After the Dance: Selected Stories of Iain Crichton Smith

Iain Crichton Smith was one of Scotland's most prolific, best-loved, and critically acclaimed writers, and this collection of stories proves that big themes—love, history, power, submission, death—can be addressed without the foil of irony and acquire resonance when given a local habitation and a voice that risks pure, humane, impassioned speech. As a child, Iain Crichton Smith was raised speaking Gaelic on the island of Lewis; at school in Stornoway he spoke English. Like many islanders before and since, his culture was divided: two languages, two histories entailing exile, a central theme of his stories in both tongues. His divided perspective delineated the tyranny of history and religion, of the cramped life of small communities, giving him a compassionate eye for the struggle of women and men in a world defined by denials.