The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-Century Scottish Literature (Edinburgh Companions to Scottish Literature) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748636943 ISBN 13: 9780748636945

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2009

Synopsis

This volume considers the major themes, texts and authors of Scottish literature of the twentieth and, so far, twenty-first century. It identifies the contexts and impulses that led Scottish writers to adopt their creative literary strategies. Moving beyond traditional classifications, it draws on the most recent critical approaches to open up new perspectives on Scottish literature since 1900. The volume's innovative thematic structure ensures that the most important texts or authors are seen from different perspectives whether in the context of empire, renaissance, war and post-war, literary genre, generation, and resistance. In order to provide thorough coverage, these thematic chapters are complemented by chronological 'Arcade' chapters, which outline the contexts of the literature of the period by decades, and by 'Overview' chapters which trace developments across the century in theatre, language and Gaelic literature. Taken together, the chapters provide a thorough and thought-provoking account of the century's literature.

About this title

About the Author:

Ian Brown is Professor in Drama at the Kingston University.

Alan Riach is Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.

Review:

This welcome volume is one of the new Edinburgh Companions to Scottish Literature series. Written by experts in the field including Professors John Corbett, Douglas Gifford [and] Alan Riach ... This volume adds great value to the existing more general material. -- Penny Dade Reference Reviews Brown and Riach... respond to T.S. Elliot's alleged 1919 quip--"Was there a Scottish Literature?"--overwhelmingly in the affirmative. Preceded by a valuable introduction, the 18 self-standing chapters, contributed mostly by established Scottish academics (e.g. Douglas Gifford, Murray Pittock, Roderick Watson, Cairns Craig, John Corbett), provide a mass of material... Useful notes and bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. -- J. Walker, Queen's University at Kingston Choice This collection not only fits the bill in terms of a comprehensive, illustrative range of discussions which give the reader a deep since of Scottish writing in the twentieth century, but it also offers thought-provoking and engaging perspectives on that terrain which go beyond a mere guide and provide a set of snapshots of luring intellectual pathways... This is a really great, resourceful and illuminating book. -- Aaron Kelly Scottish Literary Review This welcome volume is one of the new Edinburgh Companions to Scottish Literature series. Written by experts in the field including Professors John Corbett, Douglas Gifford [and] Alan Riach ... This volume adds great value to the existing more general material. Brown and Riach... respond to T.S. Elliot's alleged 1919 quip--"Was there a Scottish Literature?"--overwhelmingly in the affirmative. Preceded by a valuable introduction, the 18 self-standing chapters, contributed mostly by established Scottish academics (e.g. Douglas Gifford, Murray Pittock, Roderick Watson, Cairns Craig, John Corbett), provide a mass of material... Useful notes and bibliography. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. This collection not only fits the bill in terms of a comprehensive, illustrative range of discussions which give the reader a deep since of Scottish writing in the twentieth century, but it also offers thought-provoking and engaging perspectives on that terrain which go beyond a mere guide and provide a set of snapshots of luring intellectual pathways... This is a really great, resourceful and illuminating book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0748636943
• ISBN 13: 9780748636945
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Brown Ian, Riach Alan