The View from Castle Rock
Encyclopedia
The View from Castle Rock is a book of short stories
by Canadian author Alice Munro
, published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart
.
It is a collection of historical and autobiographical stories. The first part of the book narrates the lives of members of the Laidlaw branch of the family tree of the author, starting from their Scottish
origins in the 18th century. The second part consists of fictionalized tales inspired by events in her own life.
, Scotland
, in the 18th century.
The title comes from the judgment by the Statistical Account of Scotland in 1799 that This parish possesses no advantages.
Will O'Phaup was a mythical man, who was a prodigious runner, a bootlegger, and a heavy drinker; he had encounters with fairies and ghosts.
Thomas Boston was the local presbyterian
preacher at the same time; he wrote on matters of faith, he was obsessed with religious guilt, his ideas were borderline heretical, he had a very hard life.
James Hogg
and James Laidlaw were cousins; Hogg became a poet and friend of Walter Scott
, while Laidlaw was a man of modern ideas but traditional mentality, who was obsessed with going to America, where he eventually took his family when he was already in his old age.
The title stems from the event when James took his ten-year-old child Andrew to the top of the Rock of Edinburgh Castle
to show him the coast of America (actually Fife
).
James Laidlaw (Old James) had one daughter, Mary, and 5 sons, Robert, James, Andrew, William, and Walter.
Robert and William had moved to the Highlands
before the move, while the others followed in the voyage.
Andrew's family is composed of his pregnant wife Agnes and their infant son (Young) James.
Agnes gives birth to a girl during the ocean crossing.
Mary is very attached to Young James: she takes care of him and panics when he disappears.
Young James dies shortly after their landing.
Walter writes down an account of the trip in his journal.
He meets a rich girl suffering from tuberculosis
; her father suggests he follow them and get a job in his business, but Walter declines.
.
He is the most forwar-looking of Old James' children.
He wants to break with his roots and start a completely new life with his wife Mary.
But he dies of cholera
and his wife and children are taken to Canada by Andrew Laidlaw.
The oldest of the children, Jamie, steals his newborn sister Jane and tries to direct the blame on a half-Indian neighbor. This is a plot to keep the family in their home, but it fails.
The youngest of William's sons, Thomas, is the author's great-grandfather.
As a teenager, he shunned the peasant life of his parents and passed time in the bush hunting and trapping.
This led in his adult life to a business of raising fur animals, especially silver foxes and mink.
During the war, when Alice was a young girl, the business started to go bad, but was saved by the mother who managed to sell their furs to American tourists.
Eventually they had to give up the enterprise and the father found a job in a foundry.
.
Alice's father was severe and sometimes used corporal punishment, but never out of anger and without a reason.
Apparently she loved horses more than people.
The young Alice one day entered the property to lie under her blossoming apple trees, to satisfy a literary fancy.
She was discovered and accused of going there with a boyfriend.
Later she started her first romantic relation with the stable boy, Russell Craik.
One day he takes her to the barn but Miriam enters it.
Alice leaves in secret but overhears something and understands that the two have an intimate relationship.
She never sees Russell again.
The persons she meets there are the origins of the girl's literary fantasies.
It seems that Aunt Charlie is the only one who married for love.
Surprisingly, this same aunt gives Alice a big amount of money to get out of her marriage in case it doesn't work out.
He has remarried after the death of her mother, and the new wife Irlma is an energetic woman who claims that she was always the right woman for him.
At the same time she and her husband are trying to trace the origin of an unusual crypt they find in an old cemetery.
They find out that it was originally built for the body of a small child in the 19th century, and that later other members of the same family were buried there.
A curious fact is that a desk with a bible and a lamp were left inside the crypt.
Eventually it turns out that the cancer scare was false.
She finds an Unknown Cemetery, but can't find any trace of him.
The book closes with the oldest memories of living members of the family.
In one of their houses Alice, as a child, could put her ear to a big mother-of-pearl seashell and hear the sound of the sea and her blood.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Canadian author Alice Munro
Alice Munro
Alice Ann Munro is a Canadian short-story writer, the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction, and a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize...
, published in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
.
It is a collection of historical and autobiographical stories. The first part of the book narrates the lives of members of the Laidlaw branch of the family tree of the author, starting from their Scottish
Scotland
Scotland 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...
origins in the 18th century. The second part consists of fictionalized tales inspired by events in her own life.
Contents
- Foreword
- Part One / No Advantages
- "No Advantages"
- "The View from Castle Rock"
- "Illinois"
- "The Wilds of Morris Township"
- "Working for a Living"
- Part Two / Home
- "Fathers"
- "Lying Under the Apple Tree"
- "Hired Girl"
- "The Ticket"
- "Home"
- "What Do You Want to Know For?"
- Epilogue
- "Messenger"
No Advantages
This narrative retells the lives of members of the Laidlaw family who lived in Ettrick ValleyEttrick, Scotland
Ettrick is a small village and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, located around south-west of the town of Selkirk.-Local area:...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland 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...
, in the 18th century.
The title comes from the judgment by the Statistical Account of Scotland in 1799 that This parish possesses no advantages.
Will O'Phaup was a mythical man, who was a prodigious runner, a bootlegger, and a heavy drinker; he had encounters with fairies and ghosts.
Thomas Boston was the local presbyterian
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....
preacher at the same time; he wrote on matters of faith, he was obsessed with religious guilt, his ideas were borderline heretical, he had a very hard life.
James Hogg
James Hogg
James Hogg was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both Scots and English.-Early life:James Hogg was born in a small farm near Ettrick, Scotland in 1770 and was baptized there on 9 December, his actual date of birth having never been recorded...
and James Laidlaw were cousins; Hogg became a poet and friend of Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
, while Laidlaw was a man of modern ideas but traditional mentality, who was obsessed with going to America, where he eventually took his family when he was already in his old age.
The View from Castle Rock
This story narrates the voyage of James Laidlaw and his family to Canada.The title stems from the event when James took his ten-year-old child Andrew to the top of the Rock of Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
to show him the coast of America (actually Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
).
James Laidlaw (Old James) had one daughter, Mary, and 5 sons, Robert, James, Andrew, William, and Walter.
Robert and William had moved to the Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
before the move, while the others followed in the voyage.
Andrew's family is composed of his pregnant wife Agnes and their infant son (Young) James.
Agnes gives birth to a girl during the ocean crossing.
Mary is very attached to Young James: she takes care of him and panics when he disappears.
Young James dies shortly after their landing.
Walter writes down an account of the trip in his journal.
He meets a rich girl suffering from 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...
; her father suggests he follow them and get a job in his business, but Walter declines.
Illinois
William Laidlaw also moves to America, specifically to the town of Joliet, IllinoisJoliet, Illinois
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
.
He is the most forwar-looking of Old James' children.
He wants to break with his roots and start a completely new life with his wife Mary.
But he dies of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
and his wife and children are taken to Canada by Andrew Laidlaw.
The oldest of the children, Jamie, steals his newborn sister Jane and tries to direct the blame on a half-Indian neighbor. This is a plot to keep the family in their home, but it fails.
The youngest of William's sons, Thomas, is the author's great-grandfather.
Working for a Living
This story is about Alice Munro's father.As a teenager, he shunned the peasant life of his parents and passed time in the bush hunting and trapping.
This led in his adult life to a business of raising fur animals, especially silver foxes and mink.
During the war, when Alice was a young girl, the business started to go bad, but was saved by the mother who managed to sell their furs to American tourists.
Eventually they had to give up the enterprise and the father found a job in a foundry.
Fathers
The author recalls the days of school and specifically the relationship with two schoolmates, Dahlia Newcombe and Frances Wainwright. The figures of their fathers are compared with Alice Munro's own father. Dahlia's dad was a violent man who regularly beat his children and wife. Mr. Wainwright was a gentle person belonging to the Salvation ArmySalvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
.
Alice's father was severe and sometimes used corporal punishment, but never out of anger and without a reason.
Lying Under the Apple Tree
A neighbor of Alice Munro's family, Miriam McAlpin, kept horses.Apparently she loved horses more than people.
The young Alice one day entered the property to lie under her blossoming apple trees, to satisfy a literary fancy.
She was discovered and accused of going there with a boyfriend.
Later she started her first romantic relation with the stable boy, Russell Craik.
One day he takes her to the barn but Miriam enters it.
Alice leaves in secret but overhears something and understands that the two have an intimate relationship.
She never sees Russell again.
Hired Girl
It is the chronicle of a summer passed as a servant on an island for a rich family.The persons she meets there are the origins of the girl's literary fantasies.
The Ticket
Just before her first wedding, Alice has the occasion to reflect upon the marriages of other women in her family.It seems that Aunt Charlie is the only one who married for love.
Surprisingly, this same aunt gives Alice a big amount of money to get out of her marriage in case it doesn't work out.
Home
On a visit home after the end of her marriage, Alice Munro has to take her father to the hospital.He has remarried after the death of her mother, and the new wife Irlma is an energetic woman who claims that she was always the right woman for him.
What Do You Want to Know For?
After she married for the second time, at the age of sixty, Alice Munro has a health scare: she may have breast cancer.At the same time she and her husband are trying to trace the origin of an unusual crypt they find in an old cemetery.
They find out that it was originally built for the body of a small child in the 19th century, and that later other members of the same family were buried there.
A curious fact is that a desk with a bible and a lamp were left inside the crypt.
Eventually it turns out that the cancer scare was false.
Messenger
In the present, the author travels to Joliet, Illinois, where her ancestor William Laidlaw died.She finds an Unknown Cemetery, but can't find any trace of him.
The book closes with the oldest memories of living members of the family.
In one of their houses Alice, as a child, could put her ear to a big mother-of-pearl seashell and hear the sound of the sea and her blood.
External links
- The View from Castle Rock, the story as originally published on The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
(29 August 2005). - Review in the International Herald TribuneInternational Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
(13 December 2006).