This collection marks the arrival of a major new talent in Scottish poetry. Kevin MacNeil's voice and vision, while rooted in the Hebridean islands, is open to a wide range of cultures, not only those of Scotland – from Gaeldom to urban Scotland – but to the wider European and American mind and, through his interest in Zen Buddhism, to Japanese and Chinese culture. With astonishing freshness and versatility, MacNeil's poetry creates powerful connections and new combinations -he has wit as well as feeling, a powerful sense of the past and the local while being resolutely turned towards the future and the cross-cultural.
The 13th International Conference on the Literature of Region and Nation, held at Biwako in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, in the summer of 2010, fully maintained the tradition established in this long-running conference series of bringing together scholars from many countries and many fields of specialisation. Although the conferences have taken place in widely scattered locations, this was the first to be held in an Asian country; and the opportunity this presented of focusing on the cultural links between East and West was taken up enthusiastically by the participants. Several of the papers explore aspects, sometimes unexpected, of the cultural cross-fertilisation between Japan, or the Orient in general, and the national literatures of the West. Others concentrate on iconic figures from regions of the English-speaking world with strongly-developed individual literary traditions. All the papers have been peer-reviewed, and extensively revised in order to maximise their impact in the written word. The collection demonstrates the stimulating effect of cross-cultural interaction in the field of literary studies of East and West.
A Scottish isle hosts a literary festival in this humorous yet tragic novel by the author of A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll and Hyde. On an island like no other, populated by writers, the annual Brilliant & Forever Festival is a much anticipated event; its participants a story away from either glory or infamy. This year, three best friends—two human, one alpaca—are chosen to compete, so victory is not only about reward. This is a novel like no other; a wonderful, provocative tussle, a whip-cracking, energetic, laugh-out-loud satire on what we value in culture, and in our lives. And yet, written with exquisite warmth and empathy, it’s also a moving exploration of integrity, friendship and belonging. It’ll split your sides and break your heart. Praise for The Brilliant & Forever “Laugh-out-loud funny. It’s so refreshing to read a book that isn’t like anything else.” —David Robinson “A wise warm-hearted meditation on the human condition.” —TheScotsman (UK) “Full of wry detail and satirical flourish, a demonstration of virtuoso storytelling. MacNeil atomizes the process of othering by which communities define themselves. All of that makes it sound overly serious, which it isn’t: MacNeil’s prose style keeps things light, lyrical, and funny.” —The Skinny “The reader will realize that this charming, sad novel is inspired by Italo Calvino . . . . It is a joy to read such an engaging, luminous novel, which dissects rather than enacts our cultural cringe.” —The Guardian (UK)
Critics hailed the first edition of The Literature of Scotland as one of the most comprehensive and fascinatingly readable accounts of Scottish literature in all three of the country's languages - Gaelic, Scots and English. In this extensively revised and expanded new edition, Roderick Watson traces the lives and works of Scottish writers in a beautiful and rugged country that has been divided by political and religious conflict but united, too, by a democratic and egalitarian ideal of nationhood. The Literature of Scotland: The Twentieth Century provides a comprehensive account of the richest ever period in Scottish literary history. From The House with the Green Shutters to Trainspotting and far beyond, this companion volume to The Literature of Scotland: The Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century gives a critical and historical context to the upsurge of writing in the languages of Scotland. Roderick Watson covers a wide range of modern and contemporary Scottish authors including: MacDiarmid, MacLean, Grassic Gibbon, Gunn, Robert Garioch, Iain Crichton Smith, Alasdair Gray, Edwin Morgan, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, A. L. Kennedy, Liz Lochhead, John Burnside, Jackie Kay, Kathleen Jamie and many, many more! Also featuring an extended list of Further Reading and a helpful chronological timeline, this is an indispensable introduction to the great variety of Scottish writing which has emerged since the start of the twentieth century.
In one of the most ambitious collections of recent years, Somerset Maugham Prizewinner Rodge Glass edits an exciting assembly of Scotland s most promising new writers. Writing on contemporary Scotland, The Year of Open Doors features stories from Saltire First Book award shortlisted Sophie Cooke, James Black Tait Memorial Prize nominee Suhayl Saadi, acclaimed novelist and poet Kevin MacNeil and renowned performer and novelist Alan Bissett. Throw in renowned international authors like Kapka Kassabova and Jason Donald and renowned figures of Scottish literature like Duncan McClean and you have a collection that aims to show a changing and dynamic new Scotland. Cargo Publishing has also opened the door to brand new, unpublished authors; quite simply if you want to read the best new talent in Scottish fiction, you ve come to the right place.
In almost a century since the First World War ended, Scotland has been transformed in many rich ways. Its literature has been an essential part of that transformation. The third volume of the History, explores the vibrancy of modern Scottish literature in all its forms and languages. Giving full credit to writing in Gaelic and by the Scottish diaspora, it brings together the best contemporary critical insights from three continents. It provides an accessible and refreshing picture of both the varieties of Scottish literatures and the kaleidoscopic versions of Scotland that mark literary developments since 1918.
Compiled to help meet the requirements of the English and Communication Higher Still, this anthology: draws on a wide range of Scottish poets; contains work of contemporary poets; raises issues of significance to students; and offers activities designed to help students achieve their best.
The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature examines the ways in which the cultural and political role of Scottish writing has changed since the country's successful referendum on national self-rule in 1997. In doing so, it makes a convincing case for a distinctive post-devolution Scottish criticism. Introducing over forty original essays under four main headings - 'Contexts', 'Genres', 'Authors' and 'Topics' - the volume covers the entire spectrum of current interests and topical concerns in the field of Scottish studies and heralds a new era in Scottish writing, literary criticism and cultural theory. It records and critically outlines prominent literary trends and developments, the specific political circumstances and aesthetic agendas that propel them, as well as literature's capacity for envisioning new and alternative futures. Issues under discussion include class, sexuality and gender, nationhood and globalisation, the New Europe and cosmopolitan citizenship, postcoloniality,
This book engages critically with debates about linguistic continuity and cultural survival in relation to Europe's authochthonous minorities. Focusing on Scotland's Gaels and Lusatia's Sorbs/Wends, it analyses and evaluates competing assumptions, rationales and ideologies which have shaped previous and present language revitalisation initiatives and that continue to pose dilemmas to language planners and politicians in the UK, Germany and beyond.
Although best-known as one of Scotland's greatest modern poets, Iain Crichton Smith was also prolific as a writer of short stories. These pieces form a central part of his oeuvre, demonstrating the full range and versatility of his literary talent. From humour to tragedy, from inner monologues to extrovert surrealism, the diversity of his writing indicates the extraordinary range of his own reading and mental world. Crichton Smith wrote short stories throughout his life. Some are fragments, others almost novellas, and the best of them all show him to be an author of unique sensitivity and intelligence. These two collections, comprising the complete English stories, include over 45 stories never before published in book form, as well as others that have been out of print for many years, thus making it possible to judge Crichton Smith's achievement as a writer in full. Incorporates stories from The Hermit, Murdo, Mr Trill in Hades and Selected Stories.
