author's biography. Peacock makes a fair case for this, to her credit, but such uses of fictional material necessarily restrict the richness of the text(s), reducing them to infobytes about the writer's life experiences.

Regardless, I do think that this is worth reading if you are interested in Nan Shepherd and/or the Scottish Literary Renaissance.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken some time reading this because after reading and enjoying so much her book 'The Living Mountain' I was really interested to learn as much as possible about Nan Shepherd.
It is detailed, well researched - quite heavy going in places and so took more time than I would usually spend on a biographical read.
As interested as I was in the subject matter, at times the content veers off a tad to the literary characters Nan was connected to/ with; inevitable since she left such patchy correspondence and where lives touched/ connected, there is clearly more content available pertaining to others.
To have cut out some of that and remained solely focused on Nan would have not made this less entertaining or interesting and I did skim read some areas because of this.

[Helen Meads · Rating 4 out of 5]

AsRobert Macfarlane says, Charlotte Peacock has done a good job of reading between the lines in writing this biography of Nan Shepherd. (Shepherd destroyed much that would have been helpful to a biographer.)

I could have done with less detailed information about Shepherd’s contemporaries, but it is probably included for those trying to place Shepherd in her literary and professional context. I was more interested interested in the personal, so waded through it.

I now realise how much I missed in ‘The Quarry Wood’ and will need to reread it to fully appreciate it.
I’m also looking forward to the other novels. ‘The Living Mountain’, though, demands rereading for its own self.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really fascinating subject matter, thoroughly researched and in parts interestingly presented. It didn't leave me feeling I knew Nan Shepherd although, as she was quite private person, perhaps that would have been hard to achieve. The details about her distant family and connections, the descriptions of how places are now where she once was made tedious reading and provided more evidence of the research process than insight into the subject.

[Katedurie50 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second, which seemed to get rather bogged down in the revival of Scottish writing. The parts that deal with childhood and university interested me more and the evocation of Aberdeen and its hinterland was well done. But a literary biography can struggle a little when the life is not rich in incident.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely detailed insight into the life and loves of Nan Shepherd. Can recommend to anyone interested in the social history of the north-east and the development of Scottish literature.