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The title of this novel, “No Great Mischief”, comes from
a letter written by General Wolfe to Captain Rickson before the taking of
Quebec. Wolfe was highly suspicious of his Highlander troops, due to the
fact that he had previously fought and overwhelmed them on the battlefield of
Culloden. Yet the fact that the Scots were old enemies ironically helped
in the seizure of Quebec. One of the Highlanders, MacDonald, had been
exiled in France before being pardoned by the British, and it was his knowledge
of French which got them past the Quebec sentries. Such is the tale spun
by the narrator's Grandfather.
I suppose you could expect a wee bit of bias in a
novel which is related by one of the MacDonalds of Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia, but I'm more than willing to give Alistair MacLeod's account the
benefit of the doubt. According to the dust jacket, MacLeod was raised in
Cape Breton, so he certainly has first hand knowledge of the locale. I've
been so enthralled by this novel, that I've looked a great deal into its
historical background. Obviously, MacLeod has had to change some
names. Renco Development is a fictional company, but uranium mining did
indeed flourish as an industry in Elliot Lake ("The Elliot Lake story is a
moral and human outrage" wrote Stephen Lewis in his report to the Ham
Commission). From a modern day perspective, uranium mining would seem to
have obvious health risks, but MacLeod tends to concentrate more on the dangers
inherent in such manual labour and the disputes of workers from different
ethnic backgrounds. MacLeod does not insult your intelligence by covering
such truisms; instead, he reveals new material from old history.
My favourite character from the novel is
Grandfather. It's from him that most of the family history is researched
and passed on. A lonely widower who never knew his father, he seems
compelled to fill up the gaps in his life. When he passes away, one
of the regrets of the Cape Breton MacDonalds is that that they did not
write down all of the songs that he kept in his head. I've never
read a story which so authentically captures oral culture. There are lots
of repetitions, which are just as familiar and comforting as a chorus,
mantras by which the Macdonalds live their lives. Very resounding is the
tales of the generations of the dogs "who tried too hard".
The Macdonalds keep the same family of dogs throughout the centuries - or
rather, the dogs keep the Macdonalds.
The recorded history of the MacDonalds is also
very strong. Calum Ruadh left Moidart for Nova Scotia in 1779, a
sign of defeat if ever there was one, since Moidart was the landing place of
the Bonnie Prince in '45. It was a MacDonald who was made an example
of in the Glencoe massacre, betrayed by the British soldiers who were
supposedly his guests. What goes around comes around, would seem to be
the nature of the history in this novel. More than one army has
reason to lament the non-arrival of the ships from France, as MacLeod
relates. "My hope is constant in thee" was what the Bruce told
the MacDonalds at Bannockburn. However, it is the MacDonalds of Cape
Breton that we take to our hearts in this novel.
General Wolfe may not have grieved the Highlanders
if they had fallen at Quebec (where he got his own comeuppance and
finally achieved his long-cherished fame without realising it), but their
relatives would have done. It is the twentieth century MacDonalds who
do most of the living and dying in 'No Great Mischief'. Although the Nova
Scotia land is rich, it is also hazardous, even for the experienced.
The narrator, Alexander MacDonald, becomes an orphan as a result of one such
tragedy. This novel encompasses the changes wrought by the twentieth
century. The divisions between rich and poor are most marked here, if
only because some members of the MacDonald family become more prosperous
than even, say, their siblings. But the family link is far stronger than
the family divide.
The most compelling character in the novel is
Calum, Alexander's brother. For him, his namesake Calum Ruadh's journey
to the New World resounds with his own story. The attractions of this
novel are many. Anyone from the Celtic diaspora will be able to recognise
the characters in 'No Great Mischief'. I particularly identified with the
MacDonald trait of bearing fraternal twins, as that is a habit of my
family also. The roots of my family seem lost within the mists of time,
with official documents seemingly contradicting remembered history. 'No
Great Mischief' gives me a powerful insight into how my ancestors may
have lived, of the culture that they shared. It is also exquisitely
written by a master storyteller. You'll never forget this great book once
you've read it. There are scenes which resolutely stick in your mind,
like Alexander's encounter with the whale. The MacDonalds still flourish
in Cape Breton to this day, and I think it's the fact that MacLeod is a native
which adds greatly to the feeling of authenticity in this moving novel.
AuthorTrek Rating: 10/10
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
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MacLeod page, for his biography, bibliography, interviews and essays |
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