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Capital Letters Plus - 9th May 2001 |
| Date: |
5/9/01 6:26:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time |
From: bill.marshall@jthin.co.uk
(Bill Marshall)
Reply-to: bill.marshall@jthin.co.uk
To: bill.marshall@jthin.co.uk (James Thin
Scottish Books Newsletter)
|
Capital Letters Plus - 9th May 2001
The James Thin Scottish Books Newsletter
Spring greetings to all Scottish book readers and enthusiasts.
This issue of Capital Letters Plus has substantial reviews of two of the
most important Scottish titles coming out in May. John Burnside's
The
Locust Room and Irvine Welsh's Glue. There’s the usual listings of
Events and new and forthcoming books, while Owen Dudley Edwards
gives us the third part of his investigation of Robert Louis Stevenson's
Kidnapped.
EVENTS in and associated with our shops in May and June
EDINBURGH
SOUTH BRIDGE
Tel: 0131 622 8222
Saturday 12th May 11am - 12.30pm
There is such a thing as a free lunch! Pru Irvine will be preparing a
buffet
lunch to eat, based on her new book Easy Peasy All The Time, a
children’s cookbook full of easy-to-follow, healthy recipes. Children
aged 8+ are invited to join her - but be sure to have a poem, story or
joke
on the subject of food to tell your fellow diners.
Tickets (limited numbers) free from South Bridge.
Wednesday 30th May 7pm
Joan Lingard’s new book for children, The Same Only Different, is a
story of two identical twins, and challenges the reader to tell the
difference between them based on their appearance. We will be
launching the book in the company of the author, so come along and get
your own signed copy.
Tickets free from South Bridge.
GEORGE STREET
Tel :0131 225 4495
Wednesday 23rd May 6.30pm
In association with Mystery Women. Scotland’s top women crime
writers Joyce Holms, Anne Perry, and Aline Templeton will be reading
and signing their latest books, and chatting with visitors from the
American Cosy Crimes Tour. Join us for a convivial cornucopia of crime
with these authors and aficionados.
Tickets free from George St.
ST.CECILIA’S HALL, COWGATE.
Friday 1st June 6pm-8pm
Alexander McCall Smith will be introducing his latest work Morality for
Beautiful Girls.
Tickets free from South Bridge.
DUNDEE
7-8 High Street, Dundee Tel: 01382 223999 - Manager Gordon Dow
Monday 21st May 7pm
James Thin,Dundee in conjunction with Hodder & Stoughton and
Dundee Book Events are proud to welcome four prominent crime writers
to the University of Dundee, Continuing Education Dept.
The writers attending this event are Aline Templeton,Paul
Johnston,Peter May,and Frederic Lindsay.
A limited number of tickets will be available priced £2.50 each.
Wednesday 30th May 7pm
Deborah Moggach will be reading from and signing copies of her new
novel Final Demand at University of Dundee, Continuing Education Dept.
A limited number of tickets will be available priced £2.50 each
Saturday 2nd June 10.00am
J.K. Rowling brings Harry Potter to Dundee for Maggie's Cancer Caring
Centre. At the Caird Hall.
A limited number of tickets priced £5.00 and £10.00 available from James
Thin
Tickets on sale from Monday 30th April.
Further details from Gordon Dow at the above number or Valerie Busher,
Regional Fundraiser 01382 496384
*************************************
NEW and FORTHCOMING FICTION and LITERATURE
(hotlinks to order any of these titles are on the website at
www.jamesthin.co.uk/mag1.htm)
Precious Ramotswe may appear at first sight to be one of the more
unlikely heroines but Alexander McCall Smith's creation has proved to
be a great success and has received rave reviews and awards since she
first appeared in The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The third book to
feature her investigations is Morality for Beautiful Girls which is due
out
in May. pbk 0748662979 £8.99
Cumberland House Press are republishing Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a
Grandfather in May
From Bannockburn to Flodden pbk 1581821271 £8.95
From Gileskirk to Greyfriars pbk 158182128X £8.95
From Glencoe to Stirling pbk 1581821298 £8.95
From Montrose to Culloden pbk 1581821476 £8.95
Just published this month from Polygon is Damage Land - New Scottish
Gothic Fiction edited by Alan Bissett, which contains a wide range of
dark visions by many of the brightest young authors in the country. pbk
0748662847 £9.99
Also from Polygon are two collections of poetry. Today Tomorrow - The
Collected Poems of George Bruce, 1933-2000 edited by Lucina Prestige, is
a celebration of Bruce's life and work. April 0748662995 £14.99
Dream State - The New Scottish Poets (2nd ed) edited by Donny
O'Rourke, is a completely revised and updated sampling of recent
Scottish poetry June 074866260X £12.00
Meg Henderson's latest book is due out this summer. The Last Wanderer
is the story of several generations of a West Coast fishing community
throught the eyes of a fisherman's daughter. hdbk 000226188X Price to
be confirmed
Award winning journalist Ruaridh Nicoll's first novel White Male Heart is
being published by Doubleday in June. pbk 0385602081 £9.99
The latest release from the books that the late Nigel Tranter had
completed before his untimely death is due out in June. The Admiral
hdbk, Hodder, 0340770147 £17.99 (There will be a paperback edition in
December.)
June also see the paperback release of his most recent title The End of
the Line Hodder, 0340739282 £6.99
Val McDermid has a new crime novel out in May - Killing the Shadows
pbk 0006514189 £6.99
****************************************
NEW and FORTHCOMING NON-FICTION
(hotlinks to these titles are on the website at
www.jamesthin.co.uk/scoth.htm and www.jamesthin.co.uk/scnew.htm)
***Recently published***
The Companion Guide to Edinburgh and the Borders
A.J. Youngson
Polygon, April 2001
pbk 074866307X £14.99
A new and fully revised edition of this classic work, which while based
on the buildings and architecture of the area, also captures something of
the unique historical atmosphere which so pervades the city and it's
surroundings.
On the Swirl of the Tide
Bridget MacCaskill
Luath, April 2001
pbk 0946487677 £9.99
The result of 12 years of careful study and often joyous observation by
the author and her husband, both highly respected naturalists, this is the
story of a family of wild otters living around a small West Highland sea
loch.
The Blood is Wild
Bridget MacCaskill
Luath, April 2001
pbk 0946487715 £9.99
A touching account of the rescue and upbringing of two orphaned fox
cubs.
Cardinal of Scotland
Margaret Sanderson
John Donald, April 2001
pbk 0859765229 £16.99
A biography of Cardinal David Beaton, one of the most important figures
in Renaissance Scotland.
Scotland: A History 8000 B.C. - A.D. 2000
Fiona Watson
Tempus, Feb 2001
pbk 0752417967 £11.99
A lively history of Scotland from the presenter of the new BBC In Search
of Scotland TV series.
In Search of Scotland
(ed) Gordon Menzies
Polygon, Feb 2001
pbk 1902930231 £12.99
A companion book to the new BBC In Search of Scotland TV series,
consisting of articles by the leading historian in the country on their
particular specialities
Scottish Abbeys and Priories
Richard Fawcett
Batsford, Feb 2001
pbk 071347372X £15.99
Another in the excellent Historic Scotland archaeological and
architectural series, covering the often
exceptional and inspiring buildings that were constructed by the various
monastic orders.
***Forthcoming***
Mary of Guise
Rosalind Marshall
NMS, August 2001
pbk 1901663639 £6.99
Though overshadowed in history by her tragic daughter, Mary of Guise
was in many ways a more successful politician, ruling Scotland as
Regent and holding together an fragmented nobility in a period of
religious turmoil, while fighting off English attacks with the help of her
French allies.
James Hutton
Donald McIntyre & Alan McKirdy
NMS, August 2001
pbk 1901663698 £8.99
A leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, Hutton ranks with James
Clerk Maxwell as possibly our greatest ever scientist. His research to
prove the age and origins of rocks and minerals founded the modern
science of geology and overturned the accepted religious theories of the
time about the nature and age of the earth.
Historic Scotland: People and Places
Breeze
Batsford, Summer 2001
pbk 0713486155 £16.99
Soldiers of Scotland (revised edition)
Baynes and Laffin
Brasseys, Summer 2001
hdbk 1857533852 £17.99
Renaissance Decorative Painting in Scotland
Michael Bath
NMS, Summer 2001
pbk 1901663604 £30.00
The results of 10 years of research, this is a unique exploration of the
rich
inheritance of over 100 decorative painting found in Scottish buildings of
the 16th and 17th century.
Plaids and Bandanas: From Highland Drover to Wild West Cowboy
Rob Gibson
Luath, Spring/Summer 2001
pbk 094648788X £7.99
A fascinating look at the links between these two traditions, including
period photographs and maps of the areas discussed.
The Islands that Roofed the World
Mary Withall
Luath, Spring/Summer 2001
pbk 0946487766 £4.99
A history of the slate industry in the West Highlands, concentrating on
the islands of Easdale, Belnahua, Luing and Seil, and giving a vivid
account of the communities that grew up around the slate quarries.
'Bought and Sold for English Gold': The Union of 1707
Christopher A Whatley
Tuckwell, Spring 2001
pbk 186232140X £7.99
A guide to the background and causes the Union, which looks at the
politics of it from both the Scottish and English sides.
Highland Myths and Legends
George W Macpherson
Luath, Spring 2001
pbk 1842820036 £5.00
A collection of traditional oral stories, many of them never before
published, from a man described
as Scotland's greatest living storyteller. Macpherson has appeared
internationally at festivals and
universities and on TV including the US History Channel where he
appeared in 4 episodes of Celtic
Myths.
Twa Tribes: Scots Among the Native Americans
Tom Bryan
NMS, Spring 2001
pbk 1901663477 £6.99
The story of three pioneering Scots who learned the languages and
customs of the American Indians and married into them.
**************************************
ARTICLES from CAPITAL LETTERS
John Burnside - The Locust Room
Jonathan Cape, May 2001, 0224052926 £10.00
Reviewed by Alistair Millar
Long recognised as one of Scotland’s most gifted contemporary poets,
John Burnside is increasingly developing a following for his fiction, as
the critical and commercial success of his previous novels, The Dumb
House and The Mercy Boys, testifies. His latest offering, The Locust
Room, is likely to cement his reputation as a novelist of considerable
talent. It is a taut, sharply observed and exquisitely written piece of
fiction, disturbing yet profoundly moving and affecting, and one of the
most intensely thought-provoking novels to have emerged from
Scotland this year.
The setting is in Cambridge, 1975. Paul is a young photographer in
search of artistic perfection, an image that will transcend the sum of its
contents. But he has other, more unsettling things on his mind. To begin
with, the city is in the grip of atmosphere of fear and mistrust thanks to
the activities of a rapist who has been stalking its streets and narrow
lanes. A bizarre figure with a wig, dark glasses, a hideous disfiguring
mask, and riding an old black bicycle, the assailant has been seen on a
number of occasions, and although his identity remains a mystery, the
sense of unease his presence creates is all too real.
For Paul, however, there are other things to contemplate, notably his
complicated relationships with those around him. He shares a house with
two other men: there is the laddish rugby-playing Clive, whose solution
to the problem of the rapist involves gathering together a gang of
vigilantes and meting out a violent vengeance: and then there is the
quiet mysterious Steve, introverted, self-contained, and prone to going
out alone to undisclosed destinations. Could he be the rapist? The
possibility is a strong one: and either way, Paul is about to uncover
another hardly less disturbing obsession of the man in the wake of his
apparent nervous collapse and incarceration.
If his relations with other men are difficult, Paul’s liaisons with
women
are even more so. He has a strange sexless relationship with Penny, more
an alliance of convenience than anything else. Conversely, his
relationship with Nancy is based purely upon sex: it is a harsh, abrasive
liaison, with neither partner entertaining any notion of affection for the
other. Then there is the beautiful yet totally unattainable Hannah. In
fact,
the only person with whom Paul feels in any way comfortable is his
friend Richard, who he gradually comes to discover he hardly knows at
all.
There is a simmering tension in all of these relationships, something
unsaid and unidentifiable, that gradually pushes Paul into the embrace of
solitude. As he moves away from these friends, he gradually finds
himself re-evaluating his childhood and family life. The unexpected death
of his father, a quiet, autonomous man, with whom the parental bond was
never strong, forces Paul to look afresh, and to conclude that he is in
fact
more like the man than he would have cared to admit.
Throughout the book, a number of profound and often uncomfortable
questions arise. Are all men rapists (or at least potentially so, as
Penny’s
ardently feminist friend Marjorie appears to believe)? Are rapists
monsters? Paul cannot accept Marjorie’s verdict, yet is unsettled by his
own ambiguous attitude towards the psyche of the attacker. And as the
novel progresses, he finds himself confronted with another issue: can we
only find real happiness in solitude, and are we truly alone in the world?
According to Richard, we are. "Solitude. The sooner we get used to
that,
the better". That we are alone and homeless in the world is the
principal
discovery of twentieth century philosophy, he argues. And yet in the
view of Hannah, we cannot be alone, even if circumstances seem to force
solitude upon us. "We need other people even if we cannot stand being
with them".
The Locust Room is a complex novel, which defies categorisation or
genres. It is a deeply poetic work, full of imagery, visual and otherwise.
There is something enigmatic about its characters, their motives being
very difficult to ascertain. It moves swiftly from scene to scene, with
much apparently left unresolved, and it raises awkward questions to
which no easy answers are forthcoming. But it is a haunting and subtly
absorbing piece of fiction, which resonates in the mind long after the
last
page has been turned. Challenging, provocative, and emotionally
charged, it confirms John Burnside’s place in the highest echelons of
Scottish literary fiction.
Irvine Welsh - Glue
Jonathan Cape, 3 May 2001, hdbk 0224061267 £12.00
Reviewed by Alistair Millar
When Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting first arrived in bookshops eight
years ago, it became widely hailed as a genuine landmark in
contemporary Scottish fiction. Never before had a novel managed to get
quite so effectively under the skin of the outcasts and underclass of
Edinburgh. Written in the tough language of the street, it portrayed a
society gone to seed, dominated by dislocation, lawlessness and
violence. In doing so, it destroyed the cosy image of Edinburgh as the
festival city, populated solely by tourists, artists, and middle-class
suburbanites. And yet despite the bleakness of the setting, Welsh was
able to create a memorable cast of characters, and demonstrated an
ability to employ a sharp sense of humour, albeit of the blackest kind, in
order to create a novel that was utterly irresistible. Trainspotting was
followed up by the short story collection The Acid House, which
appeared to confirm Welsh’s reputation as an eloquent mouthpiece of
the Edinburgh underclass, and an east-coast rival to Glasgow’s James
Kelman.
More recently, however, much of the critical press has been less than
complimentary about his subsequent work. His second novel, The
Marabou Stork Nightmares, was panned for its clumsy handling of a
highly emotive subject matter (sexual violence), while the third, Filth,
was
greeted with considerable distaste for the sheer vulgarity of its central
character, more a grotesque caricature than a real person. Significantly,
though, the negative press failed to dent Welsh’s book sales, since all
of
his works have become bestsellers on both sides of the border, and have
been translated into several European languages. Whatever your views,
there can be no doubting the fact that Irvine Welsh is a major literary
figure, whose work will inevitably attract widespread media and public
interest.
Which brings us to Glue, his fourth and latest novel, and the inevitable
question: is it any good, or merely a triumph of sensationalism over
substance? Opinion on this issue will certainly be divided. Welsh fans
are simply going to love Glue, and may yet come to see it as his ‘coming
of age’ novel. Critics, on the other hand, will probably argue that Glue
is
trite and predictable, and demonstrates that Welsh has in fact developed
very little as a writer in the eight years since Trainspotting first hit
the
shelves.
The truth probably lies somewhere in between these two extremes. Glue
is certainly Welsh’s longest and most complex novel, and arguably his
best since Trainspotting. It is also the most similar to Trainspotting in
terms of style and content that he has yet produced. Much of the
narrative is told in the voices of the central characters, although the
final
third is told largely in the voice of a third-person narrator, and this
device
allows the author to achieve what he does best. His command of the
dialogue of underclass Edinburgh is as sharp as ever, as is his
understanding of the rules, customs and etiquette of its citizens. There
is
wit and humour, and some truly outrageous set pieces. Yet at the same
time, it is apparent that Welsh has in no way mellowed in his eight years
as a major writer. Casual violence is meted out on a regular basis, and in
one scene almost certainly bound to attract controversy, two guard dogs
are burned alive. Elsewhere, alcoholism, eating disorders, family break-
up, HIV infection, and child sexual abuse all rear their ugly heads. Glue
is
clearly not a book for the faint of heart or delicate of stomach.
The plot revolves around the lives of four boys growing up into men in
Edinburgh during the eighties and nineties. ‘Juice’ Terry Lawson is a
regular wide boy, a work-shy waster, who women appear to find
inexplicably alluring. Billy Birrell is a boxer, a cold and often
emotionless
character, driven by a need for control. Carl Ewart is a more chilled
character, who becomes drawn as a DJ into the world of clubbing and
raves. And then there is Andrew ‘Gally’ Galloway, naïve, gullible and
yet
oddly likeable, whose entire life appears to stumble from one disaster to
the next until ultimate tragedy strikes.
We first encounter the four in the early eighties as they are growing up
in the schemes and tenements of Edinburgh, their lives dominated by
school (or in the case of Juice Terry his job on a fizzy drinks lorry),
football, fighting, and the endless quest for sex. By the early nineties,
they have grown up. Billy is a moderately successful boxer, while Carl
has a reputation as a talented DJ. Life is not so good for the unemployed
Terry, a petty criminal, and the accident-prone Gally who has had to
contend with prison sentences (once after unfairly the carrying the can
for a vicious street assault), and unplanned fatherhood, a result of his
one successful sexual liaison. These sections of the novel, although
containing few surprises and largely consisting of the familiar Welsh diet
of social dislocation, drugs, violence, and bodily functions, contain the
most accomplished passages Glue has to offer. Only in the last,
admittedly tongue-in-cheek, third of the book, where Terry manages to
arrange a two-day bender and a gig in the company of two mates and an
internationally famous singer suffering from anorexia and depression, is
credibility stretched a little far for comfort.
Despite the humour, though, it is a bleak world that Irvine Welsh’s
characters inhabit. What happens to Gally is undoubtedly the blackest
moment of the novel, but each of the main four is forced to face up to
their failings in a hostile environment. They are in many ways
reprehensible: they cheat on their girlfriends, sponge off their families,
and indulge in crime. Yet their bluster and arrogance often hides deep
feelings of inadequacy and guilt. As in his earlier work, Welsh refuses to
condone or condemn their actions: he simply reports as he finds. And
after all, are his characters not merely a product of the environment in
which they are forced to live? In a sense, however, the feeling of
emptiness at the centre of the characters’ lives reflects the tone of
the
book as a whole. The enduring, though highly volatile, friendship of the
main characters may introduce a positive tone, as does the humour, but
the over-riding impression of Glue is that it presents a depressing world
that offers little hope of salvation to those who inhabit it. Perhaps,
though, that is simply the uncomfortable truth of the matter.
Whatever the critical response, Glue is certain to become a major
bestseller, and will be welcomed by many as the work of an on-form
Welsh playing to his strengths. If you are a fan, then Glue is very much
for you: you won’t be disappointed. If not, however, don’t look for
any
surprises, and don’t expect to be converted.
KIDNAPPED - a website serial by Owen Dudley Edwards
Part III
We have been looking at Barry Menikoff's edition of Stevenson's
Kidnapped from the Huntington MS, and naturally we might wonder if its
differences from the printed texts we previously knew are substantial.
I’ve suggested that a word may throw a whole new meaning on a
passage by transforming our understanding of Stevenson's intentions
when he was writing the whole story. But are there ways in which it is a
different story?
Treasure Island, for instance, differs quite a bit in the serial text
printed in
Young Folks (October 1881 - January 1882) from what appeared in book
form (November 1883) Even the signature changed, from 'Captain George
North' to 'Robert Louis Stevenson'. Minor figures like Squire Trelawney
's valet, Joyce, were more substantial in serial than in book (and one or
two allusions to Joyce in the book are a little clumsy with the loss of
the
serial's buildup). Jim Hawkins's defiance of the pirates, when he finds
them instead of his friends in the stockade, is more vulnerable, and more
childlike - and much more moving - ending in his saying all he has done
to confound them and he won't be fifteen until next birthday.
Neither the MS nor the Young Folks Kidnapped shows earlier versions
differing from the book texts to anything like that extent. For one thing,
Stevenson was a more mature writer, now in his later thirties; for
another,
he had an earlier draft at variance with his own, viz. what could be
picked
up from history, which conventionally portrayed Alan - usually spelt
‘Allan’ as a drunken, boastful, foolish, unscrupulous figure, possibly
both cowardly and treacherous, and probably the actual murderer of the
Red Fox who left his innocent cousin to pay the price of execution. It
may very well be that Stevenson's fictions make for better history than
Victorian versions written with all David Balfour’s initial prejudices
and
none of his empirical reappraisals. But it means that Stevenson knew
where his Alan had come from and what he was not, whereas Long John
Silver can remain ambiguous because Stevenson was never absolutely
certain about him: was he really fond of Jim by the end, or was Jim
nothing more than a means of escape for him? Oddly enough, Stevenson
did replay that argument at the end of his life and chose David Balfour
rather than Jim as its target, in Catriona, where like Silver, Lord
Advocate
Prestongrange is impressed by the courage of his young adversary and
promptly moves to exploit it in his own interest. The thought of Silver
making a comeback as a pillar of Whig law and order is gorgeous. The
parallel with Silver most commentators make - Alan Breck - won't work.
Alan (Stevenson's Alan, whatever about the real Allan) can dissimulate,
but he never pretends to David that he is anything other than what he is.
This is essential, anyway: it is vital to the story that David and we
believe Alan has not killed the Red Fox, however little he disapproves of
murdering the Red Fox per se.
So no surprises there. The textual omissions have their stories, though
we may not be able to read them all. David's first breakfast with Uncle
Ebenezer includes in MS but in no previous printing the information in
brackets (chapter 3, p. 28) after 'he had lit the fire'
(for he kindled it afresh for every
meal, to save a penny's worth of
fuel in a month)
This might be Stevenson's elision: perhaps he felt David could not know
this for himself, given the brevity of his acquaintance with his uncle at
either end of the story. But a reader might infer it was the sort of
practice
Uncle Ebenezer would pride himself in communicating, even to his
intended murder victim, and Stevenson certainly meant to exhibit the old
horror's parsimony as a grotesque caricature of virtuous Scottish thrift.
Indeed at the end of the story Rankeillor produces a fascinating pre-
Freudian analysis of Ebenezer's avarice as the product of sexual rejection
and hence sublimation. It also helps account for the rapidity of his
decision to murder David: the money has taken the place of David's
mother and hence he tells himself he wants to protect it from those who
should not have it, whereas in fact his chief murder motive is probably
revenge on David's parents for the marriage which had produced David.
On the other hand, when the MS description of Uncle Ebenezer (p. 29) as
a miser styles him 'one of that thorough breed that make the vice
respectable', the satire on Scots and Victorian thrift is watered down to
'that goes near to make the vice respectable', and the water surely was
added in Young Folks whence it stayed in the text.
Young Folks again seemed shocked when (p. 40) David, having survived
his uncle's errand to get him to break his neck, parenthetically followed
'my uncle' with '(or rather, what I now saw him to be, my enemy)'. Blood
was expected to be thicker, even when its spillage was imminent, and we
lose the rather sensible rationalization.
Printer's error would explain the huddling together of two sentences
when starting chapter 7 with ungainly result and the loss of David,
recovering consciousness after being coshed, unable to tell whether he
was imagining the ship's having weighed anchor: 'I could scarce tell if
these wild and staggering movements were merely fanciful or no'. It is
one further step in the process of self-discovery vitally connected with
David's rebirth at sea and, the step being the first one in that process,
it
is worth having. Its break-up of sentences is more characteristic of RLS
than its clumsy replacement. But the substitution of 'bed of fever' for
'pillow of fever' (p. 59) is entirely to the text's advantage: pillows
were far
from poor David at that point and if Stevenson did not make the change
he had no need to disown it.
Young Folks evidently feared excesses of virtue in the wrong place and
altered Riach's having told David 'many curious things, and some that
were improving' to 'informing'. Riach, a college man, son of a laird,
half-
qualified as a doctor, is a problem figure for everyone including David
(none of the film versions include him) and although he is probably killed
by Hoseason while enabling Alan to escape, David (at his most
contemptible) can only make bad jokes about Alan imagining himself
taller than Riach when he is told of it. Riach in fact will not fit into
the
scheme of polarisation, but polarises himself. Having tried to kill Alan,
he
dies for him.
Vulgarisation from which Young Folks may be acquitted hits the revised
text at points whence Menikoff's rescues us. Alan's cry to Captain
Hoseason having learned of the Captain's plot against him 'Do you see
me?' is followed by his 'I am come of Kings.' The book texts then have
him kindly explain this by adding 'I bear a king's name' which Alan
certainly does (minus 'I am come of Kings') when trapping Uncle
Ebenezer at the end. But its effect here is utterly to spoil the rhythm of
his next line:
..... My badge is the oak. Do you see
my sword? It has slashed the
heads off mair whigamores than you have toes upon your feet
Gaels did not footnote their poems as they made them.
Occasionally Professor Menikoff leaves us with a problem as (chapter 20,
paragraph 2, p. 171) when he forces us to choose between the
convenient solution that he has misread the MS or the more remote one
of high symbolism. David concludes in retrospect that he and Alan may
have been travelling through "the valley called Glencoe, where the
massacre was in the name of King William". All printings read
"in the
time of King William". If Menikoff is correct, Stevenson is making
David
recall a blemish on Whig history and heroes, that William had ordered
the massacre; and since it was a Campbell massacre, it impugned the
name of his kind clerical benefactor who opens the novel. But unless
Menikoff has suffered a very bad misprint, it is hard to see how he could
have mixed up "time" and "name": he notes the
complaints at RLS's
handwriting but the "t"s bear little resemblance to the "n"s.
If Menikoff
has it right, it is a crucial moment in David's enlargement of his
political
sympathies.
The crucial progress towards the quarrel of David and Alan is advanced
by a sentence lost in the book texts just before they are captured by
Cluny's men (chapter 22, p. 198).
Every foot of ground was a pang to
me; my tongue hung from my
mouth; I hated Alan with black hate.
It seems simply a casualty of reparagraphing, the new paragraph
beginning in the next sentence "By what I have read in books".
But while
the theme of the lost sentence dominates the whole of these next
chapters, it is as neat a triad of distance, illness and anger as one
could
ask. And the contrivance is all the finer as being a Gaelic form. At the
moment when David is feeling most resentful of this alien and almost
unintelligible world it is taking over his formulation of his innermost
thoughts.
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