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 20th 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historical documents is the Declaration of Arbroath.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 20th
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.
