Thread of Scottishness: mapping the allegorical tapestry of Scottish literature
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Date
29/11/2006Author
Liddle, Helena Francisca Gaspar
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Abstract
Scottish authors throughout the ages have linked their art to their
nationality. When the contemporary writer A. L. Kennedy observes, 'I believe
that fiction with a thread of Scottishness in its truth has helped me to know how to
be myself as a Scot,' she pinpoints the value of literature for both her
predecessors and peers. However, the idea of Scottish literature as an autonomous
and coherent national literature is controversial. Questions concerning self-sufficiency,
unity, and value continue to haunt the idea of a Scottish literary
tradition. Many studies have attempted to address the stereotype of Scottish
literature's fragmentation and its place as a sub-category within English literature;
however, few critical works have considered specific literary forms as constituting
a basis for the Scottish literary consciousness. 'A Thread of Scottishness' argues
that Scottish literature uniquely sustains an allegorical framework traceable from
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the present. Chapter one discusses
allegory's history, definition and relationship with the reader. Chapters two, three,
and four focus upon the specific theoretical strands of the Scottish allegorical
form: nature, nationalism, and morality, respectively. Each of these three chapters
begins with a discussion of works from the medieval period and follows the
progression of the Scots' use of allegory through time. More modern works,
including S. Ferrier's Marriage, R. L. Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae, N.
Shepherd's The Weatherhouse, are shown to reflect the narrative traditions of
medieval and Renaissance texts, such as R. Henryson's Morall Fabillis and The
Testament of Cresseid, King James I's The Kingis Quair, and Sir D. Lindsay's
Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis. Thus, through a consideration of the use of
allegory within specific Scottish texts, I posit continuity for Scottish literature as a
whole.