8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Publication date 1999 Pages 296 Originally published 1999 Page count 296 Country Canada | 4/5 Goodreads Publisher McClelland & Stewart Media type Print ISBN 978-0-7710-5567-6 Genre Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Awards International Dublin Literary Award Similar Alistair MacLeod books, International Dublin Literary Award winners, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No Great Mischief is a 1999 novel by Alistair MacLeod.
Contents
No great mischief
Plot synopsis
The novel opens in the present day, with successful orthodontist Alexander MacDonald visiting his elderly older brother Calum in Toronto, Ontario. The novel explores the emotional bonds of family through flashbacks to their childhood in Cape Breton Island and young adulthood spent in the mines of Northern Ontario, clan history dating back to 1779, and present day interactions between the two brothers and a sister. Though written primarily in English, Scottish Gaelic and French are used in dialogue and songs.
The novel also mirrors Canadian history as a whole, taking its title from James Wolfe's assertion in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham that Scottish soldiers should be sent into battle because "they are hardy, intrepid, accustomed to a rough country, and no great mischief if they fall." [237] The enduring linguistic and cultural tensions that have defined Canadian society are also reflected in the novel; during their time working in the uranium mines of Elliot Lake, the brothers are frequently in conflict with their francophone coworkers.
The novel explores the themes of brotherhood and the conflict between the rise of individualism and family in the post-modern world. Alex loves his alcoholic brother, Calum, despite his problems because Alex sees the potential in Calum. Alex lets his brother die in peace and with dignity even though he is a convicted murderer and alcoholic. The author uses Alex as an example for all human beings. MacLeod wants the reader to realize that "all of us are better when we're loved" and that forgiveness and love for humanity are the only weapons humans have against the destructive forces of evil.
Calum is posited as a contemporary clan chief of the McDonalds defending the lost cause of Gaelic culture. His defence of Highland values parallels the devastating consequences of the Highland support for Charles Stuart in the 1745. Throughout the book Calum defends clan values in spite of the personal consequences. His distant Californian nephew, who has no idea of these values, steals from the Quebec miners. Calum's defence leads to murder and hard time, while the nephew blithely returns to California. Calum becomes the beaten alcoholic shell of a formerly strong man due to his reflexive support of the old clan values that have long since vanished as guiding principles, even among his own direct family.
The title, "No great mischief if they fall", is found most easily in Findlay, J.T., "Wolfe in Scotland in the '45 and from 1749 to 1753." London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1928, p. 226. An earlier use of the citation that MacLeod used for his title appears in Gibson, John G. "Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping 1745-1945." Montreal and Kingston: MQUP, and Nat. Mus. Scot., 1998, p. 59.