Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Scottish Fiction (ENLI11061)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will look at the relationship between Scottish fiction, politics and culture. We will examine a range of novels and short stories published over the last forty years which showcase the diversity of late twentieth-century and contemporary Scottish fiction. We will consider the ways in which Scottish writing might be seen to reflect larger debates about political and cultural autonomy in the period, issues around cultural identity, and reflections from Scottish intellectuals about the possibilities and dangers of nationalism. We will look at the ways in which those issues are mediated through the form of the contemporary novel, in particular the nature, variety, and extent of contemporary formal innovations and experimentation. Much recent Scottish fiction demonstrates different kinds of explicit and implicit political commitment; but this interacts with a lingering distrust of the public realm, suspicion of historical narrative, and a focus on interiority and subjectivity. What does this mean for our understanding of the relationship between literature and Scottish society?
*This course is taught jointly with undergraduate students and consequently postgraduate places are limited |
| Course description |
This course will look at the relationship between Scottish fiction, politics and culture. We will examine a range of novels and short stories published over the last forty years which showcase the diversity of late twentieth-century and contemporary Scottish fiction. We will consider the ways in which Scottish writing might be seen to reflect larger debates about political and cultural autonomy in the period, issues around cultural identity, and reflections from Scottish intellectuals about the possibilities and dangers of nationalism. We will look at the ways in which those issues are mediated through the form of the contemporary novel, in particular the nature, variety, and extent of contemporary formal innovations and experimentation. Much recent Scottish fiction demonstrates different kinds of explicit and implicit political commitment; but this interacts with a lingering distrust of the public realm, suspicion of historical narrative, and a focus on interiority and subjectivity. What does this mean for our understanding of the relationship between literature and Scottish society?
Indicative reading list for 2025/26
Janice Galloway, The Trick is to Keep Breathing (1989)
Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (1992)
James Kelman, How Late It Was How Late (1994)
Andrew O'Hagan, Our Fathers (1999)
James Robertson, Joseph Knight (2003)
Luke Sutherland, Venus as a boy (2004)
Jackie Kay, Reality, Reality (2011)
Louise Welsh, The Cutting Room (2002)
Selected short stories
Jenni Fagan, The Sunlight Pilgrims (2016)
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students on LLC MSc programmes get first priority to this course. If you are not on an LLC programme, please let your administrator or the course administrator know you are interested in the course. Unauthorised enrolments will be removed. No auditors are permitted. |
| Additional Costs | Essential course texts |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 6 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1 coursework essay of 4000 words (100%)
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
| By the end of the course students should expect to be able to demonstrate their familiarity with a range of contemporary Scottish writers and to critically evaluate their work considered against its social and cultural background. Students should be able to discuss the political and ethical dimensions of narrative technique and genre, and suggest why particular works adopt specific formal strategies.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
Jointly taught with undergraduate students (ENLI10280) |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Gerard McKeever
Tel:
Email: Gerard.McKeever@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hope Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: hope.hamilton@ed.ac.uk |
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