John McPhee's The Crofter and the Laird -- Reading and Discussion Questions

Students in English 171, Sages and Satirists, Brown University, 2002 and 2003

Victorian Web Home —> Post-Victorian Authors in the Victorian Web —> Other Works by McPhee]

Style and Technique

• John McPhee's Credibility as an Author
• Balancing Romanticism with Realism
• Point/Counter Point With Mr. McPhee
• Why No Epiphanies?
• McPhee eats lobster; likes it
• McPhee's Descriptive Flair
• Dry Narration
• McPhee and His Lists
• Detail and Imagery in The Crofter and the Laird
• Montage and Transitions in McPhee
• Characterization by Author and Neighbor
• John McPhee's Musical Ear
• McPhee's Description of Island Life in The Crofter and the Laird
• Gaelic, Gaelic, and more Gaelic
• MacMillan Didn’t Have a Leg to Stand On
• McPhee is in the Details
• Suspending History
• John McPhee: Teacher, Guide, Investigator

Theme and Subject

• A history of violence and lethargy
• Superstition and Satire in The Crofter and the Laird
• McPhee Kills Chickens
• American Conventions in Scotland
• A Variety of Views in The Crofter and the Laird
• Colonsay: the Obscure Ending
• Pretty Maids all in a Row: the Women of Colonsay
• God and Religion in The Crofter and the Laird

Literary Relations: Source, Influence, Confluence

• McPhee, Didion, and Lawrence
• McPhee's Sensitivity and Lawrence's Savagery

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Last modified 17 November 2003