Scottish Literature

Scottish literature: definition

How is Scottish literature defined? Here's a simple explanation to get started.

History of Scottish literature

Scottish literature has a deep and rich history spanning back thousands of years.

A long and winding road

During the 6th century AD, the Scotland known today was unrecognisable. Latin was the primary written language, brought to the country by the Romans, who had inhabited Britannia for hundreds of years prior to Rome's collapse.

By the year 1000, a version of Middle English, now known as Early Scots, was commonly spoken but rarely written. By the time the dialect first appeared in writing, a variant of French brought to England by the invading Normans had surpassed all but Latin as the dominant written language in Scotland.

Early works

The first significant example of Scottish literature came in the form of John Barbour's (c.1320-1395) The Bruce (1376), a long narrative poem detailing the trials and tribulations of King Robert I, who had secured Scotland's independence from England many years earlier.

Many influential works would follow throughout the fifteenth century, including The Kingis Quair (c.1423), a beautiful poem attributed to James I of Scotland and Blind Harry'sThe Wallace. A great deal of poetry at the time was produced by makars.

By the late 15th century, Middle Scots had become the region's dominant language. Scottish prose had begun to develop with the establishment of the printing press in 1507, helping to spread the country's literature and bolster Scottish identity.

Significant developments

Scottish literature flourished under the reign of King James V (1512-1542), a known patron of writers. The king encouraged the publication of many critical works, including a translation of The History of Scotland (1527) from Latin into Scots verse by John Bellenden (fl.1533-87). Another influential poet that prospered during this period was diplomat David Lyndsay (c. 1486-1555), who penned various satires, romances and elegiac narratives under royal patronage.

The 1700s saw the rise of the novel in Scotland, first ushered in by pioneering novelists Tobias Smollett (1721-1771), Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831) and John Moore (1761-1809). The essential writer to arise during this period was James Macpherson (1736-1796), whose English translations of Gaelic epics influenced several generations of Scottish writers.

Fig 1. This painting by Nicolai Abildgaard (1743-1809) depicts Ossian singing his swan song. Ossian was the proposed Bard that passed down the stories James Macpherson would later translate. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that Ossian was likely fictional and that Macpherson likely created the character to give his stories more gravity.

The eighteenth century also marked the beginning of the Scottish Enlightenment (c.1730-1820)

The movement resulted in unparalleled developments within science, medicine, literature and culture. With this flourishing of the arts came new writing styles, exciting new genres, and several of Scotland's most extraordinary authors.

Scottish literature: authors

Many of Scotland's most memorable authors arose during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Fig 2. This bust depicts Robert Burns, widely considered the most influential of Scotland's poets. He is considered the country's national Bard, and is celebrated yearly on January 25th with Burns Night.

Other influential Scottish writers from this period include David Hume (1711-1776), publisher of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), writer of Treasure Island (1882) and Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and J. M. Barrie (1860-1937), creator of Peter Pan (1911).

Contemporary Scottish literature

Literature is a considerable part of the Scottish national identity. From the outset of the twentieth century, the canon of remarkable Scottish literature has grown at an alarming rate. Spurred on by the modernist movement, which encourages new ideas, concepts and techniques within storytelling, Scottish writers have consistently been at the forefront of literary experimentation.

Among the most famous contemporary writers is Alasdair Gray (1934-2019), whose outstanding novel Lanark (1981) has been praised worldwide for its dystopian depictions of Glasgow, Gray's home city. The book was written over a thirty-year period and led famous writer Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) to label Gray the best Scottish writer since Walter Scott.

Irvine Welsh's (1958-) infamous Trainspotting (1993), a cult novel based around young residents of Leith, Edinburgh, has since been adapted into a hugely popular film.

Two Scots have won the Booker Prize in recent years. The first, James Kelman (1946-), won the prestigious award in 1994 with his stunning How Late It was, How Late (1994). The second prize was awarded to Douglas Stuart (1976-) in 2020 with his debut novel Shuggie Bain (2020).

In 2009 Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy (1952-) became the first ever Scot to become British Poet Laureate, a position she held until 2019.

Other notable contemporary Scottish writers include:

• A L Kenney (1965-
• Jackie Kay (1961-
• Kate Atkinson (1951-
• Iain Banks (1954-2013)
• Gregory Burke (1968-)
• James Robertson (1958-)
• Don Paterson (1963-)
• John Burnside (1955-)
• Edwin Morgan (1920-2010)
• Jenni Fagan (1977-)
• Douglas Dunn (1942-)

Scottish literature: books

Want to learn more about the Scots' vibrant literary history? Here's a selection of previously unmentioned books, plays and poems plucked from the diverse catalogue of Scottish literature. See if you can spot any of your favourites!