SCOTNOTES Study Guides

Naomi Mitchison’s EARLY IN ORCADIA,
THE BIG HOUSE & TRAVEL LIGHT

Moira Burgess

Published in: Paperback.
By: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2004
Price: £5.95
ISBN 978-0-948877-61-2

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Naomi Mitchison was one of the most prolific, skilled and original writers of the twentieth century, whose novels range in setting from prehistory to outer space. Her work displays a breadth of knowledge and a sympathetic understanding for humanity: whatever out time, or our culture, or our beliefs, we are all still very much the same under the skin.

Moira Burgess’s Scotnote covers three of Mitchison’s historical novels: Early in Orcadia, a sequence of stories set in prehistoric Orkney; The Big House, a children’s fantasy of time-travel back to the early nineteenth century; and Travel Light, following a young Viking girl on a magical quest. Each novel is examined, and the plots, and the author’s beliefs and influences, are discussed and explained for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

CONTENTS

• Naomi Mitchison: life and work
• Early in Orcadia
  • The story/stories of the novel
  • Theme and structure of the novel
  • Setting in geography and prehistory
  • Characters
  • Language
  • Myth and religion
• The Big House
  • The story of the novel
  • Theme and structure of the novel
  • Characters
  • Setting and language
  • Historical periods
  • Celtic myth and folklore
• Travel Light
  • The story of the novel
  • The structure of the novel
  • Characters
  • Setting in time and place
  • Themes
  • Norse myth and legend
• Conclusion
• Bibliography