And the Land Lay Still

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The Handsel Press was founded in 1976 to publish high quality academic and more popular books relating Christian faith to other fields of study, and to the arts. The Press also publishes a number of biographies and commentaries at an affordable price. … In a sense, Robertson says, "this novel is a riposte to that. What I'm trying to say is: 'Immerse yourself. A lot has gone on. The place has changed beyond recognition. We haven't had civil war or bloodbaths, thank God, but we have had change.'" This occasionally stilted inter-meshing of Scottish politics and fiction has much to do with our own historical moment. As several articles in this issue of C21 Literature suggest, recent Scottish fiction and its critical reception are strongly conditioned by ongoing constitutional debate (see Hames 2012, Hames 2013). In accounting for links between Scottish literary and political developments of the past few decades, the scholar – like the historical novelist – faces a range of interpretive challenges and ambiguities. But they also encounter an established literary-critical discourse tending to draw strong and clear connections across the same doubtful terrain, lines guided by the paradigm of ‘cultural devolution’. This article condenses the findings of a two-year research project exploring the emergence and legacy of this paradigm. 1 As books about witches go, this is an extremely literary affair, but also one not without its fantastical elements. Our protagonist is a modern woman named Iris who has cast a spell to transport herself half a millennium into the past.

Dizzying . . . subtle and profound . . . And The Land Lay Still reads like an alternative history of Scotland told by its everyday people instead of its movers and shakers . . . eminently readable ( Independent on Sunday) For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Iris’ goal is to met with Geillis Duncan, a woman who has one night left to live before she is hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Scottish International promoted itself as a magazine for the development of a radical critique of culture and society, experiment being very much at the heart of it. Just as Bob Tait was giving up the magazine he wrote that ‘basically I’ve seen this magazine as a kind of exploration vehicle, getting as far as possible into the depths, some of them murky, of the society and culture within viewing range.’ [… ] In tracing these magazines and debates, we can discern a fierce reaction to insularity at the start of the 1960s, but as we move through to Scottish International there’s still a very sceptical vision of cultural nationalism and the pitfalls of being too entrenched within certain forms of national identity. There’s a passionate focus on Scotland but also a deep suspicion of complacent ways of thinking about identity. ( Recording, Workshop 1)year-old Joy Stone is a teacher who struggles with the weight of life. She only blames herself for the problems she faces instead of understanding that the traumas she has experienced aren’t her fault. Hex can be read in a single sitting, and in that time it will take you on a journey through time; teach you about the plight and pain of womankind over centuries. Alongside the recovery and ‘filling-in’ of Scottish cultural identity were several literary interventions which urged caution about national tradition and pre-given modes of belonging. At the 2014 workshop, critic Eleanor Bell surveyed small experimental magazines of the 1960s including New Saltire and Scottish International. These magazines contain a range of cultural explorations which clearly anticipate the debates of the following decades, without being yoked to, or delimited by, the national question as a salient political issue (which was yet to fully emerge). Scottish International magazine (1968–74), for example, set its store on newness and exploration, not recovery of the past. In Bell’s words, This version of Craig’s essay is yet to be published; he kindly sent me a draft in the summer of 2014. The main thrust of his argument is repeated in the shorter piece Craig 2014a. [ The destructive obsession with the need to emphasise and preserve the ‘Scottishness’ of our writing far beyond what comes naturally and truthfully to writers will persist for as long as Scotland remains in a political limbo; in other words, it will last until Scotland either becomes a full nation-state, or loses its sense of nationhood altogether. ( McMillan 1983, 70)

Ali Smith is a literary genius who once again gives her readers an unforgettable, mind-bending story. Centred around a Renaissance painter in the 1460s and the child of a child in the 1960’s, the story weaves between the two tales of love and injustice and twists into a single thread. Robertson’s And the Land Lay Still is the most fully realised attempt to make a cohesive national story of the period and forces of devolution. Having been politically active in the 1980s, notably through the pro-devolution magazine Radical Scotland (1983–91) – thinly disguised in the novel as Root & Branch – Robertson naturally began with events and debates he had experienced first-hand. But on beginning to revisit this period he encountered a historical problem: In Ascension is a modern Scottish science fiction novel that takes us from the most inaccessible parts of the deepest darkest ocean to the furthest point in our solar system.You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. What Leigh discovers in the vent takes her to the Mojave Desert, to a job working with a NASA-like space agency that is using a newly-discovered form of fuel to send people to the furthest reaches of our solar system and beyond. There was tension in the air: identity politics versus class consciousness. The one policy that offered some prospect of common ground, devolution, was once again being squeezed from all sides. Nobody loved it, and nobody had much of a good word to say for it. ( Robertson 2010, 532)