A free online symposium on representations of class, gender, and nationality in Scottish literature from 1918 to 1939.

The inter-war years were a period of economic, social, and political instability and insecurity across Europe. In Scotland, established notions of class, gender, and nationality were questioned as never before, revitalising ideas of language, art, and culture. This one-day symposium considers the impact of these turbulent years on literature in English, Gaelic, and Scots.

PROGRAMME

10:15 a.m.: Formal welcome by David Goldie (President, Association for Scottish Literature)

Session 1 (Chair: Ian Brown)

10:30: Hugh MacDiarmid – sexuality and modernism (Alan Riach)
10:50: Sexuality and the Muse – the politics of gender in Sorley MacLean’s Dàin do Eimhir (Emma Dymock)
11:20: Coming of age with Carswell, O. Douglas, and Swan (Juliet Shields)

11:50: Tea break

Session 2 (Chair: Alan Riach)

12:10: Masculinity in Ruaraidh Erskine’s short stories in the context of fin-de-siècle detective fiction (Petra Johana Poncarová)
12:40: Gender identities and genre boundaries – Elizabeth MacKintosh, Gordon Daviot and Josephine Tey (Ian Brown)

13:10: Lunch

Session 3 (Chair: Glenda Norquay)

14:00: Mobilising the margins – Rachel Annand Taylor (Fiona Paterson); Willa Muir (Emily Pickard); Jessie Anne Anderson (Charlotte Lauder)
15:15: Wider perspectives in sexuality in Gaelic poetry (Peter Mackay and Iain Mac a’ Phearsain)

15:45: Summary

16:00: End of Symposium

To reserve a spot at the symposium, please visit the Eventbrite page.

Image: Ian Campbell (1902–1984), “The Mountain”, c. 1935 (detail). Private collection.