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Narratives of Scottish Identity

Course code: 6HHV
Level 2

Introduction

This module follows on from the Level 1 course 'Perspectives on Modern Scotland', extending its scope, and from the Level 1 course ‘Scottish History: from Earliest Times to 1707’. It is designed to allow students to survey the development of concepts and narratives of Scottish identity with a particular focus on the period from the late eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.

Intellectually, it is more challenging than 'Perspectives', moving from the first level course's survey-approach into a more analytical framework. In 'Narratives' students are encouraged to engage with the theoretical notions which inform modern Scottish Studies, from notions of figures like the 'lad o pairts' and 'the Calvinistic Scot' to sophisticated ideas like 'dissociation of sensibility', 'the Caledonian antisyzygy', a characteristic 'reductive idiom' and the ambiguous role played by the 'Literati' in developing narratives of Scottish identity. We will also look at the importance of debates surrounding the use of the Scots and Gaelic languages during this period.

Staff

 Course convenor:  Dr Valentina Bold
 Teaching staff:  Prof Ted Cowan
   Prof Alan Riach
   Prof Douglas Gifford
   Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts

Prerequisites

Timetable

  • Seminars are held in Rutherford-McCowan Building, Seminar Room 120
  • Tutorials are held in Rutherford-McCowan Building, Room 120
  • Film showings (optional) are held in Rutherford-McCowan Building, Room 232
  • Seminars are scheduled on Thursday mornings, 9-11.30 The tutorial follows, from 12-1

NB: Tutorials begin in Week 2 of semester (First tutorial is Thurs 2nd Feb).

You are expected to read the class readings before the seminars. These will form the basis for tutorial discussions, and may be supplemented by recommended reading on a weekly basis. Reading is broken into 'core texts' and 'secondary texts'. Make sure that, at the least, you have read the recommended core texts each week; on the weeks with no core texts, catch up with your secondary reading and read ahead. The novels, in particular, take longer to read: allow for this in your time management. The secondary texts are chosen to enhance your appreciation of, and contribution, to the classes.

PLEASE NOTE: There are 4 film showings attached to this course: two documentaries, one fictionalised documentary and one fictional film (it is particularly recommended that you attend this last showing: The House with the Green Shutters, which is one of the texts you are studying). While these are not compulsory, there will be room to consider the films either in the course examination or as essay topics and, in themselves, the films are substantial narratives of Scottish identity: watching these will enrich your understanding of key course topics. The showings are listed individually in the timetable and are held in Room 232 on a Thursday, from 5 to around 6 or 6.30 pm, depending on the length of the films.

WEEK 1

Thursday 26th January

Seminar: Introduction Dr Bold

An explanation of the course structure and requirements (seminars, tutorials; class readings, assignments), its ethos and key concepts. The session will also offer a broad survey of cultural trends from the late eighteenth century onwards, along with an introduction to matters relevant to identity, such as the use of the Scots language.

NB: There is no tutorial this week; tutorials begin in week 2. Please read the core texts for this week before the tutorial

Class Reading Core texts:

  • Cairns Craig in Edward J. Cowan and Douglas Gifford, (eds). The Polar Twins, Chapter 2
  • J. Derrick McClure, Language, Poetry and Nationhood, Chapter 1

WEEK 2

Thursday 2nd February

Seminar: Narratives of the Covenant Dr Bold

This week's class investigates the construction of religious identity in Scottish novels, focussing on the Covenanters. By comparing the appearances of this group in the works of Scott, Galt and Hogg, it will be seen that the Covenanters were used in the nineteenth century, at a time when Scotland was reconstructing it national identity, as potent symbols of national resistance or, alternatively, as symbols of an archaic national identity. The works considered, in addition, reflect topical concerns, from the status of the Scots language to regional identity, the need to preserve oral traditions, and a desire to understand Highland and Lowland cultures.

Class Readings Core Texts:

  • Walter Scott, Old Mortality
  • Handout: Extracts from John Galt, Ringan Gilhaize, James Hogg The Brownie of Bodsbeck, Robert Pollock Tales of the Covenanters

Secondary Texts:

  • Christopher Harvie in Sermons and Battle Hymns. Ed Graham Walker and Tom Gallagher, Chapter 2
  • As an optional extra, for comparison, students may find it useful to look at James Robertson’s novel of the Covenanting period, The Fanatic (London: Fourth Estate), 2000.

ALSO TODAY: Rm 232 5-6 Film Showing The Face of Scotland (Basil Wright, 1938) 13 mins and Wealth of a Nation (Donald Alexander, 1938) 17 mins Introduced by Valentina Bold

The first film is an attempt to present a narrative construction of Scotland, from the Roman period, to Calvinism, to industrial revolution. It was made for screening at the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. The second film was also made for this occasion, and explores the industrial Scotland of this period.

WEEK 3

Thursday 2nd February

Seminar: Fragments of Ancient Poetry Dr Bold

This week's class will explore the work of James ‘Ossian’ Macpherson (1736-96) and, in particular, his Fragments of Ancient Poetry (1760). We will look at exactly how Macpherson constructed Gaelic identity in eighteenth century Scotland. By examining his sources and critical responses to the texts, we will see that he left a rich legacy, particularly for Scottish writers but also on an international level. Intriguingly, Ossianic verse survived in oral tradition and, as Joseph Nagy argues, ‘Macpherson’s is but one chapter in a long-lived…saga of the Gaelic use of Fenian story as a way to introduce cultural and political change, and to mediate between “native” and “foreign”, and “old” and “new”. Macpherson’s stance, then, is deeply ambivalent. His genius lay in drawing together Gaelic culture and the culture of the literati, to present the matter of Ossian in a comprehensible and accessible form.

Class reading core text:

  • The Poems of Ossian and Related Works ed Howard Gaskill

Secondary texts:

  • Journal of American Folklore Fall 2001 Special issue on Ossian

There is also an on-line version of the poems available at
http://solomonspalding.com/SRP/Ossian/MacPidx0.htm

WEEK 4

Thursday 16th February

Seminar: Union and Enlightenment Professor Cowan

His seminar investigates Scotland before the Union; Crown policies towards the Highlands; the Treaty of Union and the economic consequences; Scottish culture and the idea of Enlightenment, particularly as it is expressed in contemporary literature; the 'Historical Age and the Historical Nation'. Additional narratives considered today include The Massacre of Glencoe and the Jacobite Risings; Highland identity and Lowland attitudes; the Darien Scheme; the making of the Treaty of Union; New World opportunities; the birth of commercial man; what was the Enlightenment? Scottish historiography and the perfectability of humankind.

Class readings core texts:

  • Ken Simpson, The Protean Scot , 'Introduction', Chapters 2 and 3.
  • David Daiches, The Paradox of Scottish Culture
  • Edward J. Cowan and Richard Finlay, Scotland Since 1688, pp. 12-58.

ALSO TODAY: Rm 232 5-6 Film Showing Tonight's screening: The Edge of the World (Michael Powell,1938) 81 mins Introduced by Valentina Bold This film is a fictionalised documentary of life in Shetland in the late 30s, introducing key narrative themes: the passing of traditional ways of life; the coming of the twentieth century, and the conflict this entails for Shetlanders. It is strongly influenced by The Man of Aran (Robert Flaherty, 1934) in its approach and in the narratives it adopts in relation to island life. We will discuss whether the film reflects the concepts we have identified in Weeks 1-2, and also the specific relevance of the film to contemporary and future narratives of island, and rural, life in a Scottish context.

WEEK 5

Thursday 24th February

Seminar: Nineteenth Century Narratives of Image and Identity Professor Cowan

This week's seminar explores the range of identities claimed by nineteenth century Scots, both for themselves in the present and for past generations. We explore some of the cultural tensions inherent in this most 'British' of centuries in Scottish history. Many contemporary Scots who were also patriotic and enthusiastic Britons. They were confronted with a national history whose major events, figures and collective achievements were often intimately linked to a now-ended past, one that had been marked by significant degrees of political and cultural independence, accompanied by antagonism towards the encroaching power of Scotland's much larger southern neighbour. How did Scots reconcile and continue to celebrate their history as an independent nation from their nineteenth century standpoint as junior partners in a single British Imperial State?

Class readings core texts:

  • Edward J. Cowan, 'The Covenanting Tradition in Scottish History', in Cowan and Richard J. Finlay, eds, Scottish History: The Power of the Past
  • Lizanne Henderson and Edward J. Cowan, Scottish Fairy Belief: a history, pp. 193-206.
  • Walter Scott, The tales of a grandfather: being stories taken from Scottish history (photocopy of relevant sections to be provided in advance of today's class by Professor Cowan.)

WEEK 6

Thursday 2nd March

Seminar: Literature and Scotland in the 19th century Professor Riach

This week's seminar will cover a number of nineteenth century writers and novels: Walter Scott's Heart of Midlothian and 'Wandering Willie's tale'; Robert Louis Stevenson; Ian Maclaren's Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush; nineteenth century poets, including J. Y. Geddes & John Davidson. The idea of a 'Kailyard' school of literature will be described and interrogated. Key themes explored in this class include the notion of the 'divided self' in nineteenth century literature, and the overarching tension between mapping the contours of historical change and evoking mythical, atemporal fictional communities in response to Scottish society's development during the 19th century.

Class readings core texts:

  • Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian (esp chapters 50-52)
  • Handout of photcopied poetry material, (selection to be provided by Prof Riach)

Secondary texts

  • Cairns Craig, Out of History: Narrative Paradigms in English and Scottish Culture, chs. 2

NB: TIMES WILL BE ASSIGNED FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS TODAY THE PRESENTATIONS WILL TAKE PLACE IN YOUR REGULAR TUTORIAL GROUP. BE PREPARED TO DELIVER YOUR PRESENTATION NEXT WEEK!!!

ALSO TODAY: Rm 232 5-6 Film Showing Tonight's screening: Drifters (John Grierson, 1929) 60 mins and Caller Herrin’ (Scottish Home Department, 1947) 20 mins Introduced by Valentina Bold

Grierson’s Drifters is a documentary, dealing with the North Sea herring fisheries, from Shetland to Yarmouth. It is useful to compare this (earlier) film with The Edge of the World, as its narrative stance is slightly different. Caller Herrin’, which follows, also deals with the herring fleet, particularly in Northern Scotland and Shetland; it shows scientific developments, too, in fish processing. Again, we will discuss how these films deal with contemporary and historical images of Scotland, in an attempt to identify their narrative voices.

WEEK 7

Thursday 10th March

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner Dr Bold

This class explores Hogg’s masterpiece, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, as a narrative of deeply divided Scottish identity. By looking at the religious, and moral, implications of the narrative, and exploring Hogg’s portrayal of Scotland in the past, we will look at his ambivalent attitudes towards nineteenth century Scotland. In addition, we will look at Hogg’s own role as ‘The Ettrick Shepherd’ and explore his complex relationship with the literati as a narrative in its own right.

Core texts:

  • James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Secondary Texts:

  • Photocopied readings will be supplied.

NB: ORAL PRESENTATIONS TODAY IN TUTORIAL GROUP

WEEK 8

Thursday 16th March

Seminar: Scotland in Song Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts

Details to be supplied.

NB: ORAL PRESENTATIONS TODAY IN TUTORIAL GROUP
WRITTEN UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS ARE DUE BY FRIDAY 17th MARCH

Over the break, you would find it helpful to start reading the specified novels for the second half of the course:

EASTER BREAK

WEEK 9

Thursday 13th April

Seminar: The House with the Green Shutters Prof Gifford

This seminar will read George Douglas Brown's The House with the Green Shutters as a pivotal text between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, exploring Brown's satire and symbolism in his portrayal of Gourlay, his house and its key place in the community of Barbie. To what extent does Brown mean his novel as a commentary on Scotland at large? The seminar will relate the novel to previous and later narratives of Scottish identity, and consider how far it is valid to claim a tradition or school of Scottish fiction from Scott to Grassic Gibbon.

Class viewing/readings core texts:

  • George Douglas Brown, The House with the Green Shutters
  • Videorecording: The House with the Green Shutters (a television dramatisation of today's core novel will be available on request from the library issue desk before today's session)

Secondary texts:

  • Douglas Gifford, 'Myth, Parody and Dissociation: Scottish Fiction 1814-1914', in The History of Scottish Literature vol 3, ed Douglas Gifford, Chapter 9
  • Marshall Walker, Scottish Literature Since 1707 , pp. 219-23.
  • Kurt Wittig, The Scottish Tradition in Literature , pp. 264-69; 329-30.
  • Photocopied essays on House with the Green Shutters will also be provided in class by Prof. Gifford

ALSO TODAY: Rm 232 5-6 Film Showing Tonight's screening: The House with the Green Shutters Introduced by Valentina Bold

WEEK 10

Thursday 21st April

Seminar: The Twentieth Century Prof Cowan

Details to be supplied

WEEK 11

Thurday 28th April

Seminar: Scotland in Art Dr Henderson

Details to be supplied

WEEK 12

Thursday May 5th Fieldtrip 9-2 pm

The fieldtrip will allow us to explore areas around Dumfries with specific narratives. Precise details will be revealed nearer to the time. A small charge will be made for this fieldtrip of not more than £5 and, hopefully, less than that.

NB. ESSAYS ARE DUE BY FRIDAY MAY 4th

WEEK 13 COURSE EXAMINATION: DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

Aims and intended learning outcomes

Aims:

  • To introduce students to the main historical, social and cultural issues of modern Scotland.
  • To develop students intellectual and analytical skills.
  • To develop students transferable skills by encouraging individual initiative, personal choice and group discussion.
  • To enable students to make interdisciplinary connexions between the study of history and literature and ethnology, as well as other related disciplines.
  • To develop students conceptual awareness to the level of recognition and articulation of complex notions of national identity and narratives.

Learning outcomes:

  • By the end of this module, students will:
  • Be able to present structured arguments with supporting evidence, in response to questions and problems posed
  • Have further developed their intellectual and analytical skills.
  • Have developed transferable skills through the exercise of personal judgement as well as through confrontation with and analysis of material presented.
  • Be in a position to adopt interdisciplinary approaches to the study of characteristic narratives of Scottish identity.

Prescribed and recommended texts

NB. BEFORE EACH CLASS, CONSULT THE RECOMMENDED WEEKLY READING. Use this list, in particular, to support your research for the essay and presentation.

Please note:

  • You do not need to buy all of these texts.
  • You would find it useful to buy at least some core texts, particularly the novels listed in the 'Literature' section. It would be useful, too, to buy one of the history core texts: the Smout paperbacks is relatively cheap; Lynch and Devine both cost about £10-£15.
  • Crichton call numbers are included in the list; otherwise books can be ordered from the main campus library, ordered from our library issue desk.
  • Many of these books will be on short term loan at the library. If it's not on the shelf, check the catalogues for further information or ask at the Issue Desk.
  • For song , ask at the issue desk for advice on consulting our collection of CDs and audio cassettes of music, song and stories.

History

Core Texts

  • Edward J. Cowan & Richard J. Finlay. Scotland since 1688 : struggle for a nation (London: CIMA), 2000
    • Crichton Library: History DW 1265 COW
  • Edward J. Cowan & Richard J. Finlay (eds), Scottish History: the power of the past (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 2002.
    • GUL History DV300 SCO3, and on order for Crichton
  • T.M. Devine, The Scottish Nation (London: Allen Lane), 1999
    • Crichton Library: Short Loan History DW 1265 DEV
  • Lizanne Henderson and Edward J. Cowan, Scottish Fairy Belief: a history (East Linton: Tuckwell), 2001.
    • Crichton Library: Anthrop K385 HEN
  • Michael Lynch, Scotland: A New History (Edinburgh: Mainstream), 1991
    • Crichton Library: Short Loan History DV 300
  • Lyn T.C. Smout, A Century of the Scottish People 1830-1950 (London: Collins), 1986
    • Crichton Library: History DW1530 SMO

Secondary Texts

  • Edward J. Cowan, Montrose for Covenant and King 1971. (Edinburgh: Canongate), 1995.
    • Crichton Library: History DW 150.M6 COW 2
  • Edward J. Cowan, ed, The Ballad in Scottish History (East Linton: Tuckwell), 2000.
    • Crichton Library: English S80 COW
  • Edward J. Cowan and Douglas Gifford, eds, The Polar Twins (Edinburgh: John Donald), 2000.
    • Crichton Library: Short Loan English S18 COW
  • David Daiches, The New Companion to Scottish Culture (Edinburgh: Saltire Society), 1996.
    • Crichton Library: History DV700 DAI2
  • David Daiches et al, ed. The Scottish Enlightenment, 1730-1790: a hotbed of genius (Edinburgh: Saltire Society), 1996.
    • Crichton Library: History qDW1390 DAI T.M.
  • Devine, Clanship to Crofters' War: the social transformation of the Scottish Highlands (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 1994.
    • Crichton Library: History DV700 DEVIN X T.M.
  • Devine and R.J. Findlay, ed. Scotland in the Twentieth Century (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 1996.
    • Crichton Library: Short Loan History DW1550 SCO3
  • A. Dickson, and J.H. Treble, People and Society in Scotland; Vol 3, 1914-1990 (Edinburgh: John Donald/Scottish Social and Economic History Society), 1990.
    • Crichton Library: History DW 1280
  • Peo Gordon Donaldson, The Scottish Reformation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1960.
    • GUL Theology UC 692 DON2
  • Michael Fry, The Scottish Empire (Edinburgh: Birlinn), 2001.
    • Crichton Library History DV950 FRY
  • Marjory Harper and Michael E. Vance, eds, Myth, migration and the making of memory (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 1999.
    • Crichton Library: History TS310.S3 MYT
  • James Hunter, The Making of the Crofting Community (Edinburgh: John Donald), 2000.
    • GUL Economics D515 HUN (On order for Crichton)
  • Colin Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1993.
    • Crichton Library: History DW 1265 KID
  • Innes MacLeod, Where the Whaups are Crying: A Dumfries and Galloway Anthology (Edinburgh, Birlinn), 2001.
    • Crichton Library English S191.D83 MAC
  • The Old Blind Dogs, Legacy (Glasgow: KRL), 1995.
    • Crichton Library: Music dN618 OLD
  • Duncan Petrie, Screening Scotland (London: British Film Institute), 2000
    • Crichton Library: Theatre K500.S35 PET
  • Walter Scott, The tales of a grandfather: being stories taken from Scottish history (Edinburgh: Cadell), 1830
    • GUL English MS122.T23 1830

Literature and song

Core texts

NB: although certain editions are recommended here, where other editions are more readily available, these are acceptable. The Canongate edition of Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner for instance, is excellent, and buying the Scott novels secondhand, in one of the many editions available, could reduce costs.

  • Douglas Gifford et al, (eds), Scottish Literature: in English and Scots , (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 2002
    • Crichton Library English S11 GIF
  • Walter Scott, Old Mortality (1816) (London: Penguin, 1999) ed Douglas Mack
    • Crichton English MS 122.05 1999-M
  • James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner 1824 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), ed John Carey, 1999
    • Crichton Library: English English MH370.P7 1995
  • James Macpherson, The poems of Ossian and related works ed Howard Gaskill (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996)
    • Crichton Library: English LM 40 1996-G
  • Robert Louis Stevenson, The Master of Ballantrae 1888. Reprint (Edinburgh: Canongate), 1995.
    • Crichton Library: English MS78 1995
  • George Douglas Brown, The House with the Green Shutters 1901. Reprint (Edinburgh: Canongate), ed Cairns Craig, 1996.
    • Crichton Library: English MB415 H6 1996.
  • Margaret Oliphant, The Rector; and, The doctor's family 1863 Reprint (London: Virago), 1986.
    • Crichton Library: English MO40.R3 1986-F (2 copies)

Secondary Texts

  • Alan Bold, The Ballad (London: Methuen), 1979.
    • GUL Gen Lit G730 BOL
  • Alan Bold, Modern Scottish Literature (London: Longman), 1983.
    • GUL English S53 BOL
  • Valentina Bold, 'Janet Little "The Scotch Milkmaid" and "Peasant Poetry"', Scottish Literary Journal, (1993).
    • GUL Mod Lang Per SC658 and copy available from Crichton Library Issue Desk.
  • Valentina Bold, 'James Young Geddes (1850-1913): A Re-evaluation', Scottish Literary Journal, (1992).
    • GUL Mod Lang Per SC658 and copy available from Crichton Library Issue Desk.
  • David Buchan The Ballad and the Folk. 1972. reprint (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, c1997).
    • Crichton Library: English S80 BUC
  • Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. 1882-1898. (Boston, Mass), 1882-1898.
    • English qF81 CHI2 Main library.
  • Edward J. Cowan, ed. The ballad in Scottish history. (East Linton: Tuckwell), 2000.
    • Crichton Library: English S80 COW
  • Cairns Craig, Out of History: Narrative Paradigms in English and Scottish Culture (Edinburgh: Polygon), 1996.
    • Crichton Library: English S18 CRA
  • Robert Crawford, Devolving English Literature, 2nd Edn (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 2000.
    • Crichton Library: English E21 CRAGUL
  • Moira Burgess (ed) The Other Voice: Scottish women's writing since 1808: an anthology (Edinburgh: Polygon), 1987.
    • English S176 OTH
  • Douglas Gifford and Dorothy McMillan, A History of Scottish Women's Writing (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 1997.
    • Crichton Library: English S33 GIF
  • Douglas Gifford, ed, The History of Scottish Literature Vol 3. Nineteenth Century. (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press), 1987.
    • Crichton Library: English S11 HIS vol. 3
  • Francis Hart, The Scottish Novel (London: J. Murray), 1978.
    • GUL English S97 HAR 16
  • John O. Hayden, ed, Scott : the critical heritage. (London: Routledge), 1970.
    • GUL English MS132 HAY2
  • Andrew Hook, The History of Scottish Literature. Vol 2. 1660-1800. (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press), 1987.
    • Crichton Library: English S11 HIS vol. 2
  • David Hutchison, The Modern Scottish Theatre (Glasgow: Molendinar Press), 1977.
    • GUL Theatre D1005 HUT
  • Edward J. Ives. The Bonny Earl of Murray: The man, the murder, The ballad (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 1997).
    • Crichton Library: History DW970.M6 IVE
  • Journal of American Folklore Fall 2001, Special Issue James ‘Ossian’ Macpherson
    • Crichton Library: Pers
  • Emily Lyle, ed, Scottish Ballads (Edinburgh: Canongate), 1994.
    • Crichton Library: Eng S80 LYL
  • J. Derrick McClure, Language, Poetry and Nationhood (East Linton: Tuckwell Press), 2000.
    • Crichton Library: English S71 MACCL
  • Trevor Royle, The Mainstream Companion to Scottish Literature (Edinburgh: Mainstream), 1993.
    • Crichton Library: English S6 ROY3
  • R Stevenson and G. Wallace, Scottish Theatre Since the Seventies (Edinburgh: Ediinburgh University Press), 1996.
    • Crichton Library: Theatre D1005 STE
  • Gavin Wallace, ed. The Scottish Novel Since the Seventies: new visions, old dreams (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 1995.
    • Crichton Library: English S103 SCO
  • Ken Simpson, The Protean Scot (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press), 1988.
    • Crichton Library: English S47 SIM
  • Marshal Walker, Scottish Literature since 1707 (London: Longman), 1997.
    • Crichton Library: Short Loan English S11 WAL2
  • Roderick Watson, The Literature of Scotland (New York: Schocken Books), 1984.
    • Crichton Library: English S11 WAT
  • Kurt Wittig, The Scottish Tradition in Literature (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd), 1958. Crichton Library: English S11 WIT

Useful wesbites

Assessment

  • One 2500 word essay (accounting for 40% of the total mark).
  • One two-hour class exam (accounting for 40% of the total mark).
  • One class presentation [oral presentation + written up version] (accounting for 20% of the total mark).

NB: Plagiarism will not be tolerated on this course, or at any course on the Crichton Campus, or the University of Glasgow as a whole. It is extremely important that you use references in all of your essays in order to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Every time you quote something directly from a book, article, website or newspaper, you must list after that quotation the name of the person who wrote it and the date it was published. Finally, always list the books, articles, web-pages and so forth that you consulted for your essay in a bibliography or list of references. Copying other students’ work or writing essays in collaboration, without indication to the lecturer or tutors, also counts as plagiarism. Convenors will report any such irregularities to the University of Glasgow Senate Assessors’ office. The Senate Assessors will investigate and punish very severely anyone caught plagiarising; this may seriously affect your university career. See the Student Handbook for more detailed regulations.

Marks, grades and grade-related criteria

You must submit your assignments by the due dates indicated in this handbook. If you have a genuine reason for an extension to these dates, you must speak with the course convenor, preferably in advance of the due date. If an extension has not been agreed, marks will be deducted at a rate of 2% per day, up to a maximum of 20% deduction.

Your course work will be graded according to accepted academic norms. It is important for you to appreciate how staff assess the merits of your work. Staff use a 'grade-related criteria' to guide them in their marking and ensure there is consistency between markers. These marks are then confirmed by external examiners for each subject at the end of the module.

Marking is on the 0-22 scale, as follows:

 GRADE  CRITERIA 
 20-22 Outstanding: satisfies all the criteria of excellent with additional evidence of independent thought and stylistic flair. 
 18-19 Excellent: answers the question comprehensively with well-balanced arguments; extensive evidence of outside reading and general indication of independence of thought; strong in structure, content and use of illustrative material; flair and accuracy in content and literary expression. 
 15-17 Very Good: answers the question directly, showing balance and producing supporting data; an indication of full knowledge and understanding of the material and relevant critical or interpretative points; strong in structure and content; clear overall competence. 
 12-14 Good: Answers the question reasonably but produces little supporting data or provides much data but its relevance is not made explicit; tendency to be dependant on lecture notes; accurate in content but may lack structure; competent literary style but lacking flair and imagination. 
 9-10 Satisfactory: provides some relevant data but with omissions and little consideration of the question; dependence on lecture notes; weak organisation of answer and insecure grasp of interpretative points; poor expression of ideas.
 6-8 Weak: little data provided suggesting important deficiencies in knowledge and understanding; bad organisation of answers; fails to address the question; poor literary style. 
 3-5 Poor: incomplete or largely irrelevant; serious weakness in comprehension of basic concepts and ideas; insubstantial at this level. 
 1-2 Very poor: incomplete and irrelevant; great weakness in comprehension of basic concepts. 
 0 No credit: completely irrelevant or poorly attempted. 


Presentations

Oral presentations will be delivered in tutorial groups, in Weeks 7. Written up presentations are due by Friday March:

  • You are asked to compose your own presentation topic, based on one of the topics considered in the first half of the semester, and listed below. You should discuss this with a member of the course team before you make your presentation.
  • Keep your discussion focussed on a narrow area, eg two alternative interpretations of one narrative, and discuss this in depth.
  • Presentations will last for 10 minutes. They will be delivered as in-class talk and, subsequently, each student will submit a brief paper (c.1000 words), based on this talk and taking account of feedback in class.
  • The written version of this presentation is assessed as 15% of the overall course mark, with 5% attached to the delivery.

Please note: This is both a multi and interdisciplinary course. There are opportunities to answer on specific historical and literary topics but you will be expected to show an awareness of interdisciplinary issues.

Presentation topics will be discussed in tutorial

Essays
Essays are due in by the end of Week 12, Friday May 5th:

  • Please type or word-process your essay.
  • Your essay should be about 2500 words long.
  • Please format your essay according to the Crichton stylesheet (see the on-line version of the Student Handbook) or a comparable format.

You may either use one of the following essay topics, or compose your own title (if composing your own title, please discuss your topic with the course convenor or with your tutor).

Narratives of Scottish Identity, Essays 2500 words.

  1. Scott's novels may be fine pieces of writing but they are poor history'. Focussing on one Scott novel, to what extent do you agree with this statement?
  2. Consider the range of perspectives in the Scottish fiction you have read, dealing with the Covenanters. What do these reveal as narratives of Scottish identity? Refer to at least 3 authors in your survey.
  3. Discuss James Macpherson’s ‘Ossian’ as a narrative of Scottish identity.
  4. From your reading of one and more of the set novels, consider and evaluate the role of the author/'editor(s)'.
  5. 'The outstanding feature of Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is its profound and creative use of ambiguity. This makes it a highly unusual narrative of Scottish identity. Discuss.
  6. Compare and contrast the use of history in Old Mortality and The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.
  7. A contemporary critic of The House with the Green Shutters admired the book precisely because it 'stuck the kailyarders like pigs'. How far do you find the narrative thrust of HGS to be a direct challenge to the conventions of kailyard fiction?
  8. In The House with the Green Shutters what does George Douglas Brown intend the House to symbolise?
  9. What narratives of Scottish identity were important to twentieth century Scotland and why?
  10. Making particular reference to at least two artistic representations of Scotland, discuss the narratives of Scottish identity which they offer.