Reception of Robert Burns in Europe

Murray Pittock is Bradley Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a prizewinner of that society and of the British Academy, as well as winning or being nominated or shortlisted for over ten other literary prizes. He is the author or editor of a number of prominent works on Jacobitism and Romanticism, including Scottish and Irish Romanticism (2008, 2011), Robert Burns in Global Culture (2011) and Material Culture and Sedition: Treacherous, Objects, Secret Places (2013). He is currently editing the Scots Musical Museum in the AHRC Collected Burns edition.

In her preface to this book, Elinor Shaffer (editor of the series in which the book appears) argues that translation histories show the complex interweaving of ideas, periods, and peoples and illuminate an author by refracting unexpected attributes in texts one takes for granted. The 14 critics assembled by Pittock (Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland)—among them Silvia Mergenthal, Francesca Saggini, Marjorie Rycroft, Natalia Kaloh Vid, and Frauke Reitemeier—bring to this volume a broad expanse of knowledge, location, and focus and in so doing weave a fascinating critical tapestry. Anchored by a timeline of translations (1798–2012), the volume tracks reception all over Europe and into music, revealing the unexpected at every turn. Burns’s work contributed to the development of nationalism, picking up on the influence of Ossian. But at times it failed to connect or found a space (e.g., Spain) already occupied by Sir Walter Scott. In France, Burns’s reputation soared and dived. Elsewhere (Germany and Switzerland), it engaged sporadically, according to the surge in ideas or familiarity with dialects. Russia claimed itself as the only country that understood him; in Austria, Burns's work was once restricted to “reliable citizens.” Burns, it seems, lives dangerously—and always interestingly—abroad. An excellent resource. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.

• Series Editor’s PrefaceElinor ShafferAcknowledgements List of Contributors Abbreviations Timeline of the European Reception of Robert Burns, 1795–2012Pauline MackayIntroduction: ‘The mair they talk, I’m kend the better’: Burns and Europe Murray Pittock German Lost in Translation: Robert Burns in Germany Frauke Reitemeier German-Language Reception of Robert Burns in Austria Eleoma Bodammer The Reception of Robert Burns in Switzerland Silvia Mergenthal French From Bard to Boor: The Critical Reception of Robert Burns in France Dominique Delmaire Italian ‘Compar’d to these, Italian trills are tame’: A Century of Robert Burns in Italy, 1869–1972 Francesca Saggini Spanish Robert Burns and Spanish Letters Andrew MonnickendamRussian The Reception of Robert Burns in Russia Natalia Kaloh Vid Ukrainian The Reception of Robert Burns in Ukrainian Culture Hanna Dyka Hungarian ‘His voice resonated for the longest time in our literature’: Burns and ‘popular poetry’ in Nineteenth-century Hungary Veronika Ruttkay Czech Czech Translations of Burns: Constructing National Identity? Martin Procházka Polish The Reception of Robert Burns in Poland Miroslawa Modrzewska Slovene Robert Burns’s Reception in Slovenia Valentina Bold Norwegian Burns in Norwegian: A Man of Opposition Jahn Holljen Thon Music The Reception of Robert Burns in Music Kirsteen McCue and Marjorie Rycroft Bibliography Index