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Chitterin’ Lichts: Text And Intertext In Sangschaw And Penny Wheep, Patrick Crotty

Studies in Scottish Literature

The essay takes a new look at an old subject, the role of dictionaries in Hugh MacDiarmid’s so-called ‘early lyrics’. While demonstrating that the poet’s exploration of the lexicographical remains of Scots was more thorough-going and systematic than previous accounts have suggested, it positions his recourse to dictionaries in the intertextual habit that links the lyrics both to the English sonnets and prose sketches of the young Christopher Grieve and the encyclopaedic long poems to which MacDiarmid turned after abandoning Scots in the 1930s. The article attends in particular to the wide-angle allusiveness of Sangschaw and Penny Wheep, arguing that …

Denis Saurat’S ‘The Scottish Renaissance Group’ / ‘Le Groupe De “La Renaissance Écossaise”’: An English Translation, Paul Malgrati

Studies in Scottish Literature

Presents an annotated translation of Denis Saurat's 'Le Groupe de la Renaissance Écossaise' (1924), a seminal piece in the history of Scottish modernism, hitherto inaccessible in English, that introduced the works of both Christopher Murray Grieve and Hugh MacDiarmid (considered as two different entities) to the international literary scene.

‘No Further From The “Centre Of Things”’: Peripheral Citation In Hugh Macdiarmid’S In Memoriam James Joyce, James Benstead

Studies in Scottish Literature

Examines Hugh MacDiarmid’s “citational poetics” – that is, his practice of selecting material from a wide range of pre-existing texts, before transforming that material and then combining it in his own work, often without attribution – and shows how reading MacDiarmid’s long 1955 poem In Memoriam James Joyce with reference to this practice places that text within the lineage of “provincial modernism” identified by Robert Crawford.

The Ghost Of John Nisbet: Hugh Macdiarmid’S First Published Work, Alan Riach

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the first published item, a short play, signed with the name 'Hugh M'acDiamid', and sets in its biographical and historical context just after the First World War and in the literary context of 1922 and international modernism, in 1922, viewing it as 'an encapsulation of its moment, and most importantly as an elegiac tribute to a friend,' arguing that 'Performing "Nisbet" as a play intimates the drama of fractured modernist selfhood implicit in the written text,' and concluding that it should be seen 'in the whole national context of Scotland finding a way towards a reconstruction of itself, a …

The Real Christopher: Sleights Of Text And Mind Behind The Persona Of Hugh Macdiarmid, Alexander Linklater

Studies in Scottish Literature

Argues that it was the persona of Hugh MacDiarmid, as much as his poetry, which brought about the Scottish Literary Renaissance of the 1920s, but that behind the extravagant personality lay an obscure biographical puzzle. Christopher Murray Grieve possessed little personal resemblance to his pseudonymous self and even less interest in what motivated him to create such an antagonist. In this essay, the author of a new life of MacDiarmid explores how the dominant figure of 20th century Scottish literature composed himself out of found texts, psychological misdirection and confected autobiography.

Series Editors' Preface To Ssl 49.1, Patrick Scott, Tony Jarrells

Studies in Scottish Literature

Notes the significance of the issue topic for SSL's founder G. Ross Roy, notes that C. M. Grieve was on the original editorial board in 1963, and discusses briefly ho MacDiamid has been treated in the journal over the past 60 years. Thanks the guest editors for assembling contributions that reflect current perspectives.

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Macdiarmid The Spaceman: Extraterrestrial Space In Hugh Macdiarmid’S Poetry From Sangschaw To A Drunk Man Looks At The Thistle, Michael H. Whitworth

Studies in Scottish Literature

Looking at Hugh MacDiarmid’s Sangschaw (1925), Penny Wheep (1926), and A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926), this article considers MacDiarmid’s use of science, particularly astronomy, in the 1920s. It traces known and possible sources for his scientific knowledge in books and periodicals, especially The New Age. It examines the image of light travelling through space, found in popular astronomy works by Felix Eberty and Camille Flammarion. It also compares his conception of the earth as a moving object in space with that found in poems by Thomas Hardy.

Introduction: Hugh Macdiarmid At 100, Scott Lyall

Studies in Scottish Literature

Explains the background for this special issue, Hugh MacDiarmid at 100, in the Scottish Revival Network’s conference in August 2022, which marked the centenary of Hugh MacDiarmid’s first appearance in print under that name in The Scottish Chapbook in August 1922, and then, before summarizing the themes of each essay, discusses ways in which MacDiarmid’s legacy and reputation have become central to the Scottish literary canon but somewhat marginal to canonical modernism,

Linguistic Islands: Archipelagic Perspectives In Hugh Macdiarmid’S ‘Vision Of World Language’, Fiona Paterson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Examines the impact of an archipelagic perspective upon Hugh MacDiarmid’s ‘vision of world language’ as set forth in the 1955 poem In Memoriam James Joyce. Informed by his travels to Scottish islands, documented in The Islands of Scotland (1939), and his engagements with Norn in Shetland, MacDiarmid’s vision is both expansive and particular, characterised by its decentralised plurality, and driven by an attempt to capture both simultaneity and progressivism.

Introduction: Denis Saurat On ‘“The Scottish Renaissance” Group’, Scott Lyall

Studies in Scottish Literature

Provides the biographical context and publication history for Denis Saurat’s essay ‘Le groupe de “la Renaissance Écossaise”’, which included Saurat’s French translation of some MacDiarmid poems, describes the essay’s importance in the history of the Scottish Literary Renaissance, explains some shortcomings in Saurat’s perspectives on the ‘renaissance’ and MacDiarmid’s work.

A History Of The Scottish P.E.N. Organization, Part 1: 1927-1949, Helen Stoddart

Studies in Scottish Literature

The first article in a two-part series charting the history of Scottish PEN, from its founding in 1927, through political struggles in the 1930s, and at the international congress in Edinburgh in 1934, over issues of intellectual freedom and the rise of Hitler, till the need to reestablish the organization after World War II, exploring Scottish PEN's relationship to the 20th century Scottish Renaissance movement, and examining the roles in Scottish PEN of H.J.C. Grierson, C.M. Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid), Helen Cruikshank, William Power, Willa and Edwin Muir, and many others.

'Like Pushkin, I': Hugh Macdiarmid And Russia, Patrick Crotty

Studies in Scottish Literature

A detailed discussion of the poetic development of the Scottish poet Hugh MacDiamid (1892-1978), drawing on research for the forthcoming Complete Collected Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid to chart the changing ways in which he encountered, read, and responded to Russian writing, philosophy and culture in different phases of his career.

The Ssl Symposium, 2014: Creative Writing, The Academy, And The Scottish Literary Canon: Introduction, Patrick G. Scott

Studies in Scottish Literature

Reviews the parallel growth of creative writing courses and Scottish literary studies since the 1960s, with reference to the changing influence of Scottish writers in the definition of the field and the reputation of earlier literary works.

After Macdiarmid: Creative Writers, The Canon, And The Academy, Alan Riach

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the changed situation of writers within Scottish universities since the 1960s, the role of creative writers in introducing American poets into the Scottish teaching canon, and the value of creative writing in stimulating critical reading.

Three Books On The Scottish Sixties, Greg Thomas

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses three recent books about Scottish culture in the 1960s: a collection of documents and interviews, The International Writers' Conference Revisited, ed. Bartie and Bell; a collection of essays, The Scottish Sixties, ed. Bell and Gunn; and a monograph, The Edinburgh Festivals, by Angela Bartie.