OpenLearn Works Unit 19: Literature – prose by Alan Riach Copyright © 2019 The Open University 2 of 29 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Thursday 9 January 2020 Contents Introduction 4 19. Introductory handsel 5 19.1 Examples of prose fiction written in Scots 8 19.2 Lewis Grassic Gibbon and A Scots Quair 15 19.3 The predicament of the Scottish writer 17 19.4 Literary prose fiction in Scots from 1900 to new millenium 21 19.5 What I have learned 25 Further research 26 References 27 Acknowledgements 28 3 of 29 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Thursday 9 January 2020 Introduction Introduction In this unit, you will learn about prose in the Scots language. There are innumerable documents in Scots dealing with matters of court, law, diplomacy and (in modern times, what we would call) cultural criticism. Since this unit deals with literary prose, you will focus on prose fiction, both short stories and novels. Prose fiction has been written in Scots for centuries but the most crucial era for this literature is in that period where oral culture, and written, print-generated culture, overlap. It is tempting to think that one superseded the other, but this is simply not true. Everyone tells stories verbally, even today. The art of storytelling comes from ancient times and precedes writing, but when song- and story-collectors began their work seriously and transformed their collected material into written and then printed work, they co-existed with prose-fiction, continuing in the oral tradition, as you have learned in unit 13. One of the great twentieth-century collectors, Hamish Henderson, referred to this as ‘the carrying stream’ and it complements our sense of written prose in Scots. The historical significance of this period, mainly from the 18th into the 19th centuries and continuing, is that at its start, it coincided with the English language claiming an increasing authority in the context of the British Empire. Scots as a written and printed language was eclipsed in some crucial respects by English. It wasn’t superseded or killed off, instead Scots speech maintained a vital currency of communication even while the English language took the central position of authority in the narrative prose of most published works. You are going to study two crucial examples that seem to run counter to this general truth: Walter Scott’s Wandering Willie’s Tale and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Thrawn Janet. Then you are going to consider the major breakthrough made by Lewis Grassic Gibbon in the 1930s in his trilogy of novels collected as A Scots Quair: Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite. You are going to weigh the counter-arguments for writing in English and Scots proposed by Edwin Muir and Hugh MacDiarmid in their confrontation in 1936 and its consequence in 1940. Then finally, you will look at the situation as it has developed since the 1980s to the 21st century. There are four aspects you will explore closely as listed below. Important details to take notes on throughout this unit: ● the narrator and the narrative: who utters the words in the Scots language and what is the authority of her or his narrative ● the the relation between storytelling/the short story and the novel as forms of prose literary fiction ● the relation between English and Scots in literary prose fiction and how has it changed from the 18th century till now ● changes in the 1930s and the lasting effect these have had on literary prose fiction since then. Activity 1 Before commencing your study of this unit, you may wish to jot down some thoughts on the important details we suggest you take notes on throughout this unit. You could write down what you already know about each of these points, as well as any assumption or question you might have. 4 of 29 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Thursday 9 January 2020 19. Introductory handsel Provide your answer... 19. Introductory handsel A Scots word and example sentence to learn: Quair Definition: a set of twenty-four sheets of writing paper (Sc. 1818 Sawers). Comb. quair-book, a book consisting of a single quire of paper so folded as to make 16 pages, a kind of exercise book ○ Example sentence: “Afore Agyness Deyn, Scotland saa Vivien Heilbon play Chris Guthrie oan the telly in aa three books o Gibbon’s A Scots Quair” ○ English translation: “Before Agyness Deyn, Scotland saw Vivien Heilbon play Chris Guthrie on the TV in all three books of Gibbon’s A Scots Quair.” Activity 2 Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker. You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word 5 of 29 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Thursday 9 January 2020 19. Introductory handsel Language Links The word ‘quair’ is a Scots term for a book, literally, a ‘quire’ (that is, 24 sheets of writing paper folded to make 16 pages). The dictionary link to the word notes its use in the 18th century as well as its further meaning – more generally as a literally work, as in the much older poem by James I, The Kingis Quair (c.1423). Dictionary definitions can give you documented historical references, but since this section is about literature, allow the powers of implication to hold sway for a moment and think of the significance Lewis Grassic Gibbon gives in his work to the voices of women and men – in their daily practice, in gossip, raised in song or whispered in terms of endearment, expletive in anger, joined in concurrence of ideals, isolated and lonely in their exclusion from the normative pressures of conservative society... Is it possible that he chose the word as the title for the trilogy partly at least for its resonance with the word, ‘choir’? I don’t mean to challenge etymological accuracy here, only to suggest that a bound number of sheets of paper on which are written or printed words representing speech might be thought of as a choir of human voices rather than only as a collection of signs made from wood and ink. Whatever the linguistic history, the idea is germane to Grassic Gibbon’s achievement, as you shall see. Related word: Smeddum Definition: 3. Spirit, mettle, energy, drive, spunk, vigorous common sense and resourcefulness ○ Example sentence: “He’s no ill aff fir smeddum…” ○ English translation: “He’s not ill off for spirit…” Activity 3 Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker. You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word 6 of 29 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Thursday 9 January 2020 19. Introductory handsel ‘Interior of Crofter’s Cottage, Caithness’ 7 of 29 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Thursday 9 January 2020 19.1 Examples of prose fiction written in Scots 19.1 Examples of prose fiction written in Scots This section will focus on two stories, Walter Scott’s Wandering Willie’s Tale and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Thrawn Janet. The section will consider the ways in which Scots language is used in relation to English in the stories, how the stories themselves balance aspects of the supernatural and the material or earthly world. They will explore questions of who the narrator is and who the narrative is addressed to, and finally what legacy the stories imply for their own narrators and for subsequent readers. This last question prompts consideration of the relation between storytelling and extended prose fiction, novels. The Scots language in these two stories is used to particular effect, not only to generate a quality of strangeness or mystery but also to give a sense of vocal immediacy or authenticity. This is a paradox: one aspect of its use as written, printed language exploits its unfamiliarity: to those accustomed to seeing the English language on the page, then Scots may seem odd or difficult; the other aspect exploits the colloquial intimacy of Scots language and implies that the speakers of these stories are talking ‘naturally’. We know that all literature is artifice – all the arts employ design or intention, structure and method – but the relation between writing and speech is a palpable presence in these stories. How does this work? What effect does it have? You will answer these questions through exploring the two stories in some detail. Activity 4 One of the most helpful essays on the art of storytelling and its distinction from the art of the novel is The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov (1936) by Walter Benjamin. You will read parts of this short essay in this activity, as it will form one of the cornerstones of this unit. Read Benjamin’s essay, focusing mainly on sections I–V, and then match the beginnings of the sentences with the appropriate ending according to Benjamin’s text. We have done the first example for you: Mankind is losing… /… the ability to exchange experiences. …differs least from the speech of the many nameless storytellers. …with the lore of the past, as it best reveals itself to natives of a place. …contains, openly or covertly, something useful.