George Mackay Brown
Encyclopedia
George Mackay Brown was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist, whose work has a distinctly Orcadian character. He is considered one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century.

Biography

George Mackay Brown was the youngest of six children, born to John Brown, a tailor and postman, and Mhairi Mackay, who had been brought up in Braal
Braal
Braal may refer to one of three different usages:*Braal Castle, in Caithness, Scotland*Braal , a fictional world from the DC Comics Legion of Super-Heroes series.*Braal , a comedy rock band from San Francisco, California....

, Strathy
Strathy
Strathy is a scattered community in the Highland area of Scotland.Strathy is on the north coast of Scotland, on the A836 road some twenty miles west of Thurso...

, Sutherland
Sutherland
Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...

 as a native Gaelic
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...

 speaker. He was born on 17 October 1921. Except for spells as a mature student in mainland Scotland, Mackay Brown lived all of his life in Stromness
Stromness
Stromness is the second-biggest town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the south-west of Mainland Orkney. It is also a parish, with the town of Stromness as its capital.-Etymology:...

 in the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...

. Due to illness his father was restricted in his work and received no pension. His uncle Jimmy Brown’s body was found in Stromness harbour in 1935, probably because of suicide; there was a family history of depression.

His youth was marked by poverty and it was from this time that he was affected by tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

. This illness kept him from entering the army at the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and it afflicted him to such an extent that he could not live a normal working life; however, it was because of this that he had the time and space in which to write. In 1947, Stromness voted to allow pubs to open again, the town having been 'dry' since the 1920s. When the first bar opened in 1948 Mackay Brown first tasted alcohol, which he found to be "a revelation; they flushed my veins with happiness; they washed away all cares and shyness and worries. I remember thinking to myself 'If I could have two pints of beer every afternoon, life would be a great happiness'". Subsequently alcohol played a considerable part in his life, although he says, "I never became an alcoholic, mainly because my guts quickly staled".

He was a mature student at Newbattle Abbey College, where the poet Edwin Muir
Edwin Muir
Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He was remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations....

, who would have a great influence on his life as a writer, was warden in the 1951-1952 session. His return for the following session was interrupted by the return of tuberculosis.

Having had poems published in several periodicals, his first volume of poems, The Storm, was published by the Orkney Press in 1954. Edwin Muir wrote in the foreword: "Grace is what I find in these poems". Only three hundred copies were printed, and the imprint sold out within a fortnight. It was acclaimed in the local press.

He studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

. After publication of poems in a literary magazine, with the help of Edwin Muir, Brown had a second volume Loaves and Fishes published by the Hogarth Press
Hogarth Press
The Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books....

 in 1959. It was warmly received.

During this period he met, and drank in Rose Street
Rose Street
Rose Street is a street in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a narrow street running parallel between Princes Street and George Street, and was formerly used as a service entrance to the houses on those roads as well as local shops and servants quarters. Today, it is principally a...

, Edinburgh with, many of the Scottish poets of his time: Sydney Goodsir Smith
Sydney Goodsir Smith
Sydney Goodsir Smith was a Scottish poet, artist, dramatist and novelist. He wrote poetry in literary Scots often referred to as Lallans, and was a major figure of the Scottish Renaissance....

, Norman MacCaig
Norman MacCaig
Norman MacCaig was a Scottish poet. His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity.-Life:...

, Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...

 and others. Here he also met Stella Cartwright, described as "The Muse in Rose Street". Brown was briefly engaged to her, and began a correspondence that would continue till her death in 1985.

In the autumn of 1960 Brown commenced teacher training at Moray House College of Education, but soon was unable to remain in Edinburgh because of ill-health. On his recovery in 1961 he found that he was not suited to this type of work and returned late in the year to his mother's house in Stromness, unemployed. It was at this time that he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, being baptised on 23 December and taking communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...

 on the following day. This followed about twenty-five years of pondering his religious beliefs. But this conversion was not marked by any change in his daily habits, including his drinking.
After a period of unemployment, and the rejection of a volume of poetry by the Hogarth Press, Brown did post-graduate study on Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...

, although academic study was not to his taste. This provided some occupation and income until 1964, when a volume of poetry, The Year of the Whale, was accepted.

He died on 13 April 1996. He was buried on April 16th, the feast day of Saint Magnus, with his funeral service held at the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

 St Magnus Cathedral. The service was presided over by Rev. Mario Conti, Father Michael Spencer and his later biographer Ron Ferguson. His gravestone bears an inscription from the last two lines of his 1996 poem "A work for poets" : "Carve the runes / Then be content with silence".

Work

Mackay Brown gained most of his inspiration from his native islands, in poems, stories and novels which ranged through time. He drew on the Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic Orkneyinga Saga
Orkneyinga saga
The Orkneyinga saga is a historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands, from their capture by the Norwegian king in the ninth century onwards until about 1200...

, especially in his novel Magnus
Magnus (novel)
Magnus is a novel by the Orcadian author George Mackay Brown. His second novel, it was published in 1973. it is a fictional account of the life and execution of the twelfth century Saint, Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney.-Plot introduction:...

. In 1961, he entered the Roman Catholic Church; he drew much inspiration from the traditional Latin liturgy, monasticism and the history of the medieval Church in Orkney. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1994 for his Beside the Ocean of Time
Beside the Ocean of Time
Beside the Ocean of Time is a novel by Scottish writer George Mackay Brown. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. The plot follows Thorfinn Ragnarson from Norday in the Orkney Islands of the 1930's. The son of a tenant farmer, he...

and won the 1987 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...

 for The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories. His autobiography, For the Islands I Sing, was published shortly after his death. A biography George Mackay Brown: The Life by Maggie Fergusson was published in 2006.

Composer Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...

 collaborated with Mackay Brown for many of his Orkney-inspired works.

Poetry collections

  • The Storm (1954)
  • Loaves and Fishes (1959)
  • The Year of the Whale (1965)
  • Fishermen with Ploughs (1971)
  • Poems New and Selected (1971)
  • Winterfold (1976)
  • Voyages (1983)
  • The Wreck of the Archangel (1989)
  • Tryst on Egilsay
    Egilsay
    Egilsay is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, lying east of Rousay. The island is largely farmland and is known for its corncrakes.-St. Magnus Church:...

    (1989)
  • Brodgar Poems (1992)
  • Foresterhill
    Foresterhill
    Foresterhill is an area in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the site of the city's main hospitals , as well as the medical school and medical science departments of the University of Aberdeen...

    (1992)
  • Following a Lark (1996)
  • Water (1996)
  • Travellers: poems (2001)
  • Collected Poems (2005)

Short story collections

  • A Calendar of Love (1967)
  • A Time to Keep (1969)
  • Hawkfall (1974)
  • The Sun's Net (1976)
  • Andrina and Other Stories (1983)
  • The Masked Fisherman and Other Stories (1989)
  • The Sea-King's Daughter (1991)
  • Winter Tales (1995)
  • The Island of the Women and Other Stories (1998)

Plays

  • A Spell for Green Corn (1970)
  • Three Plays: The Loom of Light, The Well and The Voyage of Saint Brandon (1984)

Novels

  • Greenvoe (1972)
  • Magnus
    Magnus (novel)
    Magnus is a novel by the Orcadian author George Mackay Brown. His second novel, it was published in 1973. it is a fictional account of the life and execution of the twelfth century Saint, Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney.-Plot introduction:...

    (1973)
  • Time in a Red Coat (1984)
  • The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories (1987) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
    James Tait Black Memorial Prize
    Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...

     for fiction.
  • Vinland
    Vinland (novel)
    Vinland, published in 1992 by George Mackay Brown, is a historical novel set in the Orkney Islands in the early 11th Century. It derives its name from a voyage the protagonist takes to that faraway land in the west.-Plot summary:...

    (1992)
  • Beside the Ocean of Time
    Beside the Ocean of Time
    Beside the Ocean of Time is a novel by Scottish writer George Mackay Brown. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. The plot follows Thorfinn Ragnarson from Norday in the Orkney Islands of the 1930's. The son of a tenant farmer, he...

    (1994) shortlisted for Booker Prize and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society
    Saltire Society
    The Saltire Society was established in 1936 to encourage everything that might improve the quality of life in Scotland and restore the country to its proper place as a creative force in European civilisation....


Essays collections and autobiography

  • An Orkney Tapestry (1969)
  • Letters from Hamnavoe (1975)
  • Under Brinkie's Brae (1979)
  • Portrait of Orkney (1981)
  • Rockpools and Daffodils: An Orcadian Diary, 1979-91 (1992)
  • For the Islands I Sing: An Autobiography (1997)
  • Stained Glass Windows (1998)
  • Northern Lights (1999) (Includes Poetry)
  • The First Wash of Spring (2006)

Children's Story collection

  • The Two Fiddlers (1974)
  • Pictures in the Cave (1977)
  • Six Lives of Fankle the Cat (1980)

External links

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