TheScottish Renaissance (Scottish Gaelic:Ath-bheòthachadh na h-Alba;Scots:Scots Renaissance) was a mainlyliterary movement of the early to mid-20th century that can be seen as theScottish version ofmodernism. It is sometimes referred to as theScottish literary renaissance, although its influence went beyond literature into music, visual arts, and politics (among other fields). key figures, like Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean and other writers and artists of the Scottish Renaissance displayed a profound interest in both modern philosophy and technology, as well as incorporatingfolk influences, and a strong concern for the fate of Scotland'sdeclining languages.
It has been seen as a parallel to other movements elsewhere, including theIrish Literary Revival, theHarlem Renaissance (in the United States), theBengal Renaissance (inKolkata,India) and theJindyworobak Movement (inAustralia), which emphasised indigenous folk traditions.
The term "Scottish Renaissance" was brought into critical prominence by theFrenchLanguedoc poet and scholarDenis Saurat in his article "Le Groupe de la Renaissance Écossaise", which was published in theRevue Anglo-Américaine in April 1924.[1] The term had appeared much earlier, however, in the work of thepolymathicPatrick Geddes[2] and in a 1922 book review byChristopher Murray Grieve ("Hugh MacDiarmid") for theScottish Chapbook that predicted a "Scottish Renascence as swift and irresistible as was the Belgian Revival between 1880 and 1910",[3] involving such figures asLewis Spence andMarion Angus.[4]
These earlier references make clear the connections between the Scottish Renaissance and theCeltic Twilight andCeltic Revival movements of the late 19th century, which helped reawaken a spirit of culturalnationalism among Scots of the modernist generations. Where these earlier movements had been steeped in a sentimental and nostalgicCelticism, however, the modernist-influenced Renaissance would seek a rebirth of Scottish national culture that would both look back to the medieval "makar" poets,William Dunbar andRobert Henryson, as well as look towards such contemporary influences asT. S. Eliot,Ezra Pound, andD. H. Lawrence, or (more locally)R. B. Cunninghame Graham.[5]
The turn of the 20th century saw the first stirrings of a new era in Scottish arts and letters. As writers such asGeorge Douglas Brown railed against the "Kailyard school" that had come to dominate Scottish letters, producing satiric, realist accounts of Scottish rural life in novels likeThe House with the Green Shutters (1901),Scots language poets such asViolet Jacob andMarion Angus undertook a quiet revival of regionally inflected poetry in the Lowland vernacular. Patrick Geddes would continue his foundational work in civic renewal and town and regional planning, developing the triad "Place - Work - Folk" as a matrix for new thinking about the relationships between people and their local environments. In the realm of visual arts,John Duncan would refine hisCeltic myth inspiredSymbolist painting to include an increasing emphasis oncollage and the flatness of the image. In architecture and the decorative arts, the towering figures ofCharles Rennie Mackintosh and theGlasgow Four would give Scotland its very own "school" of modern design and help create the "Glasgow style". Scotland in the early 20th century was experiencing an efflorescence of creative activity, but there was not yet a sense of a particular shared movement or an overt national inflection to all of this artistic effort.[citation needed]
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It was not until the literary efforts ofHugh MacDiarmid that the Scottish Renaissance can properly be said to have begun. Starting in 1920, C. M. Grieve (having not yet adopted his nom de plume of Hugh MacDiarmid) began publishing a series of three short anthologies entitledNorthern Numbers: Being Representative Selections from Certain Living Scottish Poets (including works byJohn Buchan,Violet Jacob,Neil Munro, and Grieve himself). These anthologies, which appeared one each year from 1920–22, along with his founding and editing of theScottish Chapbook review (in theannus mirabilis ofModernism, 1922), established Grieve/MacDiarmid as the father and central figure of the burgeoning Scottish Renaissance movement that he had prophesied.[6] By about 1925, MacDiarmid had largely abandoned hisEnglish language poetry and began to write in a kind of "synthetic Scots" known asLallans, that was a hybrid of regionalScotsdialects andlexicographical artifacts exhumed fromJamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language, often grafted onto aStandard English grammatical structure. His poetic works included "A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle" (1926). This had an electrifying effect on theliterary landscape of the time.[7]
Other writers soon followed in MacDiarmid's footsteps and also wrote in Lallans, including the poetsEdwin Muir (1887–1959) andWilliam Soutar (1898–1943), who pursued an exploration of identity, rejecting nostalgia and parochialism and engaging with social and political issues.[8] Some writers that emerged after the Second World War followed MacDiarmid by writing in Scots, includingRobert Garioch (1909–1981) andSydney Goodsir Smith (1915–1975). The Glaswegian poetEdwin Morgan (1920–2010) became known for translations of works from a wide range of European languages. He was also the firstScots Makar (the officialnational poet), appointed by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004.[9]Alexander Gray was an academic and poet, but is chiefly remembered for his translations into Scots from the German and Danish ballad traditions into Scots, includingArrows. A Book of German Ballads and Folksongs Attempted in Scots (1932) andFour-and-Forty. A Selection of Danish Ballads Presented in Scots (1954).[10]
The Scottish Renaissance increasingly concentrated on the novel, particularly after the 1930s when Hugh MacDiarmid was in isolation in Shetland and its leadership moved to novelistNeil Gunn (1891–1973). Gunn's novels, beginning withThe Grey Coast (1926), and includingHighland River (1937) andThe Green Isle of the Great Deep (1943), were largely written in English and not the Scots preferred by MacDiarmid, focused on the Highlands of his birth and were notable for their narrative experimentation.[11] Other major figures associated with the movement includeGeorge Blake (1893–1961),A. J. Cronin (1896–1981),Eric Linklater (1899–1974) andLewis Grassic Gibbon (1901–35). There were also a large number of female authors associated with the movement, who demonstrated a growing feminine consciousness. They includedCatherine Carswell (1879–1946),Willa Muir (1890–1970),[11]Nan Shepherd (1893–1981)[8] and most prolificallyNaomi Mitchison (1897–1999).[11] All were born within a fifteen-year period and, although they cannot be described as members of a single school, they all pursued an exploration of identity, rejecting nostalgia and parochialism and engaging with social and political issues.[8] Physician A. J. Cronin is now often seen as sentimental, but his early work, particularly his first novelHatter's Castle (1931) and his most successfulThe Citadel (1937) were a deliberate reaction against the Kailyard tradition, exposing the hardships and vicissitudes of the lives of ordinary people,[12] He was the most translated Scottish author in the twentieth century.[13] George Blake pioneered the exploration of the experiences of the working class in his major works such asThe Shipbuilders (1935). Eric Linklater produced comedies of the absurd includingJuan in America (1931) dealing withprohibition America, and a critique of modern war inPrivate Angelo (1946). Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell, produced one of the most important realisations of the ideas of the Scottish Renaissance in his trilogyA Scots Quair (Sunset Song, 1932,Cloud Howe, 1933 andGrey Granite, 1934), which mixed different Scots dialects with the narrative voice.[11] Other works that investigated the working class included James Barke's (1905–58),Major Operation (1936) andThe Land of the Leal (1939) andJ. F. Hendry's (1912–86)Fernie Brae (1947).[11]
The parallel revitalisation of Gaelic poetry, known as theScottish Gaelic Renaissance, was largely due to the work ofSorley Maclean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain, 1911–96). A native of Skye and a native Gaelic speaker, he abandoned the stylistic conventions of the tradition and opened up new possibilities for composition with his poemDàin do Eimhir (Poems to Eimhir, 1943). His work inspired a new generation to take upnua bhàrdachd (the new poetry). These includedGeorge Campbell Hay (Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa, 1915–1984), Lewis-born poetsDerick Thomson (Ruaraidh MacThòmais, 1921–2012) andIain Crichton Smith (Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn, 1928–98). They all focused on the issues of exile, the fate of the Gaelic language andbi-culturalism.[14]
In the 1950s, the review magazineJabberwock, produced by students at theUniversity of Edinburgh, became a significant vehicle of the Scottish Literary Renaissance.[15]
The ideas of a distinctive modern Scottish art were expressed in the inter-war period by figures includingStanley Cursiter (1887–1976),William McCance (1894–1970),William Johnstone (1897–1981) andJ. D. Fergusson (1874–1961).[16] Stanley Cursiter was influenced by the Celtic revival, post-impressionism andFuturism, as can be seen in hisRain on Princes Street (1913) andRegatta (1913). He went on to be a major painter of the coastline of his native Orkney, director of the National Gallery of Scotland and proposed the creation of a National Gallery of Modern Art in 1930.[17][18] Fergusson was one of the few British artists who could claim to have played a part in the creation of modernism and probably played a major part in the formulation of MacDiarmid's thought. His interest in machine imagery can be seen in paintings likeDamaged Destroyer (1918). He co-operated with MacDiarmid on the journalScottish Art and Letters and MacDiarmid quoted extensively from his work.[19]
William McCance's early work was in a bold post-impressionist style. After World War I he moved to London with his wife, fellow studentAgnes Miller Parker (1895-1980), where he joined the same circles as Fergusson, vorticistWyndham Lewis (1882-1957) and nationalist composerFrancis George Scott. Under these influences his work became increasingly abstract and influenced by vorticism, as can be seen inWomen on an Elevator (1925) andThe Engineer and his Wife (1925).[20] William Johnstone (1897–1981) was a cousin of F. G. Scott and met MacDiarmid while a student at Edinburgh. He studied cubism, surrealism and was introduced to new American art by his wife the sculptor Flora Macdonald. He moved towardsabstraction, attempting to utilise aspects of landscape, poetry and Celtic art. His most significant work,A Point in Time (1929–38), has been described by art historianDuncan Macmillan as "one of the most important Scottish pictures of the century and one of the most remarkable pictures by any British painter in the period".[21][17][22]
Other artists strongly influenced by modernism includedJames McIntosh Patrick (1907–98) andEdward Baird (1904–49).[17] Both trained in Glasgow, but spent most of their careers in and around their respective native cities of Dundee and Montrose. Both were influenced by surrealism and the work ofBruegel and focused on landscape, as can be seen in McIntosh Patrick'sTraquair House (1938) and more overtly Baird'sThe Birth of Venus (1934). Before his success in painting, McIntosh Patrick gained a reputation as an etcher. Leading figures in the field in the inter-war period includedWilliam Wilson (1905–72) and Ian Fleming (1906-94).[23]
Playwrights associated with the Scottish Renaissance includeRobert McLellan,Robert Kemp andAlexander Reid. Much of McLellan's early work was first produced by theCurtain Theatre in Glasgow.[24] His first success came in 1936 with Curtain's production of his comedy,Toom Byres, set at the time of theBorder reivers. This was followed in 1937 byJamie the Saxt, featuringJames VI in his prime. This latter production, withDuncan Macrae in the title role, is generally regarded as the one which confirmed McLellan's reputation as a comic dramatist of substance in Scots.[25] The production of another historical Scots comedy,The Bogle, was delayed by the Second World War, eventually being staged asTorwatletie byGlasgow Unity Theatre in 1946. A radio production of his verse playThe Carlin Moth was broadcast in the same year. McLellan had writtenThe Flouers o' Edinburgh (1947) in the expectation that it would be produced by theCitizens Theatre in Glasgow but the play was rejected byJames Bridie, who was concerned about its overtly nationalist reading of Scottish history.[26] It was given its first production by the Unity Players and a radio production was broadcast in 1951. It was produced by theGateway Theatre Company in its 1954-55 season, and again in August 1957 as itsEdinburgh International Festival production.[27]
Robert Kemp pioneered the translation of existing dramatic works into Scots.[28] HisLet Wives Tak Tent, a rendering into Scots ofMolière'sL'Ecole des femmes, was first produced at the Gateway Theatre in 1948, with Duncan Macrae in the lead role.[29] In the same year, his adaptation ofDavid Lyndsay'sAne Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis was staged at theChurch of Scotland's Assembly Hall as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. Together withLennox Milne andTom Fleming, Kemp founded the Gateway Theatre Company in 1953, taking on the roles of Chairman and resident playwright.[25]The Laird o' Grippy, his adaptation ofJohn Galt's novelThe Entail was staged at the Gateway in 1955, withJohn Laurie in the title role.[27]
While McLellan's most successful plays were set in the distant historic past, Alexander Reid preferred a half-mythic milieu.[30] His two best-known plays areThe Lass wi' the Muckle Mou (1950), which drew on the legend ofThomas the Rhymer, andThe Warld's Wonder (1953), about the mathematician and reputed magicianMichael Scot.[31] The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou was first staged at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre in November 1950. It was adapted as a television drama, first broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday 6 October 1953.[32]The Warld's Wonder was produced at the Gateway in the autumn of 1958.[27]
Victor Carin, who became director of productions at the Gateway in 1963, contributed to the expansion of Scottish theatre's repertoire of works in translation.The Hypochonriack, his translation into Scots of Molière'sThe Imaginary Invalid, was performed by the Gateway Company during his first season in that role.[27]His second translation,The Servant o' Twa Maisters, translated fromCarlo Goldoni'sThe Servant of Two Masters was theRoyal Lyceum Theatre Company's debut production in 1965.[33]
Sydney Goodsir Smith's most successful contribution to the drama of the Scottish Renaissance wasThe Wallace. Initially broadcast on radio in a BBC production byFinlay J. MacDonald on 30 November 1959, it was first staged at theKirk'sAssembly Hall in a production by Peter Potter as part of the 1960 Edinburgh International Festival.[34] The play was revived by theScottish Theatre Company in 1985.[35]
The ideas of the Scottish Renaissance were brought to classical music by Francis George Scott (1880–1958), MacDiarmid's former teacher, who set to music several of the poet's works.[36]Lancashire-bornRonald Stevenson (b. 1938) collaborated with Scott and both wrote intwelve-tone technique. Stevenson developed a musical idiom derived from Scottish music, creating settings of folk songs including concertos for his instrument, the piano (1966 and 1972). He also adapted work by Scottish Renaissance poets such as MacDiarmid,Sorley Maclean andWilliam Soutar. The influence ofDmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was evident in the initials used in his large-scale piano workPassacaglia on DSCH (1963).[37]
Robin Orr (1909–2006) andCedric Thorpe Davie (1913–1983) were influenced bymodernism and Scottish musical cadences.[37] The influence of modernism can also be heard in the work ofErik Chisholm (1904–1965) in hisPibroch Piano Concerto (1930) and theStraloch suite for Orchestra (1933) and the sonataAn Riobhan Dearg (1939). In 1928 he founded the Scottish Ballet Society (later the Celtic Ballet) with choreographerMargaret Morris, the long term partner of J. D. Fergusson. Together they created several ballets, includingThe Forsaken Mermaid (1940). He was also instrumental in the foundation of the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music, for which he brought leading composers to Glasgow to perform their work.[37]
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Although many of the participants were to live until the 1970s and later, the truly revolutionary aspect of the Scottish Renaissance can be said to have been over by the 1960s, when it became eclipsed by various other movements, often international in nature.
The most famous clash was at the 1962 Edinburgh Writers Festival, whereHugh MacDiarmid denouncedAlexander Trocchi, a younger Scottish writer, as "cosmopolitan scum", and Trocchi claimed "sodomy" as a basis for his own writing. This is often seen as a clash of the generations, although it is rarely reported that the two writers corresponded with each other later, and became friends. Both were controversialists of sorts.
The Scottish Renaissance also had a profound effect on the Scottish independence movement, and the roots of theScottish National Party may be said to be firmly in it.
The revival in both of Scotland's indigenous languages is partly drawn from the renaissance.
Other people connected with the Scottish renaissance, not mentioned previously, are listed below.
Note: These figures were not all contemporaries of the first generation of Scottish Renaissance writers and artists who emerged in the 1920s and 1930s. However, most did become involved with the movement in some form through interactions with figures such as Gunn or MacDiarmid, even if at a slightly later date.
People generally considered to be post-renaissance but strongly influenced by it:
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