“Illuminated by Water”: Malachy Tallack’s Book is a Minimalist Ode to the Art of Fishing

«I am a fisherman, and have been since I was a child. Few other labels fit me so naturally. Few can be applied to me, like this one, without further attributes. Fishing is intertwined with my memories, my fantasies and my aspirations. It has influenced the way I look at and see the world, and also the way I think about myself within it. It is the childhood obsession that has never faded, the youthful fervor that has never completely abandoned me. If almost everything has changed in the years since my first fishing experience, the sense of adventure that attracted and ensnared me over thirty years ago is still the same. Fishing – and thinking about fishing – has been a precious constant in my life even when I happened to do it less than I would have liked. Like listening again to the songs I loved as a teenager, every return to the water is a return to myself». This is how the Scottish writer Malachy Tallack presents himself in his latest literary work, Illuminati dall'acqua ( Iperborea, 2025, pp. 256, also e-book) , a minimalist ode to the art of fishing and, at the same time, an invitation to reflect on the meditative rhythms of this ancestral human activity and on our connection with the world of nature and animals.

A great singer of uncontaminated nature – and how could it be otherwise living in the Shetland Islands – Tallack starts from the intimate story. He fished with a fly for the first time at the age of eight and since then has undertaken a relentless journey in search of trout in the ponds of Shetland, along the Don River in Russia, in the streams of New Zealand and even among bears in Alaska . For him, as for the international community of enthusiasts of which he feels part, fishing transcends the simple sport to become an artistic experience, a technical and meditative act . As Tallack writes: «For me, fishing has a calming effect not only while I am there, while I cast or catch a fish, but also in other circumstances, when I remember, when I imagine. Fishing fosters a connection with the most intimate and multifaceted place, an intricate and seductive relationship with the natural world. It engages the attention, certainly, but it is also a way to enter into the life – and sometimes death – of the creatures that the fisherman pursues».

Fishing, for the Scottish writer, raises both concrete and existential questions : is it better to catch an elegant trout or a combative salmon? Is the catch an aesthetic moment or an adrenaline-filled challenge? Is it better to follow in the footsteps of Norman Maclean or Ernest Hemingway? What is the vision of the world and of nature that pushes a fisherman to choose a bait that faithfully replicates an insect, rather than an abstract creation of feathers and hooks? Do fish bite because they are attracted and deceived, or simply because they are hungry?

Questions that are a little trivial, a little pretentious, some existential and essential, others simply passionate to the point of mania. However, through the story of fishing adventures full of emotion and moments of contemplation of natural beauty, Tallack addresses the ethical dilemmas inherent in his passion . He questions minimal issues, such as the correctness of revealing the secret of a lucky lake , up to more urgent issues, such as fish exploitation and animal suffering , comparing different philosophies, from Christian thought to that of Peter Singer and Tom Regan. Even the reader who has always considered fishing as a boring and meaningless activity will be captured by the charm of the stories and the sweetness of the reflection, finding pleasure in this celebration of an apparently futile activity, devoid of purpose and reason, just like literature. After all, for many, and Tallack is among them, "fishing is the activity that keeps me sane", as the poet and novelist Jim Harrison wrote.