Lewis Grassic Gibbon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), a Scottish writer.

Born and raised in Arbuthnott, Aberdeenshire, Mitchell started working as a journalist for the Aberdeen Journal and the Scottish Farmer at age 16. In 1919 he joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in Persia, India and Egypt before enlisting in the Royal Air Force in 1920. In the RAF he worked as a clerk and spent some time in the Middle East. He married Rebecca Middleton in 1925, with whom he settled in Welwyn Garden City. He began writing full-time in 1929. Mitchell wrote numerous books and shorter works under both his real name and nom de plume before his early death in 1935 of peritonitis brought on by a perforated ulcer.

Mitchell attracted attention from his earliest attempts at fiction, notably from H.G. Wells, but it was his trilogy entitled A Scots Quair, and in particular its first book Sunset Song, with which he made his mark. A Scots Quair with its combination of realist narrative and lyrical use of dialect is considered to be among the defining works of 20th century Scottish Renaissance.

The Grassic Gibbon Centre was established in Arbuthnott in 1991 to commemorate the author's life.

[edit] Bibliography

• Hanno: or the Future of Exploration (1928)
• Stained Radiance: A Fictionist's Prelude (1930)
• The Thirteenth Disciple (1931)
• The Calends of Cairo (1931)
• Three Go Back (1932)
• The Lost Trumpet (1932)
• Sunset Song (1932), the first book of the trilogy A Scots Quair
• Persian Dawns, Egyptian Nights (1932)
• Image and Superscription (1933)
• Cloud Howe (1933), the second book of the trilogy A Scots Quair
• Spartacus (1933)
• Niger: The Life of Mungo Park (1934)
• The Conquest of the Maya (1934)
• Gay Hunter (1934)
• Scottish Scene (1934), with Hugh MacDiarmid
• Grey Granite (1934), the third book of the trilogy A Scots Quair
• Nine Against the Unknown (1934)
• The Speak of the Mearns (1982), published posthumously

In 1934 Mitchell collaborated with Hugh MacDiarmid on Scottish Scene which included three of Gibbon's short stories. These were collected posthumously in A Scots Hairst (1969).

Mitchell's biography, by Iain S. Munro, appeared in 1966.

[edit] External links

• The Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre

Persondata
NAME	Gibbon, Lewis Grassic
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mitchell, James Leslie
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Scottish writer
DATE OF BIRTH	13 February 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Arbuthnott, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH	7 February 1935
PLACE OF DEATH