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A contribution to: Myth

Edited by John McKeane and Joanna Neilly

MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities 5

Modern Humanities Research Association

open

Abstract.  This paper argues that although Neil Gunn’s 1941 novel The Silver Darlings has been examined in terms of what this paper terms ‘mythic parallelism’ on numerous occasions, few critics have taken cognizance of the extent to which The Silver Darlings is in dialogue with the work of C. G. Jung. At the beginning, the paper notes the disparity between Gunn’s continuing cultural presence and the lack of scholarly attention, then moves on to argue that the latest development in Scottish literary studies is an opportunity for Gunn’s work that has been missed. The paper then goes on to argue that the crux of Gunn’s ‘mythic parallelism’ is not simply his use of myth as a patterning device for his fiction, but lies in the ways in which myth was being re-interpreted in his contemporary environment. In regard to this novel, the paper argues, the key influence is C. G. Jung. While he has been noted as an influence often, no close comparison has been undertaken between the work of Jung and Gunn; this paper then goes on to show how the ‘mythic parallelism’ of The Silver Darlings is not based on an allusion to Celtic myth as the underlying pattern, but on an evocation of the developmental theory that Jung derived from all hero myths.

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