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George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) 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 born on 17 October 1921.〔Maggie Fergusson, ''George Mackay Brown: The Life'', John Murray, 2006, ISBN 0-7195-5659-7 p. 8〕 The youngest of six children, his parents were John Brown, a tailor and postman, and Mhairi Mackay, who had been brought up in Braal, a hamlet near Strathy, Sutherland as a native Gaelic speaker.〔George Mackay Brown, ''For the Islands I Sing'', John Murray, 1997, ISBN 0-7195-5628-7 p. 25〕 Except for periods as a mature student on mainland Scotland, Brown lived all his life in the town of Stromness in the Orkney islands. Due to illness his father was restricted in his work and received no pension. The family had a history of depression〔Maggie Fergusson, p. 22〕 and it is likely that Mackay's uncle, Jimmy Brown, committed suicide: his body was found in Stromness harbour in 1935.〔Maggie Fergusson, p. 36〕 George Mackay Brown's youth was marked by poverty〔George Mackay Brown, p. 16〕 and it was from this time that he was affected by tuberculosis. This illness kept him from entering the army at the start of World War II and it afflicted him to such an extent that he could not live a normal working life;〔George Mackay Brown, p. 57〕 however, it was because of this that he had the time and space in which to write. He did start work in 1944 with ''The Orkney Herald'', writing on Stromness news,〔Rowena Murray and Brian Murray, ''Interrogation of Silence'', John Murray, 2004, ISBN 0-7195-5929-4 p. 13〕 and soon became a prolific journalist.〔Rowena Murray and Brian Murray p.30〕 He was encouraged in his writing of poetry by Francis Scarfe, who was billeted in the Browns' house for over a year from April 1944.〔Rowena Murray and Brian Murray p.39〕 After this he was helped in his development as a writer by Ernest Marwick, whose criticism he valued, and Robert Rendall.〔Rowena Murray and Brian Murray p.39, 40〕 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'".〔George Mackay Brown, p. 67〕〔Maggie Fergusson p. 89〕 Subsequently alcohol played a considerable part in his life, although he says, "I never became an alcoholic, mainly because my guts quickly staled".〔George Mackay Brown, p. 70〕 He was a mature student at Newbattle Abbey College in the 1951–1952 session,〔Maggie Fergusson p. 100〕 where the poet Edwin Muir, who would have a great influence on his life as a writer, was warden.〔George Mackay Brown, p. 92〕 His return for the following session was interrupted by the recurrence of tuberculosis.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 122〕 Having had poems published in several periodicals, his first volume of poems, ''The Storm'', was published by the Orkney Press in 1954. 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.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 119, p. 128〕 Brown studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh.〔George Mackay Brown, p. 114〕 After publication of poems in a literary magazine, with the help of Muir,〔Maggie Fergusson p. 134〕 Brown had a second volume ''Loaves and Fishes'' published by the Hogarth Press in 1959. It was warmly received.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 156〕 During this period he met, and drank in Rose Street Edinburgh with, many of the Scottish poets of his time: Sydney Goodsir Smith, Norman MacCaig, Hugh MacDiarmid and others.〔George Mackay Brown, p. 122〕 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.〔George Mackay Brown, p. 136, p.139〕 In late 1960 Brown commenced teacher training at Moray House College of Education, but 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.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 164, p. 168〕 It was at this time that he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, being baptised on 23 December and taking communion on the following day. This followed about twenty-five years of pondering his religious beliefs. This conversion was not marked by any change in his daily habits, including his drinking.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 168, p. 170.〕 After a period of unemployment, and the rejection of a volume of poetry by the Hogarth Press,〔Maggie Fergusson p. 170〕 Brown did post-graduate study on Gerard Manley Hopkins, although academic study was not to his taste.〔George Mackay Brown, p. 173〕 This provided some occupation and income until 1964, when a volume of poetry, ''The Year of the Whale'', was accepted.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 173, p. 179〕 Brown now found himself able to support himself financially for the first time, as he received new commissions.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 181〕 He received a bursary from the Scottish Arts Council in December 1965〔Maggie Fergusson p. 184〕 and he was working on the volume of short stories, ''A Calendar of Love'', which was issued, to critical acclaim, in February 1967.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 185〕 He was still troubled by his excessive drinking,〔Maggie Fergusson p. 186〕 and that of Stella Cartwright.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 188〕 Later that year came the death of his mother, who had supported him, while disapproving of his drinking; she left an estate of £4.〔Ron Ferguson, ''George Mackay Brown: The Wound and the Gift'', Saint Andrew Press, 2011, ISBN 978 0 7152 0935 6 p. 265-267〕 Meanwhile he had been working on ''An Orkney Tapestry'', which includes essays about Orkney and some more imaginative pieces.〔Maggie Fergusson p. p.199, 205〕 1968 also saw his only visit to Ireland, on a bursary from the Society of Authors. He met Seamus Heaney there, although his nervous condition reduced his ability to enjoy his time there.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 201-203.〕 In 1969 ''A Time to Keep'', a collection of short stories, was published, and it received a very positive welcome. The poet Charles Causley said, "I don't know anyone writing in this particular genre today who comes within a thousand miles of him".〔Maggie Fergusson p. 194〕 This was also the year in which he finished working on a six-part cycle of poems about Rackwick, published in 1971 as 'Fishermen with Ploughs'.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 210〕 Meanwhile ''An Orkney Tapestry'' was proving to be a commercial success.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 212〕 By the late 1960s Brown's poetry was renowned internationally, so that, for example, the American poet Robert Lowell came to Orkney for the sole purpose of meeting him.〔S R Green, ''A Clamjamfray of Poets'', The Saltire Society, 2007, ISBN 978-0-85411-098-8 p. 77-78〕 Brown met the musician Peter Maxwell Davies in Rackwick during the summer of 1970. Subsequently Davies – who came to live in Rackwick – based a number of his works on the poetry and prose of George Mackay Brown.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 213 – 216, etc.〕 Brown was now working on his first novel ''Greenvoe'', the story of an imaginary Orkney community menaced by an undefined project called 'Operation Black Star'. The characters, with one exception, are not portrayed in any psychological depths.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 217〕 The exception is Mrs Mckee, mother of the (alcoholic) minister; he had intended her to be a minor character but he said of her, "I grew to love her more and more as the novel unfolded".〔Ron Ferguson p. 297〕 The 'Dictionary of Literary Biography' says that ''Greenvoe'' "ranks ... among the great prose poems of this century".〔Ron Ferguson p. 193〕 When the novel was published in May 1972 it appeared somewhat prophetic because of the oil exploration beginning in the Orkney area.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 221 – 222〕 But the resultant degree of celebrity was a trial to him.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 225 – 229〕 The story of the life of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney was one to which Brown frequently turned,〔Ron Ferguson p. 18〕 and it was the theme of his next novel, ''Magnus'', published in 1973.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 229〕 The story of Magnus's life is told in Orkneyinga saga.,〔Anonymous, ''Orkneyinga Saga'', Penguin, 1978, p. 76-97〕 The novel examined the themes of sanctity and self-sacrifice.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 229〕 Brown takes the theme of sacrifice into the twentieth century by inserting, in journalistic language, an account of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.".〔Ron Ferguson p. 241〕 While some critics see the work as disjointed"〔Ron Ferguson p. 241〕 Peter Maxwell Davies, for example, regards it as Brown's greatest achievement. Davies used it as the basis of his opera ''The Martyrdom of St Magnus''.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 232〕 Brown was awarded an OBE in the 1974 New Year Honours List. But the period after the completion of ''Magnus'' was marked by one of Brown's more acute periods of mental distress.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 232〕 Nevertheless he maintained a stream of writing: poetry, children's stories and a weekly column in the local newspaper. His columns in The Orcadian continued from 1971 to the end of his life;〔Maggie Fergusson p. 234〕 a first collection of these columns was published as ''Letter from Hamnavoe'' in 1975.〔Ron Ferguson p. xvi〕 In mid-1976 Brown met Nora Kennedy, a Viennese jeweller and silversmith, who was moving to South Ronaldsay. They had a brief affair, and remained friends for the rest of his life. He said in early 1977 that this had been his most productive winter as a writer.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 238-242〕 By early 1977 he was entering a period of depression which lasted intermittently for almost a decade, but he maintained his working routine throughout.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 242-244〕 He also suffered from severe bronchial problems, with his condition so serious that in early 1981 he was given the Last Sacraments.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 245〕 These years saw his work on ''Time in a Red Coat'', a novel which Brown called "more a sombre fable",〔Maggie Fergusson p. 247-248〕 a meditation on the passage of time.〔Ron Ferguson p. 36〕 It has been described as "a novel in which the poet" – Brown as poet – "assumes an undoubted authority".〔http://www.lrb.co.uk/v06/n12/stephen-bann/red. London Review of Books〕 Two of the more important women in Brown's life died at about this time. One was Norah Smallwood who worked for his publishers Chatto & Windus, and who had helped and encouraged them over the years. She died in 1984.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 251, 268〕 The other, who died the next year, was Stella Cartwright.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 257〕 It was in the period after her death that Brown began ''For the Islands I Sing'', the autobiography which was not published until after his death.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 258〕 It devotes more space to Stella than to any other individual,〔Maggie Fergusson p. 259〕 although he did not attend her funeral.〔Ron Ferguson p. 298〕 Brown subsequently formed an intense, platonic, attachment to Kenna Crawford, to whom he dedicated both ''The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories'' and some poems in ''The wreck of the Archangel'', a volume of poetry.〔Ron Ferguson p. 264, 298〕 She bore a remarkable resemblance to Stella Cartwright.〔Ron Ferguson p. 283〕 ''The Golden Bird'' won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.〔Ron Ferguson p. 298〕 Between 1987 and 1989 Brown travelled to Nairn, including a visit to Pluscarden Abbey, and to Shetland and Oxford, the most that he left Orkney apart from his earlier studies in Edinburgh. The Oxford visit coincided with the centenary of the death of Gerard Manley Hopkins.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 265, 271, 273〕 Shortly afterwards Brown was diagnosed with bowel cancer, which required two major operations during 1990, and a lengthy stay in Foresterhill Hospital, Aberdeen.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 275, 276〕 But in his final years Brown wrote two further novels, ''Vinland'' and ''Beside the Ocean of Time''.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 278, 280〕 ''Vinland'', for which Brown won a £1,000 award from the Scottish Arts Council,〔Ron Ferguson p. 358〕 traces the life of Ranald Sigmundson, a fictional character from the Viking era. ''Beside the Ocean of Time'' covers over eight hundred years of Orkney history through the dreams of an Orkney schoolboy.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 278, 280〕 It is a meditation on the nature of time.〔Ron Ferguson p. 36〕 It won the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award for 1994; and was listed for the Booker prize for fiction.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 283〕 But this Booker listing caused him acute anxiety.〔Ron Ferguson p. 345〕 During his latter years Brown remained in his home but was cared for by a network of friends, including Surinder Punjya〔Maggie Fergusson p. 278〕 (Later the principal of The Nesbitt Centre, Hong Kong), Gunnie Moberg,〔(Obituary from ''The Independent'' )〕 and Renée Simm.〔(Obituary from ''The Independent'' )〕 Brown continued working, writing the poems of ''Following a Lark'', and preparing the book for publication. The first copies were delivered to his home on the day that he died.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 285, 287〕 He died on 13 April 1996 after a short illness〔(Obituary from ''The Independent'' )〕 and was buried on 16 April, the feast day of Saint Magnus, with his funeral service held at the Church of Scotland St Magnus Cathedral. The service was presided over by Rev. Mario Conti, Father Michael Spencer and his later biographer Ron Ferguson.〔Ron Ferguson p. 363〕 Peter Maxwell Davies played ''Farewell to Stromness''.〔Maggie Fergusson p. 289〕 George Mackay Brown's gravestone bears an inscription from the last two lines of his 1996 poem, "A work for poets" : Then be content with silence. In 2005, a memorial plaque to Brown was unveiled in the Writers' Museum, in the Royal Mile, Edinburgh.〔(Timeline of George Mackay Brown )〕 It is engraved with a quotation from his best-known poem, "Hamnavoe": Gladly I put my hand 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Mackay Brown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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