Gavin Maxwell
Gavin Maxwell | |
---|---|
Born | House of Elrig, Wigtownshire, Scotland | 15 July 1914
Died | 7 September 1969 Inverness, Scotland[1] | (aged 55)
Occupation | Author |
Education | Stowe School |
Alma mater | Hertford College, Oxford |
Genre | Natural history, Travel literature |
Notable works | Ring of Bright Water |
Gavin Maxwell
Biography
Gavin Maxwell was the youngest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, fifth daughter of the seventh Duke of Northumberland.[3] His paternal grandfather, Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet, was an archaeologist, politician and natural historian.[3]
Maxwell was born at The House of Elrig near the small village of
Maxwell's education took place at a succession of
During
In 1956, Maxwell toured the
Maxwell next moved to
He couldn't cope with it. He wasn't a strong man that way, so he couldn't deal with it. But he didn't want anyone to know that, so he started drinking more; he started smoking more. And the pressures became more because we started spending more money. Next thing, agent was on the phone: 'We're broke; we need a sequel.' So, he wrote The Rocks Remain, the sequel to Ring of Bright Water, which was a disaster because it was written in a hurry. It didn't have the same beauty, it didn't have the same anything as Ring of Bright Water. That was the beginning of the end really. — Terry Nutkins, 2010[7]
In The Rocks Remain (1963), the otters Edal, Teko, Mossy and Monday show great differences in personality. The book demonstrates the difficulty Maxwell was having, possibly as a result of his mental state, in remaining focused on one project and the impact that had on his otters, Sandaig and his own life.
In 1966, he travelled to
In The House of Elrig (1965), Maxwell describes his family history and his passion for the calf-country, Galloway, where he was born. It was during this period that he met ornithologist Peter Scott and the young Terry Nutkins, who later became a children's television presenter. Privately homosexual,[8] Maxwell married Lavinia Renton (daughter of The Right Honourable Sir Alan Lascelles and granddaughter of Viscount Chelmsford, Wilfred Thesiger's uncle) on 1 February 1962. The marriage lasted little more than a year and they divorced in 1964.[9] Maxwell also lived in Paultons Square in London.
In 1968, Maxwell's Sandaig home was destroyed by fire, in which Edal perished,
Eilean Bàn now supports a pier of the Skye Bridge, built during the 1990s. Despite modern traffic a hundred feet or so above it, the island is a commemorative otter sanctuary and houses a museum dedicated to Maxwell. Another memorial is a bronze otter erected at Monreith near to St Medan's Golf Club.
According to Douglas Botting, Maxwell suffered from bipolar disorder throughout his life.[12] Maxwell's literary agent was Peter Janson-Smith,[13] who was also agent for James Bond author Ian Fleming.
Gavin Maxwell's otter
Maxwell's book
In his book The Marsh Arabs, Wilfred Thesiger wrote:
[I]n 1956, Gavin Maxwell, who wished to write a book about the Marshes, came with me to Iraq, and I took him round in my tarada for seven weeks. He had always wanted an otter as a pet, and at last, I found him a baby European otter which unfortunately died after a week, towards the end of his visit. He was in Basra preparing to go home when I managed to obtain an otter, which I sent to him. This, very dark in colour and about six weeks old, proved to be a new species. Gavin took it to England, and the species was named after him.
The otter became woven into the fabric of Maxwell's life. The title of his book Ring of Bright Water was taken from the poem "The Marriage of Psyche" by Kathleen Raine, who said in her autobiography that Maxwell had been the love of her life. Raine's relationship with Maxwell deteriorated after 1956 when she indirectly caused the death of Mijbil. Raine held herself responsible not only for losing Mijbil but for a curse she had uttered shortly beforehand, frustrated by Maxwell's homosexuality: "Let Gavin suffer in this place as I am suffering now." Raine blamed herself thereafter for all Maxwell's misfortunes, beginning with Mijbil's death and ending with the cancer that took his 55-year-old life on 7 September 1969.[17][18][2]
Maxwell's ashes were placed beneath a boulder at the former site of his house Camusfeàrna. The boulder marks the position of his writing desk.[7]
Bibliography
- Harpoon at a Venture Rupert Hart-Davis (1952)
- Paperback reissue (1984): ISBN 0-14-006987-9
- Paperback reissue (1998): ISBN 978-1899863464
- Paperback reissue (2013): ISBN 978-1780271804
- Paperback reissue (1984):
- God Protect Me from My Friends Longmans(1956)
- Paperback reissue (1972): ISBN 0-330-02787-5
- Paperback reissue (1972):
- A Reed Shaken By The Wind - a Journey Through the Unexplored Marshlands of Iraq Longmans (1959)
- Paperback reissue (1983): ISBN 978-0140095104
- Paperback reissue (ISBN 0-907871-93-3
- Paperback reissue (1983):
- The Ten Pains of Death (1959)
- Paperback reissue (1986): ISBN 978-0862992897
- Paperback reissue (1986):
- Ring of Bright Water (illustrated by Peter Scott) Longmans (1960)
- Paperback reissue: ISBN 0-14-003923-6
- Ein Ring aus hellem Wasser - Meine Jahre an Schottlands wilder Westküste, ins Deutsche übersetzt von Iris Hansen, München : Blessing, 2021, ISBN 978-3-89667-665-8
- Ein Ring aus hellem Wasser - Meine Jahre an Schottlands wilder Westküste, ins Deutsche übersetzt von Iris Hansen, München : Blessing, 2021,
- Paperback reissue:
- The Otters' Tale Longmans (1962; a children's version of Ring of Bright Water)
- The Rocks Remain Longmans (1963)
- The House of Elrig Longmans (1965)
- Lords of the Atlas: Morocco, the rise and fall of the House of Glaoua Longmans (1966)
- Reissue, (ISBN 0-304-35419-8
- Reissue, (
- Seals of the World (1967)
- Raven Seek Thy Brother Longmans (1969)
- The Ring of Bright Water Trilogy Penguin (2001; abridged)
Biography
- Island of Dreams: Stalking Gavin Maxwell's Ghost by Dan Boothby, Cork Street Books (2014)
- republished as Island of Dreams: A Personal History of a Remarkable Place, Picador (2015) ISBN 978-1509800759
- republished as Island of Dreams: A Personal History of a Remarkable Place, Picador (2015)
- The White Island by ISBN 0-582-10903-5
- Maxwell's Ghost - An Epilogue to Gavin Maxwell's Camusfearna by Richard Frere, ISBN 0-575-02044-X
- reissued (1999) ISBN 1-84158-003-1
- reissued (2011) ISBN 978-1780270111
- reissued (1999)
- Gavin Maxwell, A Life by ISBN 0-246-13046-6(authorized biography)
- republished as The Saga of Ring of Bright Water - The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell Neil Wilson Publishing (2000) ISBN 1-897784-85-6[19]
- republished as The Saga of Ring of Bright Water - The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell Neil Wilson Publishing (2000)
References
- ISBN 0-246-13046-6.
- ^ a b "The dark love behind A Ring of Bright Water". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ a b c The Rocks Remain, Gavin Maxwell, Longmans, 1963, ASIN: B0000CLY9N
- ISBN 978-1-84706-287-1.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34959. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ At 57°10′06″N 5°41′06″W / 57.16833°N 5.68500°W, to a house which had been a croft and home to the local lighthouse keeper of the Sandaig Light southwest of Glenelg.
- ^ a b c Britain By Bike, episode 6 - The Scottish Highlands, BBC, 2010
- ISBN 0-575-02044-X.
- ^ "thePeerage.com". Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- ^ a b "BBC Scotland - BBC Scotland - How Scotland's otters became famous: the inspirational story of Gavin Maxwell". BBC. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ISBN 0-582-10903-5.
- ISBN 0-246-13046-6).
- ISBN 0-575-02044-X.
- OCLC 1144708197.
- S2CID 89831141. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- ^ Al-Sheikhly, Omar F.; Nader, Iyad A. (2013). "The Status of Iraq Smooth - Coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli Hayman 195 6 and Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra Linnaeus 1758 in Iraq" (PDF). IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull. 30 (1): 18–30.
- ^ Janet Watts (8 July 2003). ""Kathleen Raine: Obituary", The Guardian, London, 8/7/2003". Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- ^ Dani Garavelli. ""Gavin Maxwell's Love of Nature", Edinburgh, 22/6/2014". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- ^ "The Saga of Ring of Bright Water - The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell". Neil Wilson Publishing. Archived from the original on 21 May 2006.
External links
- Biography by Maxwell's nephew
- Eilean Bàn
- Maxwell's Otter
- IUCN listing for Maxwell's Otter
- Visit Camusfearna (Sandaig)
Further reading
Maxwell, Gavin, (1914–7 Sept. 1969), Sponsor of the Dolci Cttee; Hon. Life Member: Wildfowl Trust; Cttee, Wildlife Youth Service; Fauna Preservation Soc.; Internat. Cttee, Centro Studi e Scambi Internazionali; Cttee of Honour Nat. Campaign for the Abolition of Capital Punishment; Pres., British Junior Exploration Soc.; writer since 1952; portrait painter, 1949–52, doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U57666 Who's Who (published online: 1 December 2007)