FROM THE CURRENT
ISSUE, AUTUMN 2003
SHELFISH TALK
Playwright Gregory Burke on Gagarin Way and The
Straits
Gagarin
Way takes its name from a
street in Lumphinnans in Fife, a mining area and socialist
heartland. Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. To
socialists around the world, the Russian astronaut's
helmeted visage floating the Sputnik womb symbolised the
progressive genius of the USSR.
"Economics decide the fate of people, not politicians," says
Burke in the same 'face-it, it's part of life' tone he uses
on the subject of violence.
When Gagarin Way was premiered, most of the press gave it an
adulatory reception, though some dissenters argued that the
pivotal character of Eddie was unbelievable. How could
someone so intelligent and widely read descend into such
savagery? they asked, with insouciant disregard of the
undignified lessons of history. Gagarin Way is shocking,
less because of the violence of the climax than because it
nails some of the comforting, consensual lies we live
by.
TRACKING
TRANTER
There is no doubt
that in his lifetime Nigel Tranter established himself as
one of the most warmly regarded Scottish writers. Now, some
Trantor titles are fetching pretty high prices -
Cable From Kabul
(1967)recently exchanged
hands for around £600. Colin Mills has compiled
The Nigel Tranter
Bibliography, listing every
Tranter book and jacket.
"Searching for
Nigel's books in secondhand bookshops, I discovered titles
that were of different appearance to those that I already
owned, later editions, sometimes by different publishers. I
had to buy!"
Nigel Tranter is mostly known for his Scottish historical
novels but, as Mills points out, he turned his hand to a
wide variety of themes, settings and subjects, both fiction
and non-fiction.
"Early in his writing career, which spanned sixty-five
years, he wrote romantic adventure novels, mostly set in
Scotland but occasionally venturing across the Border and
overseasÉ the Baltic, the Middle East, the Amazon, the
Pyrenees. His twelve children's adventure books are very
elusive, even though I've scoured specialist children's
bookshops and catalogues for them. He also wrote a short
story for the Collins Boys Annual for 1963."
Tranter's first book, however, was non-fiction. "Fortalices
and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland (The Moray Press,
1935) sprang from his great love for the smaller Scottish
castles. He was responsible for the illustrations in the
book, having a good eye and a well developed drawing ability
&endash; originally, he had wanted to become an architect.
This book was the precursor to the five-volume edition
(1962-70), which many consider to be the work for which he
will be remembered.
THE ROBERT LOUIS
STEVENSON COLLECTION
The Robert Louis
Stevenson Collection in Edinburgh's Writers Museum is the only one of its kind in Europe.
Elaine Greig writes in Scottish Book Collector about the manuscripts and memorabilia,
paintings and photographs which document Stevenson's
life.
THE STEVENSON
COLLECTION has an interesting history. Its core consists of
items acquired by Charles John Guthrie, Lord Guthrie
(1849-1920), a contemporary of Stevenson, a fellow student
at Edinburgh University and fellow candidate for admission
to the Scottish Bar in 1875. In 1908 Guthrie became tenant
of Swanston Cottage (the Stevenson family's summer home from
1867 to 1880), and stayed there and in the New Town. By the
time of his death in 1920 he had acquired a large collection
of Stevenson material through personal contacts and through
correspondence with a wide circle of Stevenson's friends and
relatives.
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