Scottish literature, nationalism and the First World War

This first chapter in Scottish Literature and World War I (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) introduces a number of transitional contexts and examples in the period 1890-1914, in European literature, art and music, before concentrating on Scottish literature and the rise of self-consciously committed national self-determination. Sub-chapters are entitled: 'Internationalism, Industrialisation, the First World War and Modernity', 'Patrick Geddes, the Poetry of the First World War and the Scottish Renaissance', 'Populisms and Specialism: Fiction, the Blue and the Red', and a conclusion tat places the First World War in the post-1918 context as seen from the 21st century and the rise of various forms of fascism. Authors examined include Patrick Geddes, Hugh MacDiarmid, Compton Mackenzie, George Orwell, John Buchan, Ian Hay, Edwin Morgan and Karl Kraus