The Herald, June 12 2004
"The eclectic collection in this book is fascinating."
The Scotsman, June 26, 2004
McCulloch gives a vivid sense of how confusing and often exasperating the 20th-century "Scottish Renaissance" acually felt.
Times Literary Supplement, December 17, 2004
McCulloch's book is indispensable... Serious essays are presented in well-judged counterpoint to private letters, malicious flytings and delicious gossip.
Book Description
The twentieth-century Scottish Renaissance was a unique cultural movement. Central to the beliefs of those involved was the idea that any regeneration of the nation’s artistic culture could not be separated from revival in its social, economic and political life. Engagement with Europe and with the artistic and intellectual ideas of the modern period was also crucial. Nationalism, internationalism and modernity were therefore seen as interactive parts of an ambitious project of national renewal.
Modernism and Nationalism is a carefully selected collection of primary sources from this challenging period. Through excerpts from periodicals, books, letters and other documents, it brings us the voices of writers such as Catherine Carswell, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Neil Gunn, Eric Linklater, Hugh MacDiarmid, Compton Mackenzie, Naomi Mitchison, Edwin and Willa Muir and many others. Their ideas about literary, social, economic and political issues are argued, developed and explored, offering new insights into their own works. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Scotland and Scottish literature.
