The Correspondence Between Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean: An Annotated Edition

by Susan R. Wilson (Editor)

Overview

This is both the first complete annotated edition of the letters exchanged by these major twentieth-century Scottish poets and the first major exploration of their long friendship and literary association. Spanning nearly fifty years, from 27 July 1934 to 23 July 1978, this engaging correspondence offers a revealing and sometimes intimate look at their lively dialogical exchanges on a broad range of topics from major historical events such as the Spanish Civil War and WW II, to the mundane challenges of daily life.The introductory chapters chart the development of MacDiarmid and MacLean's enduring friendship in relation to their quite different literary contexts and careers, discuss MacLean's significant contributions to MacDiarmid's Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry, and situate MacLean's literary innovations in terms of Gaelic modernism. They thus provide comparative critical insights into the influence of cultural nationalism on each writer's developing poetics, their work as translators, and their mutual influence on each other's careers. These private letters in which culture, politics, and modern history intersect offer a fascinating glimpse at the creative processes and collaborative work of Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean.Key Features:* The first complete annotated edition of the correspondence between the two poets * The only major exploration of MacDiarmid and MacLean's friendship and literary association* Full biographical and historical Introduction, bibliography and appendices

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748639809
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	04/08/2010
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dr Susan R. Wilson was a Sessional Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations v

Acknowledgements vii

Dedication xiv

Part 1 Editorial Apparatus

1 "Forging a Friendship" 3

2 "Cultural Nationalism - Politics and Poetry" 20

3 "Modern Makars" 48

4 "Epistolary Discourse and the Legacy of the Letters" 75

Part 2 The Letters

A Note on the Sources 109

Source Abbreviations 113

A Note on the Text and Transcription 114

The Letters 117

References 250

Appendix A "Scots steel tempered wi' Irish fire": An Interview with Sorley Maclean Edinburgh, 18 July 1986 277

Appendix B Review of MacDiarmid's translation of The Birlinn of Clanranald, as published in the Times Literary Supplement, 4 January 1936 293

Index 295

Editorial Reviews

'The Correspondence Between Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean is an important publication, both in itself and for the ideas it provokes ... Wilson’s edition will fascinate anyone interested in literary translation. A missing piece from the 10,000-piece jigsaw of modernism, it provokes, too, reflections on the relationship between modernism and Anglophobia ... In her extended and thoughtful introduction, [Wilson] reproaches some recent Scottish academics for “ignoring the fact that in certain circumstances, nationalism may, in fact, result in positive outcomes which are creative and regenerative”.'

Times Literary Supplement - Robert Crawford

'Wilson’s editorial work is admirably comprehensive with an informative introduction and detailed notes on the letters. She also includes at the end of the book the text of an interview which MacLean gave to an Irish journalist in 1986. In it he is unusually frank about incidents in his private life about which he was usually very reticent.'

The Sunday Herald - Paul Henderson Scott

...a significant addition to the canon of work on MacLean.

Scottish Literary Review - Emma Dymock

The Correspondence Between Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean, edited by Susan Wilson, offers a wealth of illuminating insights into these towering literary figures of the mid-twentieth century ... The letters are alive with the energy and intimacy of the Scottish Renaissance. Dr Wilson's introductory essay gives a full and accessible resumé of the relevant political and literary background to the period, and there are helpful notes identifying the characters and events we meet within this precious body of letters.

William Gillies