Refocusing the Kaleidoscope: The Protagonists Who Illuminate Mollie Hunter's Journey
2011; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1938-9809
Autores Tópico(s)Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies
ResumoThe Author Once upon a time ... is there a more evocative invitation into a world of possibilities? So it was that once upon a time, a very long time ago a wee Scottish lassie was born into a family long awaiting a male heir. The tiny girl became the favored child of her beloved father and stood at the center of the universe basking his approval. Life was exuberant for young Mollie; she was adored and safe; she was the favored bairn and had a special place in the sun. Her father encouraged her writing and lively spirit. Mollie was thus assured that she would live happily forever after.... In her ninth year, the fairytale ended abruptly with the arrival of a black limousine. Times' winged chariots took the father who was her god, and on that day God died. And so the journey began... In the spring of 2009, an epiphany of staggering importance emerged from the research for A Voyage of Discovery: Exploring a Kaleidoscope of Religion and Culture the Writings of Mollie The work was blessed by Mollie, and although she was not actively participating, she was involved reading and responding to the drafts. After months of coding content for corroborating passages, it became extraordinarily evident that Mollie Hunter's conviction that talent alone could not make a writer was poignantly demonstrated the selected titles; the works dramatically pointed to the person behind the writing. (2) It was with trepidation that I revealed to Ms Hunter the insight gained from exploring her writing through a complex, ever evolving kaleidoscope. The spiritual journey embarked upon by Coll, the young crippled orphan challenging invading Roman soldiers the Carnegie Award winning title, The Stronghold (3) paralleled that of Martin Crawford, the soldier/scholar serving Robert the Bruce during Scotland's thirty-year war through the pages of The King's Swift Rider (4) It was, however, the journey undertaken by Bridie McShane, Ms Hunter's pseudonym for the protagonist The Sound of Chariots, (the 1992 Phoenix Award recipient) (5) and Bridie's continuing odyssey Hold On To Love, (6) that illuminated the fact that Mollie Hunter and her protagonists were synonymous. Mollie Hunter was Coll, questioning the fallibility of organized religion first century Scotland; she was the intellect seeking spiritual solace The King's Swift Rider. The writer, Bridie McShane, who was denying, challenging and bargaining with the very God she claimed was dead, was and is Mollie Hunter. For almost eight decades Ms Hunter has declared that God died on the day that her beloved father was taken from her, yet every book has served as a vehicle for her spiritual quest. The 1975 May Hill Arbuthnot lecture, Talent Is Not Enough, was not merely a philosophical discussion of Mollie Hunter's belief that in a writer's life comes the situation where he or she is faced with all the implications of his own personality relation to past events and future possibilities, it was a declaration of the instrument she has employed on her quest for God. (7) When presented with the insight my kaleidoscope had provided, Mollie initially expressed surprise, followed by affirmation. That conversation with Mollie was concluded with her words of encouragement. And so I am continuing the commission to illuminate the work of a Scottish national treasure through a refocused lens. The Friend It is as difficult to separate Mollie Hunter's writing from the friend as it is to delineate religion, culture and philosophy her works; the tapestry is so interwoven that it is virtually impossible to disconnect the author from her life, culture, philosophy and spiritual journey. Ms Hunter has acknowledged that she lives each story to the point of being transferred to a different time and place. She has frequently become so immersed the writing that she has become oblivious to all else; she was imprisoned the Castle of Lochleven as the young Mary Queen of Scots, (8) walked the Highlands as Cat McPhie and her family of tinkers, (9) and has given voice to her environmental causes as young Donald The Walking Stones. …
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