Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival

by Petra Johana Poncarová

Overview

Derick Thomson was one of the most influential personalities of Gaelic Scotland in the twentieth century. His poetry counts among the best written in the language; he founded the most important modern Gaelic journal, Gairm, and was the force behind many ventures aimed at the preservation and development of Gaelic. He made major contributions to Gaelic studies as an academic subject and his publications are still indispensable to all working in the field. Thomson’s vision of the Gaelic revival is characterised by high standards, organisational and economic shrewdness, openness to second-language users, and broad European outlook.
This is the very first book-length study devoted to Thomson and it explores his career within the context of the history of the Gaelic revival in Scotland and other minority-language movements in Europe

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399501194
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	01/12/2024
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Petra Johana Poncarová is based at the University of Glasgow. Her publications include Scotnote Study Guide The Gaelic Poetry of Derick Thomson (Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2020) and a number of articles on twentieth-century Scottish literature. She also translates directly from Gaelic into Czech and her award-winning Czech edition of Tormod Caimbeul’s Deireadh an Fhoghair is the first complete translation of the iconic novel into any foreign language. Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival is her first monograph.

Table of Contents

Position Statement and Acknowledgements

Note

1 Introduction

2 Thomson’s Thought and Work in Context

3 Gairm

4 Scholarship, Activism and Translations

5 Gaelic Revitalisation in Thomson's Poetry and Short Stories

6 Thomson’s Legacy

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Lucid, thoughtful and comparative: the scale of Derick Thomson's achievement is now clear thanks to this Czech scholar's extraordinary work.

Murray Pittock

Petra Johana Poncarová’s probing but accessible new study of Thomson’s role in the modern Gaelic revival makes an important addition not only to our understanding of Thomson’s personal contribution but also to the surprisingly understudied field of modern Gaelic cultural history more generally. [...] Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival is a valuable and original contribution to our understanding of Gaelic history in the twentieth century and how Thomson combined political commitment, organisational energy and artistic integrity to defend and promote his language and culture.

The Bottle Imp - Wilson McLeod

From its outset, Poncarová’s monograph represents a significant achievement: a culmination of more than a decade’s meticulous incremental scholarship and a fitting exploration of the breathtaking corpus of work and activism, for Gaelic and for Scotland, produced by one of the twentieth century’s greatest intellectuals and creative writers, Derick Thomson (Ruaraidh MacThòmais).

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/945012 - Kate Louise Mathis

An enriching and hugely readable evocation of one of Scotland's most influential yet underappreciated literary figures. Derick Thomson's impact across poetry, academia, publishing, and language activism has been significantly undervalued - until now. This is the most stimulating book on Gaelic literature I've read in years. If only more of modern Scotland's writers' contributions were explored with such an edifying blend of diligent research, intellectual lucidity, and human understanding.

Kevin MacNeil

an engaging and accessible book

Comhar - Dr Proinsias Ó Drisceoil