After the Dance

These short stories by the renowned Scottish author demonstrate the powerful imagination that became "the wonder of literary Scotland" (Sorley MacLean, author of Eimhir).   Growing up on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, Iain Crichton Smith was raised speaking Gaelic. When he went to school in Stornoway, he spoke English. Like many islanders before and since, his culture was divided. In After the Dance, he explores that tumultuous divide and its effects on the small communities he knew so well.   The stories in this volume prove that big themes—love, history, power, submission, death—can be addressed without the foil of irony. Instead, Smith reveals their resonance by rooting them in place, and giving them a voice that risks pure, humane, impassioned speech.   This updated edition includes the story 'Home.'