Scottish Literature

Davison says:

     Literature is the living memory of a nation. It connects past and present, and provides the vocabulary for exploring who we are, and where we want to go. A society that neglects its own literature cannot act as a civilizing force in world culture. Equally without renewing its stories, a community cannot nurture citizens who are confident and self-critical, passionate and open. We believe that literature is vital for Scotland and for global culture.

     This kind of literature includes literature written in Scottish Gaelic, Celtic, Scots, Brythonic, Latin, French, and English. So as a result of different conquest the Scottish literature received influences of many places, but is there a literary and cultural identity which is distinctively Scottish?

     The Scottish Literature is considered the oldest in Europe and it’s introduced in many contexts in the history and cultural movements of Scotland. There are different stages in Scottish literature:

     Early Literature: this stage is characterized for the earliest works of a Cuchulain who was a Celtic mythological warrior. These stories were written before of the Christianity in Scotland, so this works reveals the development of the Gaelic world to 20^th century.

     One of the most representative works is a Welsh poem written in the six century called The Gododdin. This poem talks about how Calgatus fight with the Roman troops and the army against the imperialism.

     So the linguistic mix of this stage is formed by the Gaelic, Norse, Latin, Welsh, and Old English. 

     Medieval, Renaissance and reformation literature:  this stage includes poems about the war of the independence such as The Bruce written by John Bour, and The Wallace written by Blind Harry. These are historical fictions because talks about the Scottish heroes. These stories are very popular due the adventure and anecdotes based on the chronicle history and heroes of their time. One of the most important historical documents is the Declaration of Arbroath.    

     The great Scots poets were Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

     Literature of the Enlightenment and Romanticism: this stage is considered the ‘Great age’ of Scottish literature due renowned authors such as Ramsay, Fergusson and Burns.  

     William Hamilton of Gilbertfield’s modern translation of Blind Harry’s historical episodic epic The Wallace, were all emphasizing the longer tradition of Scottish literature.    

     The works were based on political and economic themes. Some philosophical writings reflected the human experiences as well as personal thoughts.

 Works of James Macpherson were in fact imaginative reconstructions of variations from the Old Celtic stories of the Ossianic heroes and lovers. What made Macpherson anathema to Johnson was the implicit claim that Scotland had an ancient civilization and literature.

     Literature of the later Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries: one of the most famous authors of this period is Stevenson who wrote novels such as Jekyll and Hyde, Kidnapped and The Master of Ballantrae, etc.

     The vision of Scotland presented in such writing as the stories of the minister Ian Maclaren and the poem collected in the ‘Whistlebinkie’ anthologies of the time was eagerly required by generations of Scots living abroad all over the world.

     Due the Second World War appeared many Scottish poets such as Sorley MacLean, Edwin Morgan, Robert Garioch, Mac Diarmid, etc. 

      Modern and Contemporary Literature: this stage began in the 20^th century with influence of the modernism and nationalism. The most important author of this stage are Alasdair Gray (his novels shows the economic realities, personal limitations, and history), Edwin Morgan (he wrote poems about the history based on travelers in Scotland), and Liz Lochhead (he wrote plays about figures from Scottish history and how the theatre in convey to younger generations).

     The most important authors of the Scottish literature are:

     Robert Henryson: was an important Scottish poet, who wrote a narrative poem, called The Testament of Cresseid, Moral Fables, etc. Henryson is the most sympathetic of poets, which gives him a depth of human understanding.

     William Dunbar: is a renaissance writer. His writing style is linguistically dynamic and packed with razory images.  The most important poems were The Thrissil and The Rose, Sweet Rose of Virtue and of Gentleness, etc.

     James Macpherson: his works are based on Celtic language. He is known because he introduced the Gaelic world into an Enlightenment sense of superiority.

     Robert Louis Stevenson: is considered the prophet of the twenty-first centuries as his contemporaries Conrad and Wilde were prophets for the twentieth.

     Hugh MacDiarmid: his real name is Christopher Murray. He was important because he was the reason of the development of the modernism in Scotland. His modernist works are known as dense and short stories such as Annals of the Five Senses, Lucky Poet, etc.

      Due the richness of the Scottish literature was created the ASL (Association for Scottish Literacy studies) which is an educational charity dedicated to promote the study of literature in many aspects. This association decides what jobs are going to be published in newspapers, websites, etc.

      The Scottish poem more characteristic is The Cuillins, Evening, April 1964.

Beyond the lochs of the blood of the children of men,

Beyond the frailty of plain and the labor of mountain,

Beyond poverty, consumption, fever, agony,

Beyond hardship, wrong, tyranny, distress,

Beyond misery, despair, hatred, treachery,

Beyond guilt and defilement: watchful

Heroic, the Cuillin is seen

Rising on the other side of sorrow.

     

      This poem was written at the beginnings of the Second World War. The author’s intention is show the rise of the fascism in Europe by the symbolic hope represented by the mountain range of his native place. 

As Ben Okri says:

    

      “It is another country. The air is sharper. The hills, stark in their solidity, sheer out in the lights. It is a country in which history breathes from the landscapes. My first impression of Edinburgh was of staircases which seemed to have been carved on boulders and cobbled streets which reminded me of secret courtyards in Paris and the South of France. It is a city of the imagination in which dwelled another city of frustrated yearnings … It is the only city I know where the old resides so solidly in the new, where the music of the place blasts out its ancient lore amid the living spaces of the inhabitants. Culture, during a time of political impotence, can become kitsch, but it can also function as continual declaration and resistance.”

     

      The poems were the most important writings in Scottish literature because it’s represented different parts of the history of the country and are an evidence of the culture of Scotland. Due that and the richness of the Scottish literature we can conclude Scotland is the city of literature.