Carruthers, G. (2014) Scotland, Britain and the elsewhere of poetry. In: Pollard, N. (ed.) Don Paterson: Contemporary Critical Essays. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 85-97. ISBN 9780748669417
Full text not currently available from Enlighten.
Publisher's URL: http://www.euppublishing.com/book/9780748669417
Abstract
This chapter analyses Paterson's work in terms of national identity, inheritance, and literary history, considering the poet's engagement with Scottish forebears. How resistant is his work to being read primarily in the context of the Scottish literary tradition? It begins by analysing Paterson's handling of these issues as an editor: his production of the slim anthology of Scotland's ‘national bard’ creatively, and cannily, rethinks the totemic status of Robert Burns. It examines whether the goading, guiding tone of Paterson's critical introductions are editorial strategies that underline the impossibility of completely consensual certainty in interpretation, even editorial interpretation, or whether his brooking of disagreement and his heckling prose reveal a more straightforwardly quarrelsome inability to renounce ‘forceful opinion’. The chapter considers Paterson's poetry in the light of these questions. It also poses questions about Paterson's depictions of the current UK scene and its schisms in prose and poetry.
Item Type: | Book Sections (Other) |
---|---|
Status: | Published |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Carruthers, Professor Gerard |
Authors: | Carruthers, G. |
Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PR English literature |
College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Scottish Literature |
Publisher: | Edinburgh University Press |
ISBN: | 9780748669417 |
Related URLs: |
University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record