Title: Words as Music/Music as Words: The Bagpipe and Kirsty Gunn's The Big Music (2012)
Abstract:The present article is an analysis of the literary devices Kirsty Gunn has employed in her novel The Big Music to recreate in writing ceol mor – also and arguably more commonly known as piobaireachd :...The present article is an analysis of the literary devices Kirsty Gunn has employed in her novel The Big Music to recreate in writing ceol mor – also and arguably more commonly known as piobaireachd : the classical music of the bagpipe. This avant-garde experiment blends and incorporates two artistic forms – music and literature – and it does so on a number of levels which I have been able to discuss with the author herself: from sentence structure to thematic exploration and ‘chromatic’ rendering of notes into words. The unexpected, almost hidden, yet prominent role of a female character of the novel in this process also brings a feminist touch to what has been traditionally seen as a male-dominated world: the performative side of bagpiping. The Big Music is the twenty-first century result of traditional connections between piobaireachd and song in Gaelic culture, and literary interface between music/sound and the page encompassing Gaelic poetry and Modernist fiction; in this sense, it is a testimonial of Scotland’s current cultural standing and awareness. In order to understand the position of The Big Music in a bagpipe-related literary context I provide a few instances of the instrument’s presence in literature, and its role and symbolism, as well as an overview of the structure of piobaireachd . Kirsty Gunn’s choice to focus on piobaireachd rather than bagpipe music more broadly takes the understanding of Scottish music to a higher level. The choice is furthered by her engagement with existing, non-fictional archival material which she inserts copiously in the work, creating an unusual structure. Gunn takes the inspiration for her work from concrete elements of Scottish culture; the choice shows a desire to demonstrate the potential of piobaireachd as a highly distinctive, unique element of Scottish culture.Read More
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-03-22
Language: en
Type: article
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