Description
Book SynopsisWhat do we mean by ‘Scottish literature’?
Why does it matter?
How do we engage with it?
Bringing infectious enthusiasm and a lifetime’s experience to bear on this multi-faceted literary nation, Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow, sets out to guide you through the varied and ever-evolving landscape of Scottish literature.
A comprehensive and extensive work designed not only for scholars but also for the generally curious, Scottish Literature: an introduction tells the tale of Scotland’s many voices across the ages, from Celtic pre-history to modern mass media. Forsaking critical jargon, Riach journeys chronologically through individual works and writers, both the famed and the forgotten, alongside broad overviews of cultural contexts which connect texts to their own times. Expanding the restrictive canon of days gone by, Riach also sets down a new core body of ‘Scottish Literature’: key writers and works in English, Scots, and Gaelic.
Ranging across time and genre, Scottish Literature: an introduction invites you to hear Scotland through her own words.
Trade Review‘Obviously indispensable; I am learning new facts and possibilities on every page.’ – Neal Ascherson
‘It takes women and men of prodigious faculty to advance the institution of a National Literature.’ – Niyi Osundare
‘The presiding spirit over this book is Hugh MacDiarmid…’ – Stuart Kelly
‘Scottish Literature: An Introduction, Alan Riach’s magnum opus, is all that the term implies. It is encyclopaedic, refreshing, personal and yet detached, and it has provoked me into buying Gavin Douglas’s Aeneid, The Eneados, which is a bloody good read, as is the book that prompted its purchase!’ – John Purser
‘Alan Riach’s Scottish Literature: An Introduction is excellent – incredibly comprehensive! I think it is pitched at exactly the right level for the audience it’s aimed it at. I’m already well into it and am looking forward to reading the whole book.’ – Ronald Renton
