Highland River
Encyclopedia
Highland River is a novel
by Neil M. Gunn
. Its plot revolves around a young boy called Kenn who grows up next to the Dunbeath
river, then going on to experience the horrors of the First World War and his attempts to rediscover inner peace and satisfaction on his return to his village.
from the Dunbeath river. HE encounters a sadistic beating from a schoolmaster, adventures in the trenches which result in his brother Angus suffering from shellshock and he meets Radzyn, an intellectual, scientific European who does not share Kenn's belief in the mystery of existence.
Kenn's ultimate goal is to 'get back to the source of...life... the source of the river and the source of himself'.http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/learning_journeys/tartan_myths/neil_m_gunn/works.shtml#43
Like many early twentieth-century Scottish writers, Gunn believed in a lost 'Golden Age', when man was in touch with the natural and his environment, in contrast to a complex and disintegrating modern World.
Kenn's childhood memories are presented in a stream of consciousness
way.http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/learning_journeys/tartan_myths/neil_m_gunn/works.shtml#43
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Neil M. Gunn
Neil M. Gunn
Neil Miller Gunn was a prolific novelist, critic, and dramatist who emerged as one of the leading lights of the Scottish Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s...
. Its plot revolves around a young boy called Kenn who grows up next to the Dunbeath
Dunbeath
Dunbeath is a village in south-east Caithness, Scotland on the A9 road.It was the birthplace of Neil Gunn , author of The Silver Darlings, Highland River etc., many of whose novels are set in Dunbeath and its Strath...
river, then going on to experience the horrors of the First World War and his attempts to rediscover inner peace and satisfaction on his return to his village.
Plot
The plot is episodic and moves between Kenn's childhood and adult life.http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scotlit/asls/Laverock-Gunn.html It begins with a young Kenn poaching his first salmonSalmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
from the Dunbeath river. HE encounters a sadistic beating from a schoolmaster, adventures in the trenches which result in his brother Angus suffering from shellshock and he meets Radzyn, an intellectual, scientific European who does not share Kenn's belief in the mystery of existence.
Kenn's ultimate goal is to 'get back to the source of...life... the source of the river and the source of himself'.http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/learning_journeys/tartan_myths/neil_m_gunn/works.shtml#43
Themes
Gunn was influenced greatly by Jungian archetypes and the idea of a collective unconsciousness is prevalent in Highland River. The idea of Kenn returning to the river to complete himself reflects the journey that the salmon make, returning to the place where they were spawned to spawn themselves then die.Like many early twentieth-century Scottish writers, Gunn believed in a lost 'Golden Age', when man was in touch with the natural and his environment, in contrast to a complex and disintegrating modern World.
Kenn's childhood memories are presented in a stream of consciousness
Stream of consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions.Stream-of-consciousness writing...
way.http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/learning_journeys/tartan_myths/neil_m_gunn/works.shtml#43