The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Traditional Literatures

This title introduces Scotland’s contribution to forms of traditional culture and expression. The 18 acknowledged experts introduce readers to important genres and elements of traditional literature from the late medieval period to the present, as well as providing a clear explanation of key conceptual and theoretical issues. They present a diverse cultural history, explain the ways in which ‘tradition’ is created through interaction with song and music, and how it relates to popular belief; and explain the role that ideas about national, political, and cultural identity have played in the preservation and transmission of traditional materials. It explores the cultural meanings of ‘tradition’ and ‘living tradition’ and the roles of historical and modern informants, storytellers, and singers. It examines the relationship between the oral and the literary in Scots, Gaelic, and English. It draws on a wide range of examples including: Francis J.Child’s The English and Scottish Popular Ballads; The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection; the waulking song; Gaelic folktale; the traditions of Fionn mac Cumhail; the songs of Anna Gordon Brown; ballads from Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border and James Hogg’s Jacobite Relics; and material from George Campbell Hay, Sorley Maclean and Hamish Henderson. It guides readers through some of the key theoretical and conceptual issues in the field.