English 237 - Modern Scottish Literature

In The Quarry Wood, Martha's father teaches her, 'Scotland is bounded on the South by England...and on the West by Eternity.' This course explores that paradox, tracing the relationship of Scottish literature to European history and the making of Scottish identity, understanding language and form as political actions in the creation of Scotland's national, international, and mythologized identities. Selections survey Enlightenment thought, sentimentalized Scotland (the Kailyard school), grim 'realism,' modern novels, and contemporary fiction, and may include Hume, Smith, Scott, Burns, Barrie, Stevenson, MacDiarmid, Gibbon, E. Muir, W. Muir, Shepherd, Kelman, television, and film.

Prereq: 4 credits in English department