Ian Hamilton Finlay - A Memoir

This is a personal portrait of the Scottish poet and artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, his life and work, by Christopher McIntosh, his friend of nearly three decades, who took part in many of his battles and campaigns. McIntosh recounts Finlay's emergence as an avant-garde writer and poet in the 1950s, the creation, together with his wife Sue, of his famous garden at his home Stonypath-Little Sparta in Lanarkshire, his espousal of the ideals of the French Revolution, his defence of classical values, his idiosyncratic form of paganism (Little Sparta was dedicated to Apollo), his struggle against what he called the "secular terror", his many battles (with the local taxation authorities, with the French cultural establishment, with publishers and with authors who misunderstood his work. In many ways he was a paradoxical figure on the cultural scene - a contemporary artist who opposed modern culture and fiercely upheld tradition, in other words a kind of radical traditionalist. Having been seen by many as an enfant terrible, he was in his later years fêted by the establishment, given honorary doctorates and an honorary professorship, awarded a CBE and hailed as Scotland's greatest artist. Today he has a world-wide reputation, and in 2004 a panel of artists and arts professionals voted the garden at Stonypath-Little Sparta the most important work of Scottish art. This lively personal tribute is a must for Finlay scholars and admirers.