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Scottish Fantasy Literature: A Critical Survey
01 Jan 1994-
About: The article was published on 1994-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 13 citations till now.
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Dissertation•
09 Jun 2014
TL;DR: A chronologically comparative study of fairy culture and belief in early modern and Victorian Scotland is presented in this paper, where the authors examine the adaptability of folk culture by exploring whether beliefs and legends surrounding fairies in the early modern era continued into the nineteenth and early twentieth as a single culture system or whether the Victorian fairy revival was a distinct cultural phenomenon.
Abstract: This thesis is a chronologically comparative study of fairy culture and belief in early modern and Victorian Scotland. Using fairy culture as a case study, I examine the adaptability of folk culture by exploring whether beliefs and legends surrounding fairies in the early modern era continued into the nineteenth and early twentieth as a single culture system, or whether the Victorian fairy revival was a distinct cultural phenomenon. Based on contextual, physical, and behavioral comparisons, this thesis argues the former; while select aspects of fairy culture developed and adapted to serve the needs and values of Victorian society, its resurgence and popularization was largely predicated on the notion that it was a remnant of the past, therefore directly linking the nineteenth century interpretation to the early modern. In each era, fairy culture serves as a window into the major tensions complicating Scottish identity formation. In the early modern era, these largely centered around witchcraft, theology, and the Reformation, while notions of cultural heritage, national mythology, and escapist fantasy dominated Victorian fairy discourse. A comparative study on fairy culture demonstrates how cultural traditions can help link vastly different time periods and complicate traditional conceptions about periodization. Ultimately, this thesis reveals how issues of class impacted the popularization and persistence of fairy culture across both eras, reflecting ongoing discussions about Scottish identity.
17 citations
Dissertation•
16 Jul 2018
TL;DR: The authors explored the literary double in the works of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) through a consideration of the double found within three key texts, the short story Markheim, the novella a Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and the novel The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale.
Abstract: This thesis will explore the literary double – doppelganger or other – in the works of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894) Through a consideration of the literary double found within three key texts, the short story ‘Markheim’, the novella a Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and the novel The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter’s Tale, I shall undertake a reading which accounts for the influence Calvinism and Scottish Presbyterianism had upon Stevenson’s double I shall demonstrate this by focusing on the relationship between the first and second self – the two selves which together constitute the double - evidencing my theory with Stevenson’s writings, in addition to those by John Calvin, and Scottish Presbyterian thought Ultimately, I will suggest when viewed through a theological lens, Stevenson’s literary double can accommodate a positive reading of duality
Specifically, in Chapter One I will consider ‘Markheim’, suggesting it is Stevenson’s most positive treatment of the double, which results in a redemptive Effectual Calling In Chapter Two I will venture that whilst the double collapses within the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, this need not necessarily be the nihilistic ending for Jekyll that is appears I will turn to Stevenson’s most sustained exploration of the double in Chapter Three found within The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter’s Tale, suggesting that within this seemingly destructive and negative appraisal of the double there are instances of positivity and a lesson to be gleaned Lastly, I shall reflect upon my endeavours suggesting that a feature length study of Stevenson’s religious thought, rendered into a Calvinist anthropology of his writings, would greatly benefit Stevenson studies
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply the concepts of Julia Kristeva to George MacDonald's The Princess and Curdie (1872) and The Black Sun (1882) books to explore the richness of the Princess books in the context of his spiritual beliefs and identity formation.
Abstract: George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and The Princess and Curdie (1882) have long captivated readers of both children’s literature and adult fantasy. Equally fascinated, scholars continue to direct critical attention toward these narratives from spiritual to folkloric, literary to linguistic perspectives. 1 Recently William N. Gray, in “George MacDonald, Julia Kristeva, and the Black Sun,” and Deborah Thacker, in “Feminine Language and the Politics of Children’s Literature,” have reexamined MacDonald’s texts using current psychoanalytic theories of language and identity. 2 Both apply the concepts of Julia Kristeva to his texts, but whereas Gray shows how Phantastes (1858) illustrates individual transformation from an object-relations perspective, Thacker reconsiders the Princess books through feminist reworkings of Lacanian theory. Although Gray and Thacker produce fresh readings of MacDonald’s texts, neither sufficiently articulates the extent to which Kristeva’s theories illuminate the richness of the Princess books in the context of his spiritual beliefs and identity formation. Kristeva’s description of the dynamic relationship between the semiotic (noncommunicative articulations) and symbolic (signification) is useful for understanding the signifying process as it relates to identity formation. Like a thin membrane through which the semiotic permeates, the thetic phase functions as a “threshold” of language and organizes semiotic energy into the symbolic (Revolution 45); energy that cannot yet be so organized remains semiotic. The tic phase posits the signifiable object, the deepest structure of possibility (Revolution 54; Moi 99). Named “transposition” by Kristeva, this process highlights the passage from one sign system to another, a passage that involves an “altering of
8 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In the name of the Father, the defender of the homeland and the protector of the national health, George MacDonald as mentioned in this paper defined the notion of manliness as "the recognition of the manliness of a man".
Abstract: ..................................................................................................................................... v Introduction ............................................................................................................................... vi In the Name of the Father ...................................................................................................... vi George MacDonald – Origins and Inspirations.................................................................. viii An Overview of the Thesis............................................................................................... xxxii Chapter 1: Rewriting Manliness – The Defender of the Homeland .......................................... 1 Military Manliness in ̳The Broken Swords‘.......................................................................... 9 Class Conflict in Manchester ............................................................................................... 18 Soldiers in the Home ............................................................................................................ 30 Chapter 2: Class and Employment – Manliness in the Workplace .......................................... 39 ̳Gentlemen‘ at Work ............................................................................................................ 41 Manual Labour and Divine Service ..................................................................................... 52 Performing the Manly Role .................................................................................................. 59 Chapter 3: Homosocial Interaction – the Recognition of Manliness ...................................... 69 Filial Obedience ................................................................................................................... 71 Validating Manly Authority ................................................................................................. 80 Teaching Manliness.............................................................................................................. 96 Chapter 4: Men in the City – Victims and Reformers ........................................................... 108 Urban Fairy-lands ............................................................................................................... 110 Observing the City ............................................................................................................. 123 Paternalism and Urban Reform .......................................................................................... 131 Chapter 5: Saintly Androgyny ............................................................................................... 142 The Economy of Nature ..................................................................................................... 145 The Manliness of Christ ..................................................................................................... 151 Manliness and Social / Spiritual Evolution ........................................................................ 156 Chapter 6: Unmuscular Christianity – Obfuscating Femininity ............................................ 169 Obfuscation through Idealisation ....................................................................................... 172 Obfuscating the Feminine Body ......................................................................................... 186 Obfuscation through Victimisation .................................................................................... 197 Chapter 7: Urban Environments, Sexuality and Domestic Control ....................................... 209 Unnatural Mobility ............................................................................................................. 210 The Sexual Double-Standard ............................................................................................. 218 Domestic Violence and Patriarchal Control ....................................................................... 225 Conclusion: Fatherly Power, Domesticity and the National Health ...................................... 244 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 250
8 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: This article examined the production and development of chapbooks for children in Scotland during the period 1800-1870 and explored the erosion of Scottish content and language from these chapbooks and looked at the relationship these books had with Scottish childhood and the creation of a Scottish literature for children.
Abstract: This thesis examines the production and development of chapbooks for children in Scotland during the period 1800-1870. By dividing these chapbooks into two categories, religious and instructive, it will be discovered what relationship these texts had to changing perceptions of childhood and the creation of children’s literature during the nineteenth century. Bearing in mind Douglas Gifford’s claim that nineteenth century Scottish literature was affected by a national identity crisis, aggravated by the failure of Scottish institutions including the church and the education system, this thesis will also explore the erosion of Scottish content and language from these chapbooks and will look at the relationship these books had with Scottish childhood and the creation of a Scottish literature for children.
7 citations