I find it hard to believe that Terence Davies read and understood the novel which is quite a brilliant depiction of life in the Mearns. Some of the critics may not have read it either, as they put the slow dialogue down to the source material. Wrong!
Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song is verbose. The dialogue fair spins along, providing a rich characterisation of all of the main protagonists and of many of the supporting people too. The gossipy nature of the village, a key element which runs through the trilogy, was completely ignored.
The portrayal of Long Rob in the early part of the book was excluded. As was Chae's politics and the stream of dual approaches to nationalism. This is what made it such a successful novel and also an Open University set book.
I understand it took Davies 15 years to complete. Unbelievable.
Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song is verbose. The dialogue fair spins along, providing a rich characterisation of all of the main protagonists and of many of the supporting people too. The gossipy nature of the village, a key element which runs through the trilogy, was completely ignored.
The portrayal of Long Rob in the early part of the book was excluded. As was Chae's politics and the stream of dual approaches to nationalism. This is what made it such a successful novel and also an Open University set book.
I understand it took Davies 15 years to complete. Unbelievable.