This guide combines detailed literary history with discussion of contemporarydebates about Scottishness. The book considers the rise of Scottish Studiesthe deve... » 

This guide combines detailed literary history with discussion of contemporarydebates about Scottishness. The book considers the rise of Scottish Studiesthe development of a national literature and issues of cultural nationalism.Beginning in the medieval period during a time of nation building the bookgoes on to focus on the Scots revival of the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies before moving on to discuss the literary renaissance of the twentiethcentury. Debates concerning Celticism and Gaelic take place alongsidediscussion of key Scottish writers such as William Dunbar Robert Burns WalterScott Thomas Carlyle Margaret Oliphant Hugh MacDiarmid Alasdair GrayJanice Galloway and Liz Lochhead. The book also considers migr writers toScotland Scottish literature in relation to England the United States andIreland and postcolonialism and other theories that shed fresh light on thecurrent status and future of Scottish literature.Key FeaturesIdentifies themain trends in the emergence and development of Scottish literature situatingthem in historical and cultural contextDiscusses longrunning debates aboutScottish language and national identity through detailed readings of authorsand textsIntroduces students to a variety of comparative and theoreticalapproaches which further develop an understanding of ScottishliteratureEncourages reflection on questions of Scottish nationalism culturalpolitics canonicity and the rise of Scottish Studies «