Alasdair Maclean (1926–1994) was born 100 years ago #OTD, 16 March. Maclean left school at 14 to work in the shipyards, before travelling the world in the Merchant Marine & as a National Service infantryman. His 2 poetry collections, published in the 1970s, were critically acclaimed, and his one full-length prose work, the poetic memoir/journal NIGHT FALLS ON ARDNAMURCHAN, is a modern classic.
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https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/alasdair-maclean/
Sea and sky. Earth-bound as I am
I’ve never yet been able to decide
which one I like best…
—Alasdair Maclean, “Sea and Sky”
Published in FROM THE WILDERNESS (Gollancz, 1973)
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In March we start our harvesting.
We dig ourselves down out of sight
in a peat bog,
continuing perhaps all summer
when the weather lets us,
till the job is done…
—Alasdair Maclean, “At the Peats”
Published in FROM THE WILDERNESS (Gollancz, 1973)
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#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #Argyll #crofting
Alasdair Maclean’s NIGHT FALLS ON ARDNAMURCHAN (1984) was his only full-length prose work. Hilary Mantel called it
“a book like an animated shipping forecast… You hear the ocean and the voice of a salt-laden gale in this sharp, thoughtful, eloquent memoir”
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https://birlinn.co.uk/product/night-falls-on-ardnamurchan-2/
#Scottish #literature #memoir #20thcentury #Argyll #crofting
Assoc for Scottish Literature