Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
of
James Leslie Mitchell (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
.
Born in Auchterless and raised in
ArbuthnottArbuthnott is a small village in northeast Scotland, 26 miles south of Aberdeen. It is located on the B967 east of Fordoun and north-west of Inverbervie in Aberdeenshire. The nearest train station is Stonehaven....
,
AberdeenshireAberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives...
, Mitchell started working as a
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
for the
Aberdeen Journal and the
Scottish Farmer at age 16. In 1919 he joined the
Royal Army Service CorpsThe Royal Army Service Corps was a former corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration...
and served in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
before enlisting in the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
in 1920.
Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
of
James Leslie Mitchell (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
.
Born in Auchterless and raised in
ArbuthnottArbuthnott is a small village in northeast Scotland, 26 miles south of Aberdeen. It is located on the B967 east of Fordoun and north-west of Inverbervie in Aberdeenshire. The nearest train station is Stonehaven....
,
AberdeenshireAberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives...
, Mitchell started working as a
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
for the
Aberdeen Journal and the
Scottish Farmer at age 16. In 1919 he joined the
Royal Army Service CorpsThe Royal Army Service Corps was a former corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration...
and served in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
before enlisting in the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
in 1920. In the RAF he worked as a clerk and spent some time in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. He married Rebecca Middleton in 1925, with whom he settled in
Welwyn Garden CityWelwyn Garden City is a town in Hertfordshire, England, the second garden city in England and one of the first new towns ....
. He began writing full-time in 1929. Mitchell wrote numerous books and shorter works under both his real name and nom de plume before his early death in 1935 of
peritonitisPeritonitis is defined as inflammation of the peritoneum...
brought on by a perforated
ulcerA peptic ulcer, also known as ulcus pepticum, PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is an ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful...
.
Mitchell attracted attention from his earliest attempts at fiction, notably from H.G. Wells, but it was his trilogy entitled
A Scots QuairA Scots Quair is a trilogy by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon, describing the life of Chris Guthrie, a woman from the north east of Scotland during the early 20th century....
, and in particular its first book
Sunset SongSunset Song is a 1932 novel by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon. It is widely regarded as one of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century, if not the most important...
, with which he made his mark.
A Scots Quair with its combination of
realist narrativeRealism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation...
and lyrical use of
dialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other...
is considered to be among the defining works of 20th century
Scottish RenaissanceThe Scottish Renaissance was a mainly literary movement of the early to mid 20th century that can be seen as the Scottish version of modernism. It is sometimes referred to as the Scottish literary renaissance, although its influence went beyond literature into music, visual arts, and politics...
.
The Grassic Gibbon Centre was established in
ArbuthnottArbuthnott is a small village in northeast Scotland, 26 miles south of Aberdeen. It is located on the B967 east of Fordoun and north-west of Inverbervie in Aberdeenshire. The nearest train station is Stonehaven....
in 1991 to commemorate the author's life.
External links