Undergraduate Course: Scottish Literary Renaissance in the Twentieth Century (LLLG07078)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
In the 1920s, the poet Hugh MacDiarmid proclaimed a new Scottish Literary Renaissance. It was at once reactionary and revolutionary: renegotiating the nation's past and projecting an outward-looking, innovative literature for the future. In the late twentieth-century critics observed a 'second' Scottish Literary Renaissance associated with writers like Alasdair Gray, Liz Lochhead, and James Kelman. This course will examine each of these perceived movements and compare their techniques, their politics, and their relationship with national identity. |
| Course description |
Week 1
Introductory class on National Identity and Literature in Scotland throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Working from handouts, which will be provided.
Week 2
Hugh MacDiarmid: Scotland and the Infinite.
Selection from Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry, and essays / prose excerpts provided as handouts.
Week 3
Edwin and Willa Muir: Sham Bards of a Sham Nation.
Selection from Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry, and essays / prose excerpts provided as handouts.
Week 4
Lewis Grassic Gibbon: Scotland's Favourite Scottish Book?
Sunset Song, and essays / prose excerpts provided as handouts.
Week 5
Sorley Maclean, George Campbell Hay, and Ian Crichton Smith: Gaelic Renaissance.
Selection from Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry, and essays / prose excerpts provided as handouts.
Week 6
Edwin Morgan and Ian Hamilton Finlay: Exploding the Renaissance.
Selection from Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry, and essays / prose excerpts provided as handouts.
Week 7
Alasdair Gray: Early Days of a Better Nation?
Poor Things, and handout.
Week 8
James Kelman: How Late it Was¿
Greyhound for Breakfast, and handout.
Week 9
Liz Lochhead: History Gets its Head Chopped Off.
Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, and selection from Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry.
Week 10
Contemporary Scottish Writers and National Identity.
A selection of essays, poems and prose works provided as handout. Particular focus on recent debates around Scottish politics and identity.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* demonstrate knowledge of key writers and ideas from the interwar Scottish Literary Renaissance, and its late twentieth-century counterpart.
* demonstrate basic skills in literary criticism and analysis.
* show an understanding of historical, political, and cultural contexts for range of texts from throughout modern Scottish literary history.
* articulate and structure thoughts on literary texts, and demonstrate confidence in personal perspective, showing independence of thought and developing own critical voice.
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Reading List
Essential
Dunn, Douglas. 2006. ed., Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry. London: Faber.
Grassic Gibbon, Lewis. 2007. Sunset Song. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Gray, Alasdair. 2002. Poor Things. London: Bloomsbury.
Kelman, James. 2011. Greyhound for Breakfast. Edinburgh: Polygon.
Lochhead, Liz. 2009. Mary Queen of Scots Got her Head Chopped Off. London: Nick Hern Books.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
* Close reading
* Conceptual / analytical discourse
* Articulating with confidence
* Development of independent critical insights |
| Special Arrangements |
None |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: aclaywor@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Sabine.Murdoch@ed.ac.uk |
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