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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 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.
In "Beyond Identity," thirteen of Scotland's best known poets reflect upon the theoretical, practical and political considerations involved in the act of writing. They furnish a unique guide to contemporary Scottish poetry, discussing a range of issues that include nationhood, education, language, religion, landscape, translation and identity. John Burnside, Robert Crawford, Douglas Dunn, Kathleen Jamie, Edwin Morgan, Kenneth White and others, together with such noted experimentalists as Frank Kuppner, Tom Leonard and Richard Price, explore questions about the relationship between social, economic and ecological realities and their poetic transformation. These interviews are set within the altered political context that followed from the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999 and the potential of a renewed engagement with wider European culture. Attila Dosa is Senior Lecturer at the Department of English at the University of Miskolc, in northern Hungary.
The theme of volume 19 is 'Literary Devolution: Writing Now in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England', and includes poetry from Scotland, with essays by David Kinloch and Christopher Whyte on Socttish Gaelic; and poetry from Wales with essays by Jerry Hunter and Sam Adams; from Ireland, three cantos of John Montague's new poem on David Jones, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill's Gaelic poetry translated by Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon and Medbh McGuickan, and a new play by Vincent Woods, acclaimed in performance and published here for the first time; and English poetry together with new fiction by Iain Sinclair. It also includes an interview with Nathaniel Tarn, editor of innovative Cape Goliard Editions. Translation from European poets into English and Scottish is a seminal feature of poetry in this period, represented here by translation from the Polish by Seamus Heaney, from Mayakovsky by Edwin Morgan, from Rimbaud and Mandelstam by Alistair Mackie; and Sylvia Plath's translations from the French reviewed by Alistair Elliot.
“It’s wonderful, aggressively wise, and always—especially at its most serious—devastatingly funny.” —Geoff Dyer For readers of Douglas Stuart and Nick Hornby comes an uproarious, tenderhearted memoir of growing up in working-class Dundee in the 1970s and 1980s. Don Paterson is one of our most acclaimed contemporary poets, possessed of “an infinite sensitivity to the world” (Zadie Smith). But his current standing gives few hints of his hilariously misspent youth. An indifferent student prone to obsessions (with girls at school and . . . origami), Paterson nevertheless made clear early on his immense gift for observation. In Toy Fights, he vividly re-creates the customs of the ...
A comprehensive and scholarly review of contemporary British and Irish Poetry With contributions from noted scholars in the field, A Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, 1960-2015 offers a collection of writings from a diverse group of experts. They explore the richness of individual poets, genres, forms, techniques, traditions, concerns, and institutions that comprise these two distinct but interrelated national poetries. Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companion to Literature and Culture series, this book contains a comprehensive survey of the most important contemporary Irish and British poetry. The contributors provide new perspectives and positions on the topic. This impo...
Rev. ed. of: The Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics / Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, co-editors; Frank J. Warnke, O.B. Hardison, Jr., and Earl Miner, associate editors. 1993.
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.
When the tsunami hit Asia on Boxing Day, 2004, it claimed hundreds of thousands of lives - but changed, and probably saved, the life of Donny Paterson. the former army engineer, with a history of chronic injuries, depression and addiction, was floating somewhere above rock bottom - aimless, traumatised, anchored only by his family - in particular, wife tracey and the promising rugby league career of his son, future Newcastle Knights player, Corey. But something in the shocking devastation of the tsunami moved him. Within days, Donny was on a plane to Sri Lanka. Landing in Colombo he met three fellow travellers and together they took a chance and drove south. Arriving in the shattered village of Peraliya, they found a community without, food, water, medicine, homes or livelihood. the events that followed were remarkable ... a rescue effort, a village saved, an award-winning documentary, red-carpet treatment at film festivals, and, for Donny, a Cannes penthouse stay as guest of actor Sean Penn. How could this have happened to an ordinary Aussie bloke? Rough diamond Donny is proof of what can occur when the extraordinary deep within is tapped.
Alison Thompson, a filmmaker living in New York City, was enjoying Christmas with her boyfriend in 2004 when she saw the news reports online: a 9.3 magnitude earthquake had struck the sea near Indonesia, triggering a massive tsunami that hit much of southern Asia. As she watched the death toll climb, Thompson had one thought: She had to go help. A few years earlier, she had spent eight months volunteering at Ground Zero after 9/11. She’d learned then that when disaster strikes, it’s not just the firemen and Red Cross who are needed—every single person can make a difference. With $300 in cash, some basic medical supplies, and a vague idea that she’d go wherever she was needed, Thompso...