Eric Robert Russell Linklater

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer, military historian, and

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern per ...

. For ''

The Wind on the Moon ''The Wind on the Moon: A story for children'' is a fantasy novel by Eric Linklater, published by Macmillan in 1944 with illustrations by Nicolas Bentley. The American division Macmillan US published an edition in the same year. Opening in the ...

'', a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association for the year's best children's book by a British subject.

Early life

Linklater was born in Penarth,

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

, Wales to Orcadian Robert Baikie Linklater (1865–1916), a master mariner, and Mary Elizabeth (c. 1867–1957), daughter of master mariner James Young. He was educated at

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

and the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, where he was President of the Aberdeen University Debater. He spent many years in Orkney and identified with the islands, where his father had been born. His maternal grandfather was a Swedish-born sea captain, so that he had Scandinavian origins through both parents. Linklater is an Orcadian name derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

; throughout his life he maintained a sympathetic interest in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

.J. Keay and J. Keay (1994) ''

Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'' is a reference work published by HarperCollins, edited by the husband and wife team, John and Julia Keay. History Scots had provided the impetus for a number of well-known references works, ''Chambers Dic ...

''. London: HarperCollins.

Career

Linklater served in the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

in 1917–1918 before receiving a bullet wound, then became a sniper. His experience of trench warfare is described in his memoir ''Fanfare for a Tin Hat'' (1970), and at one remove in his 1938 novel ''The Impregnable Women'', describing an imaginary war against France. As an undergraduate at

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

in 1922, Linklater wrote the first musical comedy for the

Aberdeen Student Show Aberdeen Student Show is a comedy musical and theatrical show, staged annually in Aberdeen, Scotland. In recent year’s Aberdeen Student Show has received wide acclaim for its parody shows of well known films and musicals. All monies raised ...

, ''Stella, the Bajanella'', with music by J. S. Taylor. Twenty-four years later, during his tenure as Rector of the University of Aberdeen, his play ''To Meet the Macgregors'' was performed as the 1946 Student Show. Abandoning medical studies in Aberdeen, Linklater spent 1925–1927 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as an assistant editor of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', then travelled extensively before returning to Aberdeen as an assistant to the Professor of English and spending 1928–1930 as a Commonwealth fellow at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

and Berkeley. As a writer, Linklater's career took off in 1929. His success began in his early career years. Altogether he published 23 novels, three volumes of stories, two of verse, ten plays, three works of autobiography and 23 of essays and histories. His third novel, ''Juan in America'', was a hugely popular picaresque, with some of the extravagance of Byron's

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

, based on experiences of the absurdity of the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

era, with its resulting gangsterism.ODNB entry. It is sprinkled with memorable remarks: "I've been married six months. She looks like a million dollars, but she only knows a hundred and twenty words and she's only got two ideas in her head. The other one's hats." The character returns in ''Juan in China'' (1937). Linklater also wrote three children's novels: ''The Wind on the Moon'' (1944), ''The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea'' (1949) and ''Karina With Love'' (1958). The first is about two sisters, whose adventures include becoming kangaroos and rescuing their father from a Hitlerian tyrant, enlisting the anthropomorphic help of a puma and a falcon. Its storytelling skill and treatment of wider themes such as imprisonment and freedom won it a Carnegie Medal. Linklater's Orcadian and Scottish sympathies led him to literary and political involvement in the

Scottish Renaissance The Scottish Renaissance ( gd, Ath-bheòthachadh na h-Alba; sco, Scots Renaissance) was a mainly literary movement of the early to mid-20th century that can be seen as the Scottish version of modernism. It is sometimes referred to as the Scot ...

, culminating in his unsuccessful

National Party of Scotland The National Party of Scotland (NPS) was a centre-left political party in Scotland which was one of the predecessors of the current Scottish National Party (SNP). The NPS was the first Scottish nationalist political party, and the first which c ...

candidacy at the 1933 East Fife by-election. ''Magnus Merriman'' (1934) was an acerbic fictionalized description of the debacle. He settled in Orkney with his new wife in 1933. The author's attitude to war and the moral implications of diplomacy became sharper in ''Judas'' (1939), which explores the concepts of loyalty and treachery amid a strong indictment of the desertion of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

by Britain and France in the name of appeasement. The worsening international situation led to expansion of the Territorial Army (TA). It was decided to raise new units of anti-aircraft and coastal artillery in Orkney to defend the Scapa Flow naval base, with a fortress company of the Royal Engineers to support them. The

Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland. The Lieutenancy was replaced by two Lieutenancies, the Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and the Lord Lieutenant of Shetland, in 1948. * James Douglas, 11th Earl of Morton 17 ...

asked Linklater, still a Reserve officer, to raise one of these units, and he chose the '

Sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing ...

s'. He was commissioned as Captain and second-in-command of the Orkney Fortress Royal Engineers on 16 September 1938, but was effective commander. The unit consisted of a single company headquartered at

Kirkwall Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...

, mainly to operate the electrical generators for the Scapa Flow defences and man the searchlights for the guns. The men were called out from farms and villages shortly before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and served through the winter of 1939/1940, when Orkney received a number of ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' raids. By mid-1940 reinforcements were pouring into the Orkney and Shetland defences and Linklater's command was broken up.Eric Linklater, ''The Northern Garrisons: The Army at War'', London, 1941; (e-book: London: Bloomsbury Reader, 2014). As a well-known author, Linklater was soon employed by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

Public Relations department to write official "instant histories" of the war, such as ''The Defence of Calais'' (1941) and ''The Northern Garrisons'' (1941), which described the life of British troops stationed in remote locations, including Orkney. This culminated in service in Italy in 1944–1945, which led to his novel about an equivocal Italian soldier, ''Private Angelo'' (1946), which contrasts nationalism with a sense of national community: "I hope you will not liberate us out of existence," is a remark Angelo makes. As one reference work puts it, Angelo "lacks 'the great and splendid gift' of courage, and consequently makes a poor soldier, although he is especially assiduous in retreating, and ultimately deserts." In 1951 Linklater published a semi-official account of ''The Campaign in Italy'' and also visited the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

for the War Office as a temporary

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. Linklater moved back to the Scottish mainland in 1947 to Pitcalzean House, near

Hill of Fearn Hill of Fearn ( gd, Baile an Droma) is a small village near Tain in Easter Ross, in the Scottish council area of Highland. Geography The village is on the B9165 road, between the A9 trunk road and the smaller hamlet of Fearn to the southeast ...

Ross-shire Ross-shire (; gd, Siorrachd Rois) is a historic county in the Scottish Highlands. The county borders Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire – a county consisting o ...

. His abilities and reputation as a novelist waned somewhat, but he turned to historical writing, and with great effect to autobiography.

Recognition

Linklater was Rector of the

in 1945–1948 and received an honorary degree from the University in 1949. He was appointed

in 1954, served as deputy lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty in 1968–1973, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1971.

Family and death

On 1 June 1933 Linklater married Marjorie MacIntyre (1909–1997), an

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

-born, English-educated actress and campaigner for the arts and the environment. She later became active in local politics and on the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

in 1957–1963. They had four children, of whom their elder daughter Alison (born 1934) is an artist and their younger daughter, Kristin Linklater (1936-2020) was an actor, voice teacher and author of ''Freeing the Natural Voice''. Kristin's son

Hamish Linklater Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in '' The New Adventures of Old Christine'', Andrew Keanelly in ''The Crazy Ones'', and Clark Debussy in ''Legion''. He is the son of ...

is also an actor. Their elder son

Magnus Linklater Magnus Duncan Linklater, CBE (born 21 February 1942) is a Scottish journalist, writer, and former newspaper editor. Early life and education Linklater was born in Orkney, and is the son of Scottish writer Eric Linklater and arts campaigner Marjo ...

(born 1942) is a journalist and former editor of ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'', and their second, Andro Linklater (1944–2013), was also a writer and journalist. Eric Linklater died in Aberdeen on 7 November 1974 from

thrombosis Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (t ...

at the age of 75. He was buried in the churchyard at St Michael's,

Harray Harray (pronounced ) ( non, Herað; nrn, Herrað) is a parish on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It has the unique distinction of being the only parish without a coastline, instead being landlocked and sitting next to a freshwater loch. Harray is ...

Mainland, Orkney The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of O ...

Main works

Reviews

* Ritchie, Harry (1981), ''

Buchan Buchan is an area of north-east Scotland, historically one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by ...

and Linklater'', which includes a review of ''Laxdale Hall'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), ''

Cencrastus ''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...

'' No. 7, Winter 1981-82, p. 46,

References

;Citations *

External links

Biography
at slainte.org.uk/Scotauth * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Linklater, Eric 1899 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Scottish historians Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II British Army personnel of the Korean War Carnegie Medal in Literature winners Civil servants in the Ministry of Information (United Kingdom) Deputy Lieutenants of Ross and Cromarty Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Linklater family People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School People from Penarth Rectors of the University of Aberdeen Linklater Scottish autobiographers Scottish children's writers Scottish journalists Scottish military historians Scottish National Party politicians Scottish novelists Scottish people of Swedish descent Scottish Renaissance Scottish short story writers Scottish travel writers Writers from Orkney Presidents of the Saltire Society