Wintersemester 2022/23

PS Scottish Literature and Culture, 1790-1990

In this seminar, we will familiarise ourselves with important Scottish poems and novels, all of which can be described as being part of the Scottish literary canon. At first, we will discuss the narrative poem “Tam o’ Shanter” (1791) by Robert Burns in terms of its effect of popularising Scottish folk tales. Further, lyrical works by Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean will be looked into: While MacDiarmid uses synthetic Scots in his “Eemis Stan” (1925), MacLean composed the original version of “Hallaig” (1954) in Gaelic. The cultural-linguistic implications of poems like these will be of special interest to our class.
Apart from lyrical works, novels will be in the focus of this seminar. James Hogg’s Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) revolves around the controversial role Calvinism played in Scottish society and history. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped (1886) deals with another painful chapter of Scottish history: the Jacobite rising of 1745. Finally, Janice Galloway’s The Trick Is to Keep Breathing (1989) will be analysed in depth – a novel which focusses on postmodern themes such as depression, trauma, and alienation.
If you would like to take part in this class, please read two out of the three novels before the seminar starts.