Robert Burns and Scottish Cultural Politics: The Bard of Contention (1914-2014)

di Paul Malgrati (Autore)

Edinburgh University Press, 2023

Robert Burns is Scotland's best known and most influential poet; yet his political legacy also ranks amongst the most contentious. His ambiguous verse, oscillating between patriotic odes, egalitarian lines and royalist songs, lends itself to interpretations from across the political divide. Blending political history and literary studies, this book explores this contested legacy of 'Scotland's National Bard'. It follows the transformations of Burns's image throughout the late modern era, as revolutionaries, nationalists and avant-garde writers co-opted Burns's myth to subvert their country's social and constitutional order. From Great War unionism to 1940s socialism and contemporary nationalism, the examination of Burns's tempestuous afterlives sheds light on the ongoing Scottish question. Overall, it reminds us that poetry is a very shifting ground on which to build a national identity.

• Autore: Paul Malgrati
• Editore: Edinburgh University Press
• Anno: 2023
• Rilegatura: Hardback
• Pagine: 256 p.
• Dimensioni: 234 x 156 mm
• EAN: 9781399503457

Testo in English