Description
Book SynopsisScotland's rich literary tradition is a product of its unique culture and landscape, as well as of its long history of inclusion and resistance to the United Kingdom. Scottish literature includes masterpieces in three languages - English, Scots and Gaelic - and global perspectives from the diaspora of Scots all over the world. This Companion offers a unique introduction, guide and reference work for students and readers of Scottish literature from the pre-medieval period to the post-devolution present. Essays focus on key periods and movements (the Scottish Enlightenment, Scottish Romanticism, the Scottish Renaissance), genres (the historical novel, Scottish Gothic, 'Tartan Noir') and major authors (Burns, Scott, Stevenson, MacDiarmid and Spark). A chronology and guides to further reading in each chapter make this an ideal overview of a national literature that continues to develop its own distinctive style.
Trade Review'The study of Scottish literature, once seen as a marginalised or minor endeavour, has come of age, given the high calibre of the essays collected here.' Scotland on Sunday
'A valuable overview.' Sunday Herald
'The essays contained in this volume provide a broad overview of Scottish literary writing from the earliest times to the present day. It represents an invaluable resource for anyone beginning their exploration of a particular period, author, or genre; but with contributions from many of the leading scholars in their respective fields, it will also reward the more knowledgeable reader with fresh insights and new perspectives.' ASLS
'… a fascinating account of Scottish literature from the sixth century onwards. … The Companion to Scottish Literature should be on the required reading list of anyone interested in the development and current state of Scottish literature and, by extension, the Scottish critical tradition.' Rhona Brown, Scottish Studies Newsletter
Table of ContentsChronology; Introduction Gerard Carruthers and Liam McIlvanney; 1. Scottish literature before Scottish literature Thomas Clancy; 2. The Medieval period Alessandra Petrina; 3. Reformation and Renaissance Sarah Dunnigan; 4. The aftermath of Union Leith Davis; 5. Robert Burns Nigel Leask; 6. Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Scottish Canon: cosmopolites or narrow nationalists? Murray Pittock; 7. Scott and the historical novel Ian Duncan; 8. The Gaelic tradition Peter Mackay; 9. Scottish Gothic David Punter; 10. Victorian Scottish literature Andrew Nash; 11. Robert Louis Stevenson Penny Fielding; 12. Hugh MacDiarmid and the Scottish Renaissance Scott Lyall; 13. Popular fiction: detective novels and thrillers from Holmes to Rebus David Goldie; 14. Muriel Spark Robert Hosmer; 15. The Glasgow novel Liam McIlvanney; 16. 'What is the language using us for?': Modern Scottish poetry Fiona Stafford; 17. The emergence of Scottish studies Matthew Wickman; 18. Otherworlds: devolution and the Scottish novel Cairns Craig; 19. Scottish literature in diaspora Gerard Carruthers; Index.
