Twentieth century Gaelic literature: a description, comprising critical study and a comprehensive bibliography

PN Literature (General)

MacLeod, Donald John ; Thomson, Derick

University:University of Glasgow

关键词: PN Literature (General);   

Others  :  http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5027/1/1969MacLeodPhD.pdf

来源: University of Glasgow

【 摘 要 】

Part 1 of the thesis comprises criticalstudy. of Scottish Gaelic literature.. in thetwentieth century.The first chapter outlines the sociological, educational, institutional and biographical background, and the history of Gaelic publishing and of periodical literature (includingimportant Gaelic columns in newspapers and Gaelicbroadcasting by the B.B.C.In the second chapter, prose--informativeand creative--is divided, into 3 sections: 1825-45[resume], 1880-1925, 1950--. The influence onthe, early stories and novels of the nativesgeulachd and historical and exiles' tales isdocumented, as is exotic influence. The shortstories of the most recent period are discussedin more detail-than the rest. Writing styles andthe teaching of Gaelic prose in schools arediscussed.The third chapter concerns drama. Thelate appearance of the genre in Gaelic is discussed:early embryonic dramatic forms are examined andthere is a section devoted to the cömhradh, anessay-device which came to be dramaticallyperformed. The discussion of play scripts is divided into 2 sections: 1900-45, 1945--. In thefirst section, the development of popular comedyfrom Lowland community drama, revivalistdramatisations of customs and the cömhradh istraced; plot types are delineated; also, seriousdrama is evaluated. In the latter-period,experimental drama is discussed in detail.There follows a section on performances whichgives details of the types of drama performed anddiscussion of drama teams, festivals, societies andaudiences. The final section describes thedevelopment of critical-taste. The fourth chapter- devoted to poetry, isconsiderably the longest. It is divided into sectionson a stylistic basis. Traditional bardicpoetry--i.e., that with an Expressionistic tendency--is dealt with first: the role and repertoireof the bard (and the conflation of the formerwith the comedian's role) and the achievementof individual bards is discussed. This isfollowed by a section on "the bard in exile",which is specifically concerned with therise of Romanticism. The next section describesthe survival of the bardic tradition and evaluatesit. Traditional lyric poetry--that with anImpressionistic tendency--is then discussed.The next section deals with religious poetry,which is mainly bardic. The largest sectiondescribes, in close detail, experiments in poetry:both the larger and more important body of poetryrooted in the native lyric tradition and alsoexperimental bardic poetry.The final chapter is a summary of theconclusions of the previous four. General trendsand the development of surrealism, symbolism and ofa general sophistication and cosmopolitanism arecoded.Briefly, the pattern of developmentoutlined in this thesis is as follows. Newrequirements and contacts were created by thesynthetic recreation of ceilidh-culture inLowland cities. Popular drama and short storieswere a consequence, these fashions spreading tothe Gaidhealtachd through the branches of AnComunn Gaidhealach. A nationalistically-motivated'high-brow' extension of this new literatureproduced more ambitious short stories and plays aswell as three novels. Conscious experiments in poetry were also conducted at the beginningof the century, but are of much significance onlyfrom the 1930's on, this development being afacet of the Scottish Literary Renaissance. Inthe 1950's and thereafter, a considerable sophisticationhas been achieved in all genres.Part 2 of the thesis is a descriptivebibliography of Gaelic publications in this century,including monographs and serials with ca. 3% orover of Gaelic material but excepting sheet music.The bibliography, being conceived as an extensionof Donald MacLean's 'Typographia Scoto-Gadelica'(1915),gives Full Standard Description, deviations fromthis style being in accordance with Library ofCongress procedure. Arrangement of entries isalphabetical, according to author's surname.Locations, cross references and informativefootnotes are given. An introduction gives detailsof the style adopted.