The Wealth of the Nation: Scotland, Culture and Independence - Paperback

by Cairns Craig (Author)

The Wealth of the Nation explores how Scotland has continued to assert its distinctive cultural difference despite the three-hundred-year union with England and the modern forces of globalisation. Dealing with Scotland since the eighteenth century, the study analyses how Scottish culture defined itself within the British Empire and how, in the late twentieth century, it recovered from the collapse of the Empire to rebuild the value of its cultural past. Through its focus on the role of memory in philosophy, literature and the visual arts, readers will gain understanding of the influence that modern Scottish writers and artists have had on contemporary Scottish nationalism. The book argues that political nationalism in modern Scotland is founded on a cultural revival that began in the 1950s and 60s but gained momentum from resistance to the outcome of the 1979 devolution referendum. That resistance, and the creative achievements which it generated, provoked a re-examination of the nation's cultural history, revealing a wealth previously denied or forgotten.

Front Jacket

'The Wealth of the Nation presents an astonishingly rich tapestry of cultural, intellectual, literary and political history. At once absorbing and instructive, this tour de force recasts the influence and meaning of Scotland in the modern world. An undertaking this grand in scale requires a scholar of Craig's singular gifts.' Matthew Wickman, Brigham Young University A critical appraisal of Scotland's cultural wealth and global distinction The Wealth of the Nation explores how Scotland has continued to assert its distinctive cultural difference despite the 300-year union with England and the modern forces of globalisation. Examining Scotland since the eighteenth century, the study analyses how Scottish culture defined itself within the British Empire and how, in the late twentieth century, it recovered from the collapse of the Empire to rebuild the value of its cultural past. Author Cairns Craig focuses on the role of memory in philosophy, literature and the visual arts, giving readers an understanding of the influence that modern Scottish writers and artists have had on contemporary Scottish nationalism. The book argues that political nationalism in modern Scotland is founded on a cultural revival that began in the 1950s and 60s but gained momentum from resistance to the outcome of the 1979 devolution referendum. That resistance - and the creative achievements which it generated - provoked a re-examination of the nation's cultural history, revealing a wealth previously denied or forgotten. Cairns Craig is Glucksman Professor of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. His books include Yeats, Eliot, Pound and the Politics of Poetry (1982 and 2016), Out of History (1996), The Modern Scottish Novel (Edinburgh University Press, 1999), Associationism and the Literary Imagination (Edinburgh University Press, 2007) and Intending Scotland: Explorations in Scottish Culture since the Enlightenment (Edinburgh University Press, 2009). Front cover image: Robert Burns, 2002 (c) Calum Colvin Back cover image: Blind Ossian, 2001 (c) Calum Colvin Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-3557-4 [PPC] ISBN 978-1-4744-3558-1 [cover] Barcode

Author Biography

Cairns Craig is Glucksman Professor Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen and previously Professor of Modern and Scottish Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He was the general editor of the four volume History of Scottish Literature published in 1987 by Aberdeen University Press. He has written extensively on modern poetry, on the history of Scottish culture and on the novel in Scotland. His monographs include Yeats, Eliot, Pound and the Politics of Poetry (1981), The Modern Scottish Novel (1999), Intending Scotland (2009), The Wealth of the Nation: Scotland, Culture and Independence (2018) and Muriel Spark, Existentialism and the Art of Death (2018). He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the British Academy.