Literary Scotland

The WritersS Robin Jenkins(1912–2005), novelist and story-writer,one of the most prolific of modern Scottishnovelists, with work ranging from Scotlandto the Far East. 47Samuel Johnson(1709–84), self-defining Englishman, editorof the first seminal Dictionary (1755) ofthe English language, refused to familiarisehimself with the Scots language anddenigrated Gaelic, yet condescended to visitScotland and the Hebrides. 19 37James Kelman(b.1946), novelist and story-writer,major novelist of working-class Glasgow,although not limited by that gravitationalemphasis, with work centred on middleclassexperience including the fine novel ADisaffection (1989). 47James Kennaway(1928–1968), novelist, scriptwriter andpublisher. Brought up and educatedin Perthshire, Kennaway workedautobiographical detail into his complexfictions of bitter goings-on in a Highlandregiment and among county families, mostmemorably in Tunes of Glory (1956) andHousehold Ghosts (1961). 25Robert Kirk(1644–92), Gaelic poet, minister andoccultist, author of famous but elusiveclassic about the underworld, The SecretCommonwealth (1691), a work of somefascination for Walter Scott and laterauthors. 28Andrew Lang(1844–1912), a versatile and stylish man ofletters, minor poet and translator of Homer,made major contributions to the study offolklore and anthropology. He wrote severalnovels for young readers and his twelvecollections of international fairy tales, fromThe Blue Fairy Book (1889) to The Lilac FairyBook (1912) are still available today. 37Tom Leonard(b.1944), poet, essayist, critic, anthologist,always politically engaged, whosebreakthrough poems in Glasgow urbanvoices, and whose critical reassessments ofnineteenth-century urban poets, significantlyrevised canonical parameters. 46 47Eric Linklater(1899–1974), novelist, story-writer, poet,anthologist, whose prolific works reflecteda surgical objectivity in analysis and ironicdetachment, but also a comic engagement,capable of both satire and celebration.1 4Bernard de Linton,Abbot of Arbroath (c.1260–1331),churchman and political thinker,considered the principal author of theessential document of Scottish identity, theDeclaration of Arbroath. 20S Liz Lochhead(b.1948), poet and playwright, beginningwith lyrical, autobiographical poems,developing a knack for dramaticmonologues, then writing full-length playsand modern adaptations of Greek plays, amajor figure in modern Scottish writing. 4749