It is a sign of authors' success when
folks look for places they only know from novels. Rosslyn Chapel, Tolbooth
Prison, Greyfriars Kirkyard and the ports of Para Handy have been host to 'literary
tourists' for many a year. Even the back room of Edinburgh's Oxford Bar has
risen to fame as Rebus's pub in the books of Ian Rankin.
Historical novelist Diana Gabaldon
invented a home for the Fraser clan and called it 'Lallybroch'. The place
has no more substance than the ethereal Brigadoon, yet readers come to
Scotland hoping for a magical glimpse of its likeness. Homage is given at
Culloden's Fraser stone by visitors whose only bond with the clan is the
compassion stirred in them by Diana's Outlander series. Such is the
worldwide phenomenon of Diana's writing that her readers now fly to Scotland
to see Culloden for themselves, to tread in the footsteps of the fictional
characters and to lament the true casualties of that battle.
“I was lucky enough to see Diana at the
Fergus Highland Games in Canada in 2007, and I would say she was one of the
main attractions for visitors," said Lord Sempill, who has invited Diana to
next month's Homecoming Gathering. "As she gave talks and signed copies of
her books, I could see the amazing rapport she has with her readership."
I asked the author what her own feelings
were the first time she stood on the real Drumossie Moor.
"It's a silent place, Drumossie. Even on
the busiest, most tourist-packed day of summer, the silence of it will break
your heart," said Diana. "My husband and I went through the Visitors Centre
(the old one), then out onto the field, and walked the whole of it, barely
speaking. On the way back, we stopped and sat on a bench near the clan
gravestones for a bit, just contemplating them. After a bit, my husband said
to me, 'So... where's Murtagh buried?' (Murtagh being one of the characters
from the books, who died during the battle at Culloden.) 'Over there,' I
said, nodding at the Fraser clan-stone. He sat in silence for a minute, then
said, 'I can't believe I'm getting all choked up over somebody who doesn't
even exist!' To which I replied, 'No – but there are a lot of men who did –
and they're over there.' "
The couple returned nearly twenty years
later, this time by personal invitation of the National Trust of Scotland
for the dedication of the new Visitors Centre. "It's a remarkable
accomplishment," Diana told me, "One of the most moving and evocative museum
presentations I've ever seen."
Several Scottish and American companies
now run tours specifically designed for Outlander fans in the
homeland of the books' hero Jamie Fraser.
"This is great for Culloden," said Deirdre
Smyth, Manager of the Battlefield & Visitor Centre. "The books have helped
spark an interest in this period of history and many have visited the centre
through having read the books," which she said are "bestsellers in Culloden
shop."
"I'm very flattered that the books should
have aroused so much interest," the author replied when asked how it felt to
be the core reason for such trips, "And very humbly pleased that they've
perhaps brought a fresh interest in the history of the Rising and its
aftermath."
The tour guides tell of the wide-ranging
effects that the Outlander novels are having well beyond Drumossie.
"The series has been very instrumental in
awakening a curiosity about Scotland," Judy Lowstuter told me, from Celtic
Journeys in Virginia. "Because of Diana's rich tapestry of Scottish history,
fantasy, and reality, guests are in love with Scotland before the plane
leaves the runway. They come to walk the path of the characters, to see and
feel the history, to meet these strong and resilient people who have
survived for centuries in the face of unfathomable adversity. Every
traveller comes home with a deep sense of connection with Scotland, one that
has transformed from the fictional Jamie to the reality of the country's
beauty, warm and kind people, and dramatic history."
"Tourists who would not otherwise come to
Scotland are coming because they have read the books," said Alastair
Cunningham of Scottish Clans & Castles Tours, based in Nairn. Alastair's
'Diana Gabaldon Tour' takes guests to places such as Castle Leod,
Strathglass, the Great Caledonian Pine Forest, and to a Fraser gravestone
pock-marked by bullets in the years following Culloden.
Partly inspired by the Outlander novels,
Samantha MacKenzie came to Scotland and married her own Highlander, Scot
AnSgeulaiche. The couple now host the 'Jamie and Claire Tour' for other fans.
Samantha said Diana's books have "made people into amateur geographers of
the country, looking for the factual places amongst the fictional. Tourism
is opening up in normally well hidden or ignored places. People are spending
their time and money in these small places, which helps to sustain the
permanent residents of those areas. I actively promote that. And it's not
just Scottish descendants. Clients who do not have an ounce of Scots blood
in them are dreaming of and planning their 'Outlandish' adventures."
A top request from their guests is Scot's
traditional Highland storytelling, bringing alive the tales of silkies,
clans, legends and place-myths. "I use a number of excerpts borrowed from
historical fiction authors to illustrate things on my tours," said Scot. "As
a historian, I have a great respect for the contribution that fiction
writers make to understanding history."
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Another happy by-product of Diana's
writing is the upsurge of attention received by the Gaelic language.
Alastair Cunningham told me he has certainly seen an increased interest in
Gaelic because of the series. Diana has been helped with her translations
over the years by brothers Iain and Hamish Taylor, native speakers from the
isle of Harris, and now by Catherine-Ann McPhee, the noted Gaidhlig singer
from Barra.
Hearing and learning Gaelic is in high
demand by guests of Samantha and Scot. "Considering that Diana doesn't speak
Gàidhlig, she has managed to bring our language alive to readers who don't
speak it, in ways Commun nan Gaidheal [The Gaelic Board] would be proud of,"
said Scot, who already helps learners around the world. By making available
some of the more difficult words used by Diana's characters, he hopes for a
"greater use of Gàidhlig language in English and American fiction in the
future."
Judy Lowstuter, who has been running her
Outlander tours for five years, offered some poignant tales of the
power of the pen.
An octogenarian from California came on a
tour and was able to visit his cousin in a nursing home in Inverness. A lady
from Idaho, recently widowed, had found an escape in Diana's books and made
the trip with her daughter. A year later she was determined to return to her
beloved Scotland and Culloden Battlefield, although this visit had to be
made in a motorised wheelchair. She died in Elgin that week.
Another of Judy's guests said the books "don’t
only give you a visual concept but an emotional one as well – a feeling of
why the Scots fought for their country as well as a way of life." Seeing the
Celtic Journeys display at a festival finally prompted Joan Watkins to make
the journey to her ancestors' country with people she'd never met – "We were
strangers with a common interest in a book," she said.
There is now talk of Hollywood making an
Outlander movie.
"Staff at Culloden would not be surprised
if a movie was in the offing," Deirdre Smyth commented. "Movies bring new
subjects to people and I'm sure a film would bring a whole new audience to
our Jacobite history."
Lord Sempill said, "When the film
Braveheart hit the big screen, it had a huge impact, increasing attendance
at Highland Games and interest in the clans and Diana’s books have had a
similar effect in stimulating people’s imagination."
The screenplay has been written by Randall
Wallace, the man who wrote Braveheart. As epic a film as that was,
folks might worry that Scottish history will be similarly re-invented.
"Bring it on!" said Alastair Cunningham.
"I don't think our heritage was irretrievably undermined by Mel Gibson as a
painted Pict in the 13th century. The present Culloden Battlefield
Exhibition will always be there to correct the worst of the myths."
I asked Diana if she hoped the moviemakers
would stay true to the historical facts. "Fat chance," she replied. "Historical
accuracy simply isn't a matter of concern to moviemakers. That's not what
they're about. They see their job not primarily as entertainment, but
solely as entertainment. As one of my agents said to me, the first time
we were offered a film option, 'If you care what they do to your book—don't
sell it to them'. That said, there are certainly film-makers who are more
inclined toward fidelity toward the original work, and those who merely want
the rights to a book because it's a bestseller; they don't care what the
original story (let alone the history behind it) is, because they intend to
write their own. That's why we've been extremely careful, over the years, in
our dealings with film people.
"We get a lot of inquiries about
the option rights to the books, but have actually sold an option only four
times. "
At the moment, we do have an option in
effect with a production company called Essential Entertainment. We (my
agent and I) like these people, and think they both appreciate and respect
the book—but that doesn't mean the eventual film would necessarily be either
faithful to the book or very accurate in terms of historical fact. They'll
do what they think they need to, to make a good (well, profitable; the terms
aren't necessarily synonymous) movie. But we'll keep our fingers crossed and
hope for the best."
If the film is made, the author will
become the Dan Brown of Rosslyn Chapel or the J K Rowling of the Glenfinnan
Viaduct. How would that feel?
"I try not to imagine it", said Diana, "Because
the fact is that—in spite of the fact that I will have virtually nothing to
say about either the script or the casting of a film (the production people
do politely ask my opinion now and then, but they aren't legally obliged to
pay attention to it)—many people will assume that I have complete control
over everything, and will complain vociferously about 'How could you let
them do that?!'"
A century hence, the works of contemporary
Scottish authors such as Rankin and Rowling will be part of Scottish history.
Diana Gabaldon, now an honorary Scot by invitation, is bound to join them. I
asked her how that felt.
"Awesome," she said, "In the original
sense of that word. Though if I get a monument on the Royal Mile, I hope
they will have solved the pigeon problem by then."
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