Sgeulachdan an Dà Shaoghail ann an Ceithir Litrichean
Michael Newton

Sgeulachdan an Dà Shaogail draws liberally from a variety of narrative structures, plot devices, idioms, and folkloric motifs in Gaelic oral tradition, and makes many allusions to a cultural inheritance that was once well known to generations of Gaelic speakers.

The novella highlights the delicious texture of the Gaelic language itself, revisits traditional prose styles, and explores the psychological depths of fairytales, the genre of oral tradition that might seem to have the least relevance to the modern reader, not only reviewing these ancient wellsprings but renewing them with post-modern plot twists.

The story is written as a series of letters from an unnamed source to his foster-brother Roibeart. Each letter recounts an interview with increasingly elderly neighbors who have had memorable encounters with denizens of the Otherworld.

These narratives, based on Scottish tales of the supernatural, contain something inexorably compelling about the symbolic Other that allows us to express what is otherwise inexpressible about ourselves and the human condition.

Michael Newton was born and raised in the south-eastern desert of California but gained fluency in Gaelic during a prolonged sojourn in Scotland (1992-1999). He completed a PhD in Celtic Studies at the University of Edinburgh during that time and has written numerous articles and books about Highland tradition and history, specialising especially in the story of Highland immigrant communities in North America.

The Sandstone Meanmnach Series is aimed at Advanced Gaelic learners as well as accomplished readers. Recognising that most readers come from an English language background, they open with an introduction from the author that will contextualise and lead into the story. Other English language aids will appear as best fits. These stories are of novella length and so less daunting to the developing reader of Gaelic. They should serve as an intriguing introduction to longer works such as those published by the Gaelic Book Council under the Ùr-Sgeul colophon.

RRP: £7.95
ISBN: 978-1-905207-12-1

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