The People of the Sea: A Journey in Search of the Seal Legend [Hardcover]

David Thomson (Author), Seamus Heaney (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2000

A magical book about an ancient legend-that the seal was once human, and can sometimes resume human form-and about the Celtic fishing families who still tell it, sing it, believe it.

The People of the Sea is an incomparable evocation of the pagan Celtic world, where even today magic coexists with reality, and where ancient traditions, beliefs, and ways of life somehow endure. The late David Thomson, a Scotsman raised among fishermen and storytellers, was obsessed from childhood by the Celtic seal legend-the large body of stories and songs surrounding the gray Atlantic seal-and the dream-like hold that his own encounters with seals had on him. In the early 1950s he took a journey to seek the legend out-in the Hebrides, on the east coast of Scotland, on the west coast of Ireland, in the Shetlands and the Orkney Islands. He gives us here the fruit of his search as he found it-in bar conversations, in chance meetings on the beach, at a country dance, in a crofter's kitchen-and he also tells us something of the men, women, and children from whom he heard the stories. The result is an unclassifiable masterpiece, a book that his friend Seamus Heaney, in an introduction written especially for this edition, calls "a poetic achievement," a work of "intuitive understanding, perfect grace, and perfect pitch."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A masterpiece, a book about an ancient way of life sustained by courage, courtesy, and above all, story." -- Thomas Flanagan

"It is, indeed, a strange and beautiful book . . . a paean to a vanishing world [of] dangerous and wondrous enchantment." -- Boston Sunday Globe

"Recalls some splendid cave drawing, telling as much of man as of beast, and leaving us in awe of each." -- Gavin Maxwell (1965)

"[A] nonesuch of a book [that] should raise the sights of any reader who relished... Bruce Chatwin's 'In Patagonia.' " -- The Atlantic Monthly

About the Author

David Thomson (1914-1988) was one of the greatest prose writers to come out of Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century. The People of the Sea (1954) was his first book, and he followed it with ten others: memoirs, novels, and stories for children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; 1st Counterpoint ed edition (November 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582430861
• ISBN-13: 978-1582430867
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful glimpse into a different world, February 26, 2001

By 

P. Lozar "plozar" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The People of the Sea: A Journey in Search of the Seal Legend (Hardcover)

This is one of the most marvelous (in all senses of the word) reading experiences I've had in a long time. Thomson's book was originally published in the 1950's, but had fallen out of print and was resurrected through the efforts of Seamus Heaney, a friend of the author's who also provides a very helpful introduction. As a child, Thomson became fascinated by legends of seals who transform themselves into human beings (or vice versa), and in pursuit of this interest he traveled into remote areas of Scotland and Ireland where these legends were still part of the living folk tradition. But in the 1940's the tradition was dying out: the educational system pressured children to speak English rather than Gaelic, and listening to the radio had superseded traditional entertainments such as storytelling. Thomson's chapters depict a way of life that was already disappearing; he conveys not only the stories themselves but the entire "flavor" of the storytelling -- the people who tell them, the phraseology they use, their audiences, and the smoky cottages and fishy seaside shacks where the stories are told. His summary of the seal legends is fascinating, but the greatest pleasure of the book, for me, was its evocation of the world in which the legends arose. I can't recommend this book highly enough. (Suggested listening to accompany the final chapter: "The Song of the Seals" from Matt Molloy's album "Shadows on Stone.")

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, that I could give more than five stars, July 21, 2005

By 

Norma Holter "aka sue" (Bend Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The People of the Sea: A Journey in Search of the Seal Legend (Paperback)

I first came across this book in Ireland during the late 70's. It has become one of my very favorites. I've given copies to people and at one time gave away my last one to a writer who also wrote Selkie tales. Fortunately, I was able to get more.

As I read the book I feel as though I'm right there with him...the look, the feel, the smell of the air, the ground, inside the homes...he captured it perfectly.

I can't agree with those who complain that it didn't give enough information---. It's one of those things that people don't talk about with outsiders....and there may even be concerns that to talk about it would cause harm in some way---either to them or the Selkies. The fact that he was able to glean as much info as he did is a tribute to the trust the people felt towards him.

I'm so thankful that he made this/these treck(s) and documented as much as he did---even though the tales were being lost even at that time.

There's a great scene in the movie Local Hero, where the scientest gal is either getting into or coming out of the water; at one point the camera passes across her feet and her toes are quite webbed. It's just a visual, nobody says anything or has any reaction to it and if one didn't have the Selkie background it wouldn't have made much sense.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars selchies forever, August 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The People of the Sea: A Journey in Search of the Seal Legend (Hardcover)

I was fifteen when I first read this book, in 1967. I had never heard any of the Selchie legends, and I was completely enchanted by them, and by Thomson's writing. He doesn't just retell these tales; he finds those people who still tell them, and lets them speak for themselves. We hear about how they lived then, and how they live now, showing how beautiful some of the old ways were, and how sad their loss is. I have re-read it many times since and, as I get older, I find more in it that speaks to me. It should be impossible to feel nostalgia for something you have never experienced, but Thomson has managed to fill me with that emotion. I'm thrilled that it is back in print again (my copy is worn thin!) and that the celebrated poet Seamus Heaney has written the new foreword.