neil munro
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Another underappreciated ‘unco’ Scots writer – contemporary of Crockett and Barrie – but with a west coast/Glasgow twist.
Journalism was also his key to success. His work was serialised in Blackwoods and he wrote for the Glasgow Evening News. He is perhaps best known today for the Para Handy stories but there’s a serious side to him too. With novels such as ‘Gilian the Dreamer’, ‘John Splendid’ and ‘The New Road’ there is plenty to explore. There is a Neil Munro Society (though the website seems a bit out of date) Founded in 1996, the last activity I see is from 2016 http://www.neilmunro.co.uk/index.htm but it’s worth a look. |
Two sides to every coin.
I say Neil Munro – you say Para Handy. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid it all my life, but I’m going to change that this month. And I suggest that, if you’re looking for some light/comic summer reading, you try them. You don’t even need to read, you can ‘stream’ or download or buy audio/dvd’s. They give you a good flavour of the humour. But for my money, reading’s best – back to the originals. Call me old fashioned, but I like to read.
And I’ve started what will be a month long exploration into Neil Munro (and Hugh Foulis). For no really good reason, apart from the title appealed, I began with The New Road. Turns out it’s his last book. It’s historical fiction and firmly in the Scott/Stevenson camp.
As with Barrie, renewed interest has been partly due to his being ‘dug out’ of the slurry of the kailyard – a fate still awaiting Crockett. But the arguments for Munro (and Barrie) not being Kailyard are the same for Crockett and doubtless his time will come. Modern readers should simply ignore the outmoded criticism and thus discover that the late 19th century/early 20th century in Scots writing was neither a ‘dark age’ nor a ‘kailyard’ but a time when many Scots writers were making a popular and significant contribution to our literary history. Their crime? Going against the grain of the emerging literary elite whose ‘Renaissance’ required dismissing and denigrating all that went before. It casts a long shadow, but the reader who steps out of it will find a treasure trove of reading riches.
As a wee aside, it’s interesting that of those formerly deemed Kailyard, the first lifted are the Tory sympathises. As I said, a long shadow. Following that, in the case of Barrie, he’s being ‘claimed’ for Modernism. Me, I think this is all so much posturing and that the folk who live by such critical analysis are actually usually a) barking up the wrong tree and b) don’t actually understand what they read. When they do ‘lift’ a writer out of the Kailyard they do so by being able to see that underneath the ‘superficial’ label, there’s depth. Perhaps they need to try harder (or at all) with more of the writing of the late 19th century. Perhaps the wrong label/genre was placed on it all along. Just a thought. Certainly they don’t seem to be reading the same books I read. Perhaps it’s that I’m not urban. Or urbane. So I suggest that you give Munro, or Barrie, or Crockett, or MacDonald a try. It’s horses for courses and your own taste (social and political) will come into account in your reading – but the message I really want to get out there is – EXPLORE UNCO AUTHORS for yourself. You may find that there’s a lot more great Scottish fiction out there than you ever imagined – or were ever told.
Orraman, June 2018
I say Neil Munro – you say Para Handy. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid it all my life, but I’m going to change that this month. And I suggest that, if you’re looking for some light/comic summer reading, you try them. You don’t even need to read, you can ‘stream’ or download or buy audio/dvd’s. They give you a good flavour of the humour. But for my money, reading’s best – back to the originals. Call me old fashioned, but I like to read.
And I’ve started what will be a month long exploration into Neil Munro (and Hugh Foulis). For no really good reason, apart from the title appealed, I began with The New Road. Turns out it’s his last book. It’s historical fiction and firmly in the Scott/Stevenson camp.
As with Barrie, renewed interest has been partly due to his being ‘dug out’ of the slurry of the kailyard – a fate still awaiting Crockett. But the arguments for Munro (and Barrie) not being Kailyard are the same for Crockett and doubtless his time will come. Modern readers should simply ignore the outmoded criticism and thus discover that the late 19th century/early 20th century in Scots writing was neither a ‘dark age’ nor a ‘kailyard’ but a time when many Scots writers were making a popular and significant contribution to our literary history. Their crime? Going against the grain of the emerging literary elite whose ‘Renaissance’ required dismissing and denigrating all that went before. It casts a long shadow, but the reader who steps out of it will find a treasure trove of reading riches.
As a wee aside, it’s interesting that of those formerly deemed Kailyard, the first lifted are the Tory sympathises. As I said, a long shadow. Following that, in the case of Barrie, he’s being ‘claimed’ for Modernism. Me, I think this is all so much posturing and that the folk who live by such critical analysis are actually usually a) barking up the wrong tree and b) don’t actually understand what they read. When they do ‘lift’ a writer out of the Kailyard they do so by being able to see that underneath the ‘superficial’ label, there’s depth. Perhaps they need to try harder (or at all) with more of the writing of the late 19th century. Perhaps the wrong label/genre was placed on it all along. Just a thought. Certainly they don’t seem to be reading the same books I read. Perhaps it’s that I’m not urban. Or urbane. So I suggest that you give Munro, or Barrie, or Crockett, or MacDonald a try. It’s horses for courses and your own taste (social and political) will come into account in your reading – but the message I really want to get out there is – EXPLORE UNCO AUTHORS for yourself. You may find that there’s a lot more great Scottish fiction out there than you ever imagined – or were ever told.
Orraman, June 2018