Association for Scottish Literary Studies – förlag

The House with the Green Shutters is a dark, provocative novel, shining a harsh and unforgiving light into the inner recesses of small-town Scotland at the turn of the last century. Written as a response to social change, and as an antidote to the sentimentality of the 'Kailyard' school, the author called it "a brutal and bloody work" - although a thread of sly humour runs through the book as well. Iain Crichton Smith's Scotnote explores this post-romantic masterpiece through a precise analysis of themes, characters, structure and language, and is ideal for senior school pupils and students.

James Hogg's most famous novel is an unforgettable tale of mystery, murder, religious fanaticism, folklore, horror, and fantasy. Strikingly modern in style and tone, the intricate structure and eerie atmosphere of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner makes it a favourite text for classroom study. Elaine Petrie's Scotnote carefully exposes and explains the numerous layers of this classic novel, and is ideal for senior school pupils and students.

Norman MacCaig's poetry is clear and lucid and filled with the shifting light of Edinburgh and Assynt. MacCaig stands in the first rank of twentieth-century poets: Seamus Heaney said of him, "He means poetry to me". Roderick Watson's SCOTNOTE study guide will enhance any student's enjoyment of MacCaig's poetry, as well as providing a deeper understanding of the poet's craft.

George Mackay Brown's sparkling, fable-like novel Greenvoe depicts the sudden, destructive intrusion of brute modernity into a tight-knit and unchanging community, as witnessed by an eclectic host of local characters. Alan MacGillivray's SCOTNOTE study guide carefully traces Greenvoe's narrative threads and is an excellent resource for senior school pupils and students.

Muriel Spark's arch, subversive novel entertains us with its amusing, nostalgic evocation of the 1930s schooldays of a group of middle-class Edinburgh girls - then forces us to face up to the easy surface charms, and darker undercurrents, of Miss Jean Brodie's perfect self-assurance. David Robb's SCOTNOTE study guide untangles the many aspects of this novel - historical, political, psychological and religious - and is an ideal guide for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Iain Crichton Smith was one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, writing in English and Gaelic. His poetry often concerns itself with unsentimental views of life in the Western Highlands and Islands, and his dislike of, and opposition to, dogmatic authority. John Blackburn's SCOTNOTE study guide analyses the religious, political and historical themes and patterns of Crichton Smith's work, and is a suitable guide for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Robin Jenkins's greatest novel is a powerful examination of good and evil, set against the backdrop of a Scottish estate during World War II. With its themes of class-conflict, war, evil and envy, this is a towering work of fiction that remains as relevant today as when it was first published. Suspenseful, dark and unforgettable, it is one of the masterpieces of modern Scottish literature. Iain Crichton Smith's SCOTNOTE study guide is a skilful and intelligent guide to the themes and characters of the novel, and explores the religious, philosophical and moral questions that it poses. Suitable for senior school pupils and students of all ages.

Along with his contemporary Robert Henryson, William Dunbar is the foremost figure of Scottish medieval literature. Writing as a court poet during the reign of James IV, Dunbar was at the intellectual heart of Scotland's Renaissance. His poetry is among the greatest in the Scots language: sophisticated, versatile and stylish, the work of a master of considerable literary genius. Ronald Jack's SCOTNOTE study guide examines a number of Dunbar's most important works - The Thrissil and the Rois, The Lament for the Makaris, The Golden Targe, The Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo and others - and explains the background, history, language and influences for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

William McIlvanney's fiction is drawn from the lives and circumstances of the people of the West of Scotland, and is characterised by detailed observation, an accurate ear for language, wit and thoughtful reflection on living and working conditions. Laidlaw is a crime novel: its eponymous detective is both thoughtful and fallible, and the book can be seen as a precursor to the 'Tartan Noir' works of writers such as Ian Rankin. Beth Dickson's SCOTNOTE study guide provides a thoughtful analysis of the novel "Laidlaw" by William McIlvanney, its characters and its settings, for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

William Dunbar (c.1460-1520) bridges the divide between medieval bard and Renaissance poet. From the sonorous beat of the Lament for the Makaris to the subtle satire of "The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo", his self-knowledge and mocking wit points to the development of a modern artistic consciousness while his skill, craftsmanship and sense of language still have the power to inspire today. This book is a must-have for any serious scholar of European Medieval and Renaissance literature. The first volume gives the text of every Dunbar poem while the second provides a wealth of explanatory notes and reference material, allowing each poem to be easily studied in-depth. As well as freshly established texts of all Dunbar's works, these two volumes contain a full introduction; a complete listing of textual variants in all the early manuscripts and printings; extensive notes on every poem; a glossary; and lists of sources and secondary material.One of the editor's chief concerns has been to elucidate not just the literal sense but also the connotations of Dunbar's words: the figurative and metaphoric uses, the legalisms, poetic archaisms, puns and other wordplay, as well as the use of proverbs, scriptural allusions and debts or affinity to earlier poets. This has taken her into many varied and unexpected areas of medieval life and thought in assembling her line-by-line commentary on every poem in the edition. Readers will find new information about obscure words and phrases and no difficult passage is passed over silently. These volumes are a tribute not only to the wonderful poet whose works they contain but also to the industry, erudition and acumen of his latest editor.

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off is the best-known and most critically acclaimed of Liz Lochhead's plays. Dramatising the religious and political history of Scotland from a particularly female point of view, it remains popular with audiences and with the author herself, who sees the work as "a metaphor for the Scots today". Margery Palmer McCulloch's SCOTNOTE study guide provides a background to the history and to the dramatic presentation, as well as giving an overview of the modern context of Lochhead's play, for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Hugh MacDiarmid (born Christopher Murray Grieve) is a huge, and still controversial, figure in modern Scottish literature. Called variously "the most important figure in Scottish life in the twentieth century" and "a symbol of all that's perfectly hideous in Scotland", his poetry is of historic, and national, significance. Alan Riach's SCOTNOTE study guide outlines MacDiarmid's life and work, providing an overview of the poet's beliefs, opinions and influences, for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Born in the last years of James III's reign, Sir David Lyndsay (c.1486-1555) served under James IV, James V, and Mary. As a writer, Lyndsay is best known today for his play, "Ane Satyre of The Thrie Estaitis", a biting and comic commentary on Church and State that is still regularly performed today. But it was Lyndsay's other works, of which this volume offers an accessible selection, that made him the best known Scottish poet of the time. In the late sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a literate household in Scotland was likely to own two books: the "Bible" and the poems of Sir David Lyndsay. Today, while a performance of "Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis" can still draw the crowds, very little is known about the rest of Lyndsay's work. This new volume from ASLS is designed to introduce some of Lyndsay's best poems to a new audience. Lyndsay's greatest strength is his range and diversity, from comic verse to political satire to spiritual reflection. These are the features that made Lyndsay a popular writer in his own time; explored again, he might well regain that status in ours.Dr Williams has planned the selected poems to introduce these works both to new readers, for whom there are on-the-page annotations and references, and to specialists, who will wish to work with freshly-established texts. The explanatory notes illustrate the richness of Lyndsay's language and those contemporary references now less known. An Introduction provides biographical information and discusses important features of Lyndsay's poetry, and a full Bibliography offers further support for scholars.

Iain Banks is one of the most inventive writers in the UK today, producing an extraordinary range of work, from family sagas set in present-day Scotland to science fiction spanning vast gulfs of space and time. He enjoys breaking the arbitrary boundaries of genre, and often creates narratives blending "realistic" storylines with fantastical elements. Alan MacGillivray's Scotnote provides an overview of Iain Banks's fiction, and focuses on three novels in particular: The Wasp Factory, a darkly comic piece of Scottish Gothic fiction; The Crow Road, a cross-generational family saga with elements of a detective story; and Whit, following the adventures of an innocent thrust into modern society. Suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

LEWIS GRASSIC GIBBON (1901-1935) is one of the best known of early twentieth-century Scottish writers. Born James Leslie Mitchell, he grew up in the Mearns area of north-east Scotland, a landscape and farming life he recreated vividly in Sunset Song, the first book of his Scots Quair trilogy, published in 1932. A favourite for all ages, Gibbon's work is studied by students at all levels. A Flame in the Mearns is a unique collection of scholarly discussion and criticism and will be of interest to senior school pupils, college and university students, academics and lovers of literature.This new collection of essays celebrates Gibbon's achievement in his own time while emphasising his continuing relevance today - particularly the strong depiction of women in his fiction and his innovative narrative style which anticipates the work of writers such as Kelman and Welsh. This relationship with contemporary writers is most noticeable in the urban setting and political context of Grey Granite, while Sunset Song, with its engaging heroine Chris Guthrie, regularly appears in listings of the most popular Scottish novels.A Flame in the Mearns contains discussions of Gibbon's fiction, essays and little-known poetry, together with analyses of his language and politics. It is essential for all students and existing admirers as well as new readers of this important Scottish writer.

Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the most important and influential writers of the modern era, admired and emulated by authors across the world from the 19th century to the present day. He also wrote some of the most original stories, creating iconic characters who have moved beyond the page to become parts of the language itself. Gerard Carruthers' SCOTNOTE study guide provides an overview of Stevenson's life and work, and focuses on three novels in particular: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Master of Ballantrae, and The Ebb-Tide, each in it own way a story of good and evil, and the conflicting impulses felt by the human spirit. Suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Edwin Morgan is one of Scotland's most distinguished poets. Born in Glasgow in 1920, he served in the Second World War as a medical orderly and lectured in English Literature at Glasgow University until his retirement as a Professor in 1980. Since then his reputation as a poet has grown both within Scotland and beyond. His celebration of his native city brought him the honour of Glasgow Poet Laureate, and in 2004 the Scottish Executive recognised him officially as modern Scotland's first national poet, with the title of Scots Makar. The poetry of Edwin Morgan is so varied and original, filling a series of volumes spread over more than fifty years, that it cannot be fully reflected in a single critical compilation. This skilful commentary focuses on two contrasting sides of Morgan's work, his highly popular poetry mainly centred on the life of his home city of Glasgow and the poetry coming out of his fascination with space and science. It is a contrast that Morgan himself highlighted in the title of one of his most successful collections, From Glasgow to Saturn (1973). The Glasgow poems represented here are: 'To Joan Eardley', 'In the Snack-bar', 'Trio' and 'For Bonfires'.There are also three of his Instamatic poems, poems which focus on and capture like a snapshot a particular significant moment of time. 'One Cigarette' and 'Strawberries' are two of Morgan's love poems, celebrating the power of love between two people, love which in Morgan's case happened to be homosexual but which is of the widest human significance within the poems. The Saturn poems include two specific science fiction poems, 'From the Domain of Arnheim' and 'In Sobieski's Shield'. Morgan's playful approach towards language and his engaging sense of humour are illustrated by 'The Computer's First Christmas Card', 'The Mummy' and 'The Loch Ness Monster's Song'; and 'Message Clear' is one of Morgan's Emergent poems, in which the lines of the poem 'emerge' from a significant phrase. 'The Archaeopteryx's Song' examines the question of evolution, also in a humorous way, while, by contrast, 'Hyena' shows us another creature in a sinister and menacing light. All these poems are drawn from collections published before 1982, notably This Second Life (1968), Instamatic Poems (1972) and From Glasgow to Saturn (1973). They are all to be found in Edwin Morgan: Collected Poems (1990).The poems are read by Edwin Morgan himself and the commentary is by Professor Roderick Watson of the University of Stirling.

"Serving Twa Maisters" brings together five plays in Scots translation: "Let Wives Tak Tent" (Robert Kemp's version of Moliere's "L'Ecole des Femmes"); "The Burdies" (Douglas Young's version of Aristophanes' "The Birds"); "The Servant o' Twa Maisters" (adapted by Victor Carin from "Il Servitore di Due Padroni", by Carlo Goldoni); "The Hypochondriak" (Hector MacMillan's version of Moliere's "Malade Imaginaire"); and Peter Arnott's Scots translation of Bertold Brecht's "Mr Puntilla and His Man Matti". Scholarly editorial notes and a full glossary are also included.

The ballad is rooted deeply in Scottish popular culture; dramatic in nature, they often centre on moments of intense conflict and are marked by violence, ranging over themes such as vengeance, murder, supernatural encounters, and treachery in love. Sarah Dunnigan's SCOTNOTE study guide discusses a number of the most accessible Scottish ballads, exploring Scotland's ballad traditions, their historical roots and their cultural interpretations, for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Matthew Fitt's extraordinary science-fiction novel But n Ben A-Go-Go is a fast-paced cyberpunk thriller. Like many SF novels it is a conscious comment on contemporary life; with its groundbreaking use of the Scots language, it challenges orthodoxies and raises questions about how we communicate, with the world and with ourselves. Christine Robinson's SCOTNOTE study guide explores and explains the novel's complex plot, its characters and its creative use of language. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Edwin Morgan is one of Scotland's most distinguished and popular poets. His celebration of his native city brought him the honour of Glasgow Poet Laureate, and in 2004 the Scottish Executive recognised him officially, as Scotland's first modern national poet, with the title of Scots Makar. Each poem here is read by Edwin Morgan, followed by informed and accessible commentary by Professor Roderick Watson of the University of Stirling. This CD is an excellent tool for classroom study, as well as giving listeners a chance to hear some of Scotland's best-loved poems read by the author himself.

James Bridie was one of the most influential British dramatists of the 20th century. This new collection includes "The Sunlight Sonata", "A Sleeping Clergyman", "Mr Bolfry", and "Daphne Laureola", along with what is possibly Bridie's most famous work, "The Anatomist": the tale of Dr. Knox and his relationship with Edinburgh's notorious bodysnatchers, Burke and Hare. All the plays are accompanied by extensive scholarly notes and a glossary.

Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the most important and influential writers of the modern era, admired and emulated by authors across the world from the 19th century to the present day. He also wrote some of the most original stories, creating iconic characters who have moved beyond the page to become parts of the broader collective culture. Christopher MacLachlan's SCOTNOTE study guide examines three of Stevenson's most popular novels. Sometimes dismissed as 'merely' children's fiction, Treasure Island, and Kidnapped and its sequel Catriona, feature young protagonists who come of age through their adventures, and who discover that those they look to for help and guidance may be more fallible and unreliable than they had first thought. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Growing out of roots planted in the Great Depression and the chaos of the Second World War, Glasgow Unity Theatre grew into the most celebrated and influential of mid-twentieth century Scottish theatre companies, successfully developing the theatrical styles and political commitments of the organisations from which it came. This new publication contains acting scripts of five of their most important plays, including Ena Lamont Stewart's "Men Should Weep" in its previously-unpublished first version, and a play from the 1950s, "All in Good Faith", by Roddy McMillan, who had begun his career as one of Unity's outstanding performers. Along with Unity's celebrated achievements in the late 1940s - Robert McLeish's "The Gorbals Story", George Munro's "Gold in his Boots", and Benedick Scott's "The Lambs of God" - this volume allows Unity's work to be read together, for the first time, and seen fully in the context of its period and influence. Here too we can see a use of Scots language far removed from the pantomime, music-hall and comedy of the contemporary stage, and capable instead of conveying genuine and universal emotions.

Neil Munro, although best known today for his humourous Para Handy stories, wrote several very fine historical novels exploring, and critiquing, Highland life and culture. Ronald Renton's SCOTNOTE study guide examines two major works by Munro: John Splendid, set during the civil wars of the 17th century; and The New Road, set during the opening-up of the Highlands by General Wade's road-building programme, shortly before the Jacobite uprising of 1745. The historical, cultural and political backgrounds of each novel are discussed and contrasted. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Professor Douglas Gifford, Emeritus Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow, explores James Hogg’s most famous work, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. This shocking tale of a minister’s son who believes himself chosen by God to punish those he sees as evil-doers, and who has a mysterious guide in all his atrocities, has been labelled a Gothic story – yet it has more in common with traditional Scottish folk-tales, but with the alternative possibility of an astonishingly modern reading, in which there are no devils and no wonders, only the delusions of a diseased mind.Professor Gifford guides the listener through the turns and twists of the novel, accompanied by atmospheric readings of selections from the text by John Shedden. Both psychological and supernatural elements are explored, along with the background to Hogg and his works.This double-disk audio CD makes an excellent tool for classroom use or for home study.

‘Thrawn Janet’ (1881) and ‘Markheim’ (1885) have the diabolical as their theme, and their sinister settings and atmospheres are expertly created. ‘Thrawn Janet’, set somewhere in the Scottish Borders at the beginning of the eighteenth century, is written in Scots. Its protagonist, a fresh young minister, pays a heavy price for his scepticism about the existence of witches and the devil. ‘Markheim’ is set in a pawnbroker’s shop in contemporary London. Its protagonist is guilty of greed and murder. His remorse and repentance are induced by the appearance of a mysterious stranger.Professor Campbell guides the listener through these gothic short stories, exploring their psychological and supernatural elements, and accompanied by atmospheric readings of selections from the texts.This audio CD makes an excellent tool for classroom use or for home study.

'The Cottagers of Glenburnie' presents vivid depictions - and biting satires - of Scottish peasant life. It also skillfully discusses and dissects class issues, British imperialism, and war.

The eighteenth century was a time of dramatic change and drastic upheaval in Scotland, from the Treaty of Union with England in 1707, through Jacobite rebellions in the Highlands, to the Scottish Enlightenment. This was the century when Scottish writing exploded across the globe, from Hume and Smith, from Macpherson's Ossian, from Burns and from Scott, transforming world literature and culture. Crossing the Highland Line is a new collection of essays examining this crucial period, exploring the literary connections and influences across Scotland, and tracing the links between those who wrote in Scots and English and those who wrote in Gaelic.These essays, from fourteen leading scholars, show that the whole of Scotland - Highland and Lowland, high cultures and low - participated in the reshaping of literature in the eighteenth century. The Highland Line does not divide.