2023 marks the centenary of Scottish writer Dorothy Dunnett (OBE), best known as a writer of historical fiction. To celebrate, members of the Dorothy Dunnett Society have reflected on items in the archive.
By Heather Jacobson
When Dorothy Dunnett signed a contract to produce a book about Macbeth in 1975, she set out to learn all that had been written about the historical figure and the time in which he lived. Her research programme morphed into a four-and-a-half-year manhunt through primary and secondary sources. She read seven hundred books, wrote out extensive family trees, "flew over the Pentland Firth in small planes with tide tables to verify the records of sea battles", and more. This eventually led her to a surprising conclusion about Macbeth's identity: she was convinced that King Macbeth of Alba and Earl Thorfinn of Orkney were not kinsmen, as reported by chroniclers and accepted by scholars, but one man – the same man.
She put into her novel every piece of evidence that led her to that conclusion, and they remain there, for anyone who wishes to follow the contours of her argument.
The National Library of Scotland archive of her research notes and correspondence for 'King Hereafter' shows that no detail of eleventh-century life escaped her attention, including the question of migrating geese. One of the characters in 'King Hereafter' (and a real person), Prior Tuathal, was head of a hermit monk community that lived on the small island of St Serf's in Loch Leven, in Fife. In the novel, Tuathal serves as a close advisor and friend to Thorfinn/Macbeth. Dunnett had read about the habits of migrating birds that stop over on St Serf's, and she wanted to know if these habits extended back to the eleventh century when Tuathal's community lived there.
Fortunately, she knew whom to ask. Dr John Berry, a conservationist and water authority based in Dundee, who was very familiar with the Loch Leven area and was also a personal friend to the Dunnetts. In this letter to Dr Berry, Dunnett itemises the questions she needs answers to, including when and how she could observe the arrival of the migratory birds herself.
Letter of Dorothy Dunnett to Dr John Berry, 19th September 1978, Acc.12135/677. Copyright the Estate of Dorothy Dunnett.
Dr Berry's response, which is included in the archive, is detailed and helpful, his opinion being that the birds' migratory patterns then were likely similar to contemporary ones and that the flocks would be untroubled by the monks' presence.
Given that Dunnett wanted to witness the geese's arrival, which according to Dr Berry was a marvellous sight, I wonder if she thought to set a scene in the novel on St Serf’s. She always visited every location she wrote about if she possibly could, and the vivid descriptions of places in her prose are enriched by her having personally experienced them. Whatever her plans were, nothing in the final novel takes place on the island. It is only ever referred to as Tuathal's home base, and Tuathal himself is always elsewhere. And the geese? After all that, their arrival to Loch Leven is never witnessed by any of the characters, but it is described. All the information Dr Berry gave Dunnett is concentrated in a single vivid paragraph.
"They were all, for once, on her own lands in Fife south of Loch Leven, and it was dusk, which meant that Tuathal would stay overnight rather than try to get back to the island once the geese had landed. From Iceland they came, the flocks of thick-beaked Vikings, darkening the sky after the first full moon of September, and from dusk to dawn the shores and isles of Loch Leven were theirs, to disturb at one’s risk. The older monks knew them by sight, as each dropped year by year, to his familiar roosting-place, and some of them came to the hand, as did the priory birds." ('King Hereafter', Part 3, Chapter 14)
A deeper search into the 'King Hereafter' material in Dunnett's archive may uncover a scene on St Serf’s that didn’t make it into the final draft. Or it may have never existed. In which case, this letter shows the reach of Dunnett's quest for information, if only for a single paragraph of exposition.
The quote about flying above the Pentland Firth comes from a speech Dorothy Dunnett gave in 1987 called "Macbeth: 'The biggest detective hunt you could imagine'" (NLS, Acc. 12135/912), as published in 'Rivers of Jewels: A Second Collection of Talks, Interviews and Articles by Dorothy Dunnett' (Dorothy Dunnett Society, 2023), page. 45.
Acc. 12135/677