The Edinburgh Companion To Scottish Literature 1400 1650

The years 1400-1650 are rich in literary material, in Scots, in Latin, in Gaelic and indeed, later, in English. However, because of linguistic and cultural barriers, this richness is often hard to reach. This collection, by leading specialists in their fields, provides necessary contextual information about writers, audiences and expectations, and introduces writers and texts to a non-specialist audience.

Between 1400 and 1650 Scotland underwent a series of drastic changes, in court, culture, and religion. This International Companion traces the impact of these historical transformations on Scotland's literatures, in English, Gaelic, Latin and Scots, and provides a comprehensive overview to the major cultural developments of this turbulent age.

Between 1400 and 1650 Scotland underwent a series of drastic changes, in court, culture, and religion. Renaissance and Reformation, the Union of the Crowns, and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms all shaped the nation, shifting and recasting Scotland's established relationships with Europe, the Mediterranean world, and with England. This International Companion traces the impact of these sweeping historical transformations on Scotland's literatures, in English, Gaelic, Latin and Scots, and provides a comprehensive overview to the major cultural developments of this turbulent age.

This collection of essays explores the historical importance and imaginative richness of Scotland's extensive contribution to modes of traditional culture and expression: ballads, tales and storytelling, and song. Its underlying aim is to bring about a more dynamic and inclusive understanding of Scottish culture. Rooted in literary history and both comparative and interdisciplinary in scope, the volume covers the key aspects and genres of traditional literature, including the Gaelic tradition, from the medieval period to the present. Key theoretical and conceptual issues raised by the historical analysis of Scotland's rich store of ballad, song, and folk narrative are discussed in separate chapters. The volume also explores why and how Scottish literary writers have been inspired by traditional genres, modes, and motifs, and the intermingling of folk and literary traditions in writers such as Burns, Scott, and Hogg. It also uncovers the folkloric and mythopoetic materials of early Scottish literature, and the vitality of neglected aspects of Scottish popular culture.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) is widely recognised as one of the central and defining figures in Scottish literature and in European and American Romanticism. Fabled in his own lifetime as 'the Wizard of the North' and as the (long-anonymous) 'Author of Waverley', he played a unique role in the dissemination of an idea of Scottish culture and history. From his early work as a collector and editor of traditional ballads to the widespread popularity and fame of his poetry and novels, and to his important writings on history, economics, folklore, and literature, Scott refashioned the literary culture of his day and continues to shape our own.The Edinburgh Companion to Sir Walter Scott, the first collection of its kind devoted to his work, draws on the innovative research and scholarship which have revitalised the study of the whole range of his exceptionally diverse writing in recent years. Chapters written by leading international scholars provide an indispensable guide to his work in different genres and reflect the topics and concerns which are most exciting in Scott scholarship today, including his place in literary and popular culture, his experimentation and originality, his relationship to Romanticism, and the revaluation of lesser-known works.

Recognises the richness of women's contribution to Scottish literature. By combining historical spread with a thematic structure, this volume explores the ways in which gender has shaped literary output and addresses the changing situations in which women lived and wrote. It places the work of established writers such as Margaret Oliphant, Naomi Mitchison and A.L. Kennedy in new contexts and discusses the writing of critically neglected figures such as Sileas na Ceapaich, Mary Queen of Scots, Anne Grant, Janet Hamilton, Isabella Bird, F. Marion McNeill and Denise Mina. There are chapters on women in Gaelic culture, women's relationship to oral traditions and to key literary periods, women's engagements with nationalism, with space, with genre fiction and with the activity of reading.

Combines historical rigour with an analysis of dramatic contexts, themes and formsThe 17 contributors explore the longstanding and vibrant Scottish dramatic tradition and the important developments in Scottish dramatic writing and theatre, with particular attention to the last 100 years.The first part of the volume covers Scottish drama from the earliest records to the late twentieth-century literary revival, as well as translation in Scottish theatre and non-theatrical drama. The second part focuses on the work of influential Scottish playwrights, from J. M. Barrie and James Bridie to Ena Lamont Stewart, Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan and right up to contemporary playwrights Anthony Neilson, Gregory Burke, Henry Adams and Douglas Maxwell.

Bringing together an international group of experts, this companion explores a distinctly Scottish Romanticism. Discussing the most influential texts and authors in depth, the original essays shed new critical light on texts from Macpherson's Ossian poetry to Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, and from Scott's Waverley Novels to the work of John Galt. As well as dealing with the major Romantic figures, the contributors look afresh at ballads, songs, the idea of the bard, religion, periodicals, the national tale, the picturesque, the city, language and the role of Gaelic in Scottish Romanticism.Key Features* The first and only student guide to Scottish Romanticism capturing the best of critical debate while providing new approaches* Contributors include: Ian Duncan (UC Berkeley), Angela Esterhammer (Zurich University), Peter Garside (Edinburgh University), Andrew Monnickendam (Barcelona University), Fiona Stafford (Oxford University), Fernando Toda (Salamanca University) and Crawford Gribben (Trinity College, Dublin) - who have themselves helped to define approaches to the period