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A History of Scottish Literature

A History of Scottish Literature: Episode 1: The Flouer o Nationheid

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: History

Burns Monument

Episode 1

Episode 1: The Flouer o Nationheid

The Flouer o Nationheid

BBC Radio Scotland - A History of Scottish Literature, The Flouer o Nationheid

Billy Kay celebrates Scottish literature and its importance to national identity.

Billy Kay traces Scottish literature from its origins in Celtic myths to its role in creating national identity.

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In the company of distinguished academics and prominent writer such as James Robertson, William McIlvanney, Janice Galloway and Alexander McCall Smith, Billy Kay will trace the origins of Scottish literature in Welsh, Gaelic, Norse, Latin and Scots....from Welsh epics to Norse sagas and the Celtic myths and legends of the Gaelic West. We will hear how those traditions inspired modern writers like Iain Crichton Smith , George Mackay Brown and Janet Paisley in her recent novel Warrior Daughter. Billy will initially focus on the emergence of Scotland as we know it and the importance of epics like Barbour's Brus and Blind Hary's Wallace in nation building and the creation of a national identity. Scottish literature from the beginning was at the core of Scottish identity. We will hear how the story of Wallace helped promote and define Scottishness in different periods in our history - finding echoes from Burns to Braveheart. Historians questioned the partisan and at times dubious history, but Blind Harry's Wallace was the expression of a vigorous oral tradition about Wallace that he collected from the common people - hence its power and direct appeal. 

We will hear the resounding cry of Barbour's Brus, " A! Fredome is a noble thing!" and contrast it with Kathleen Jamie's gentle lyrical take on the subject with the poem that now features at the Bannockburn monument.

'Come all ye', the country says
You win me, who take me most to heart.

Kathleen's poem evokes lines from the Ballads, Hamish Henderson and Violet Jacob - showing the strength of the great literary tradition started by these epics. We will end with a celebration of the first of the great Scots makars, Robert Henryson and his masterpiece - the Testament of Cresseid.

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