Dundee's Literary Lives - Volumes One & Two

Ref: ABT-B05

Vol 1: Fifteenth to Nineteenth Century. The oldest known Scottish poem, the Goddodin, was written near Dundee in the sixth century and during the Reformation and Renaissance some of the most influential writers in Europe including the Wedderburn brothers and Hector Boece were Dundonians.

In 1660 the first full-length work of fiction written in Scotland was penned in the city whose guest-list includes Samuel Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Charles Dickens.

Andrew Murray Scott explores the Victorian age over three chapters and considers dozens of working class ‘Poets of Protest’ and the hundreds of self-styled ‘Bards’ (including William McGonagall) as well as the newspapers and magazines which made Dundee such an important cultural centre. Many important and neglected writers are considered; Robert Nicoll, James Gow, Robert Mudie, Robert Leighton, Frances Wright, George Gilfillan, James Young Geddes, David Pae and W.D. Latto.

Vol 2: Twentieth Century. This second volume of Andrew Murray Scott’s innovative and critically-acclaimed cultural study considers Dundee’s writers in World War One, the ‘kailyard’ period, the ‘Scottish Renaissance’ - and the present generation of literary prize-winners.

It examines the cultural slump in mid-century, the dialect humour and distinctively local culture which emerged in the 1960s, the surprising upsurge in non-fiction writing since 1986 and the city’s involvement in dramatic productions. Important writers featured include Joseph Lee, Mary Brooksbank, Lewis Spence, J.B. Salmond, W.L. Lorimer and William Montgomerie - as well as today’s literary stars such as A.L. Kennedy, W.N. Herbert and Don Paterson.

The book is enlivened by the inclusion of poems and prose from the works of key figures and, like Andrew Murray Scott, is the author of twelve books including three novels and nine works of non-fiction and has been actively involved in the cultural life of Dundee as a writer and editor since the 1970s. He is a graduate of Dundee University.

£12.00