two Scottish questions

[rodlox]

I apologize for how dumb they may sound:

1) Kirkwall and Stromness are cities on those islands north of Scotland - that's the Orkneys, yes?

2) if I wanted to read Scottish medieval literature (any time between 1066 & 1492 AD), what authors or books would you suggest?

Comments

[pimpmytardis]

1. Yes, Kirkwall is the capital of the Orkneys and Stromness is another large town.

2. About Orkney in particular, or in general? And do you mean primary sources or modern fiction set then?

I also know of a good (modern) short story set in Orkney during the Bronze Age. But I might be a little biased because it's by my mother.

[rodlox]

1. thank you.

2. primary sources, please.

[pimpmytardis]

The really famous one is John Barbour's The Brus (1370s, iirc- a contemporary of Chaucer). Poems by Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy. Afraid I know more from the seventeenth century onward.

[rodlox]

if i may ask (and apologize for not asking sooner), what is the name of the modern short story?

[fififolle]

Not dumb at all, and sorry I can't help on the literature side, but, just to say, technically Kirkwall might be a city, possibly, given that it has a cathedral, but you might want to bear in mind it's a pretty small place. You can walk from one end to the other in about ten minutes, LOL! And Stromness is even smaller! There's not a lot of people on the Orkneys :)

[reggietate]

Stromness is tiny, I think :-) Though my only acquaintance with it is from the film The Spy In Black, which is set in the |First World War.

[hoshinekoyasha]

I'm stealing your icon.

...like a theif in the night who leaves a note when he's done

[rodlox]

you're welcome to.
just be sure to credit the person I got it from (Sapphire Smoke)

notes are always appreciated.