Flight of the Heron read-along: Part III chapter 5

[regshoe]

:D

That Night in the Hut.

Next week we'll read the first two chapters of Part IV.

Comments

[regshoe]

Impressive feats of physical endurance by characters who suffer injury under terrible conditions are definitely one of Broster's Things. Ewen's ordeal here reminds me of La Vireville's in Sir Isumbras at the Ford and Raoul's in "Mr Rowl", and I wonder if that's something else that was inspired by Broster's war experiences.

Hooray for more Jacobite politics—thanks very much for that write-up!

Huh, I knew about George I's wife's affair from its description in the Jacobite song 'Cam Ye O'er Frae France' (Doon there cam a blade linkin' like my lordie/He wad drive a trade at the loom o' Geordie), which also makes fun of George's own cheating—but I didn't know about the background to it! Wow.

I learned that a Sir William Wyndham was a Tory minister of Queen Anne who, after the Hanoverian succession, did some Jacobite plotting around the '15. A relative of Keith's, or not??

Oh, nice find. From a bit of looking around it does seem like he's a member of the same W[y/i]ndham family who pop up elsewhere in eighteenth-century politics—and the fetterlock and lion's head symbol that we see in relation to Keith later on is the emblem of that family, so yes, I suppose they must be related. Between this guy and the Keith family, our Keith has surprisingly many Jacobite antecedents!...

[hyarrowen]

I looked up the planet, because I'm weird like that, and reckon it was Saturn. I ws hoping it was Venus.

[regshoe]

Haha, amazing :D Yes, Fate and D. K. Broster make sure Keith and Ewen get more than that...

[regshoe]

:D

Yes, certainly it reads like it's written by someone who knows about both caring for injuries and the feats of endurance injured people are capable of.

[regshoe]

I don't know if one can really get much more iddy than Keith tenderly taking care of Ewen and Ewen all hurt-exhausted-grateful-adorably-confused in his care <3

:D

As for your questions—well, yes, we get to that in Part IV... but fear not, Broster makes sure that the opportunities for further iddiness are fully exploited.

[regshoe]

Yes, I wonder if Guthrie is something of a representation of historical figures like Caroline Scott and similar—I've seen the point made in history books several times that, despite the popular Scotland vs. England framing of things, some of the worst perpetrators of the repression of the Highlands were Lowland Scots. But then again Lowland support for the Jacobites also seems to be overlooked historically (and so is Highland anti-Jacobitism)—it is all very complicated.

Very insightful thoughts on Keith's position here, and I like your idea that Keith's ambition has become his fatal flaw. There's definitely a point somewhere in there about the wider consequences of Keith's rejection of personal love (if he had a passion left in life, it was military ambition)—it's not just a matter of it hurting him emotionally—and it then becomes very significant that his recognition of Ewen is what drives him to intervene in the execution.

The clan tartans seem to be the one place Broster's meticulous historical accuracy falls down—I wonder if it was really known at the time that they were a Victorian invention. My understanding is that, while official tartans used to identify specific clans didn't exist, there were consistent regional variations in the patterns made—so perhaps Keith is recognising a particular Lochaber tartan design that all the Camerons from the area around Ardroy wear?

Fetch my fainting couch.

:D

Oh, the intimacy of the shieling scene, yes... with sanguinity's earlier comments on the parallels between Keith and Alison in mind, I think there's something very significant in Keith seeing Ewen sleep, and hearing him talk in his sleep, here... hmm, this book does subtext in the fun blatant way and also in the more subtle and meaningful way, and I'm appreciating the latter much more in this read-through. Very good point about the parallel with that bit later on, too!

[regshoe]

Oh, nice—thank you for your weirdness, I love seeing details like this :D

[luzula]

Aww, poor Keith! Just to remind you: Captain Windham’s own dark, rather harsh features were not unpleasing, save when he frowned, which he was somewhat given to doing, nor were they devoid of a certain distinction, and he had really fine hazel eyes.

But you're right, we don't get Ewen noticing Keith's looks in the same way.

[luzula]

Oooh. I think you're exactly right about the Biblical weight of it, I didn't catch that bit. Because Ewen, much more than Keith, takes his faith seriously.

Naq gura gurer'f gur cnenyyry jvgu Tyrnz va gur Abegu, jurer Rjra (gubhtu irel eryhpgnagyl) urycf uvf jbhaqrq rarzl Thguevr, naq vg'f guvf jubyr erqrzcgvba guvat sbe uvz. Nyfb Nepuvr nybat jvgu nyy gur rkrphgrq Wnpbovgrf jub nyy bs gurz ynl fgerff ba cebcre Puevfgvna sbetvirarff gbjneqf gurve rarzvrf va gurve ynfg fcrrpurf (juvyr nyfb hcubyqvat gung gurl qba'g erterg gurve npgvbaf, ybat yvir Xvat Wnzrf, rgp).

[luzula]

Yes, that's true, it's in 'Cam Ye O'er Frae France'...but it doesn't mention her imprisonment.

Nice digging, finding the family crest! So it's definitely the same family, then. Some sort of cousin of Philip Windham, perhaps? Must be embarrassing for Keith...

[luzula]

I don't know if one can really get much more iddy than Keith tenderly taking care of Ewen and Ewen all hurt-exhausted-grateful-adorably-confused in his care <3

I can only tell you that there is MORE IDDYNESS COMING. : D

[hyarrowen]

In heraldic terms, the lion means bravery, and the fetterlock stands for someone who redeems (ransoms or rescues) a prisoner. She didn't miss a trick.

[tgarnsl]

I'd agree with your suggestion that Guthrie is a bit of a composite of historical figures, or at the very least historical attitudes, although he has yet to go so far as drowning rebels in a net, as I believe Scott was accused of. That being said, he's perfectly capable of it, and I don't think sanguinity is out of line by calling him Major War Crimes!

I'm inclined, for my own sanity, to assume that when Keith recognises 'Cameron tartan' he's really recognising just whatever pattern is common to the region. I first read about the Sobieski Stuarts and the Tartan Scam as a kid and ever since then it has remained one of my major pet peeves when it comes to people misunderstanding Scottish culture. And yet for all that it's not really a part of historic Scottish culture, it has become such a strong invented tradition that it's everywhere now, and we'll never be rid of it.

Alison and Keith are both paralleled and also set up against each other in quite interesting ways. They are both meaningful people to Ewen in significant but different ways, although there's also this ambiguity to Keith and Ewen's relationship that makes it feel at times almost like — well, I don't want to say soulmates per se, but what with the prophecy and this sense of being guided by fate towards each other while also thwarted by circumstance it feels at times like there is a star-crossed element to their relationship. (Although one could argue the same for Alison and Ewen too.)

[tgarnsl]

Honestly, Broster’s attention to detail astounds me, and the symbolism of the ring is not surprising even as it amazes me. Even the names would seem to be significant, with Ewen’s name meaning ‘from the mountains’ and Keith’s having something to do with woods or a battlefield, depending on what source.

[hyarrowen]

Hm, I got "yew-tree" for Ewen and "lord of the woods" for Keith - I hadn't picked up the other two meanings. I was happy enough with an arboreal connection for the two of them (possibly significant in a later chapter..?) but those meanings you've found are also quite fascinating and satisfying!

But. She was working at Oxford at the same time as Tolkien. I daresay some of that linguistic stuff osmosed across!

[sanguinity]

Re Neil's death, something that I'm stuck on:

Miss Cameron expressed a hope that he [Keith] had not been unduly disturbed by Neil MacMartin’s piobaireachd, adding that he was not as fine a piper as his father Angus had been.

And now he never will be, either. :-(

[regshoe]

:(

[cahn]

Gosh, I am there in the first chapters of Part IV now and THANK YOU for this reassurance, because omg everything is crumbling around Ewen right now and I am really glad for the reassurance that if I just keep going there will be more iddiness <3 :)

[regshoe]

Aww! I'm glad to hear it—the more heartbreak now, the more iddiness to follow...

[impala_chick]

Finally listened to this chapter. Pleasantly surprised because I was like, nooo Keith how could you just leave him there?! But then he went back and had a ton of angst while he was there. Fantastic. The pining and/or denial of feelings in this chapter was strong from Keith's pov.

[impala_chick]

Yes, I get soulmate vibes too. Keith and Ewen are both so surprised every time they cross paths but the interactions are always significant.

[regshoe]

Hehe, of course he had to go back—got to get in that good angst and hurt/comfort and pining :D

[luzula]

I have to say, I do wonder at the whole recoginising-the-Cameron-tartan thing, as the concept of clan tartans is a semi-fictionalised Victorian concept (damned Sobieski Stuarts), although it's entirely possible that he recognises it on the basis of it being like the one he wore earlier (Keith in a kilt is still the funniest part of the book).

I am just now reading (or browsing, really) History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800 by Foyster and Whatley (2010) and they say: Another impact of empire on the clothing of the Scots was seen in the formalisation of clan tartans, which evolved in conjunction with the militarisation of the Highlands post-1745 and the empire service of so many Highland regiments. Regimental tartans with their clan associations had become fashion fabrics by the later 18th century, worn by men and women alike and spawning a modern manufacturing industry.

Which is interesting! And I remember reading about the Black Watch even before the '45, and the 'dark government tartan' that they wore, so it seems that military use was standardizing tartans even before the '45. Although of course that isn't a clan tartan.

[regshoe]

Hmm, that is interesting! The post-Jacobite militarisation of the Highlands is a strange, sad and fascinating story, and I suppose it makes sense that the tartans would fit into that (weren't military uniforms the one exception made to the 1746 act prohibiting Highland dress?).

Sounds like an interesting book in general, too—is it good?

[luzula]

Well, there were other exceptions--women could wear Highland dress all they wanted. Also, it seems allowances were made for poor people, which I've read elsewhere as well. Quote from the book:

"This is how the legislation was interpreted by James Erskine, sheriff depute for Perthshire, writing to his sheriff substitute at Killin: You may take all the opportunities you can of letting it be known that tartan may still be worne in cloaks, westcoats, breeches or trews, but that if they use loose plaids they may [be] of tartan but either all of one colour, or strip’ed with other colours than those formerly used, and if they have a mind to use their old plaids, I don’t see but they may make them into the shape of a cloak and so wear them in that way, which tho’ button’d or tied about the neck, if long enough, may be taken up at one side and thrown over the other shoulder by which it will answere most of the purposes of the loose plaid. And if they could come in to the way of wearing wide trowsers like the sailor’s breeches it would answere all the conveniences of the kilt and philibeg for walking or climbing the hills."

And there's this: "Those who commented on the passing of the Highland plaid and philibeg were not always that interested in the politics of the matter. A gentlewoman poet, Margaret Campbell, an Argyllshire minister’s wife who wrote in Gaelic, was more concerned with the aesthetics of masculinity than the Stuart cause when she noted that Highland women were being denied the sight of their men folk’s naked legs."

Hee. Presumably a Presbyterian minister's wife, too, since she's a Campbell! Not what I would have expected. : )

As for the book, I'm skimming it for useful details--some of it is rather dry and perhaps more general than I want.