Rapt in Plaid : Canadian Literature and Scottish Tradition

"Rapt in Plaid" combines reflection, criticism and memoir to illustrate a curious and long-lasting connection between Scottish and Canadian literary traditions. Examples drawn from genres including lyric poetry, narrative romance, war fiction, children's literature, sentimental fiction, thrillers, domestic novels and short stories link Canadian writers such as John Richardson, Isabella Valancy Crawford, Sinclair Ross, Hugh MacLennan, Margaret Laurence and W.O. Mitchell to Scottish writers such as Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, J.M. Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson John Buchan and George Mackay Brown. A line is traced in each chapter from directly imitative nineteenth-century Canadian writers to modern Canadian works where Scottish tradition persists, sometimes transformed and sometimes distorted. Lively biographical sketches and close analysis of particular passages by Scottish and Canadian writers are set in the context of multi-cultural, narrative, postmodern and postcolonial theories. This study illuminates the way Scottish ideas and values still wield surprising power in Canadian politics, education, theology, economics and social mores. Although Professor Waterston's method is that of a literary historian, she frames each section in this new work with affectionate memories of reading, researching, and teaching Scottish and Canadian literature over a sixty year period. Contents 5 Preface 7 Acknowledgments 9 Part One 13 Auld Lang Syne 13 1. Burns, Acorn, and the Rivers of Song 22 2. Scott, Crawford, and the Highlands of Romance 53 3. Scott, Findley, and the Borders of War 76 A Cup o' Kindness 95 Part Two 103 Signs of the Times 103 4. Gait, Ross, and the Lowlands of Irony 112 5. Carlyle, Mitchell, Laurence, and the Storms of Rhetoric 130 Everlasting Yea? 149 Part Three 161 Road to the Isles 161 6. Stevenson, Lee, and the Garden of Childhood 170 7. Barrie, Montgomery, and the Mists of Sentiment 185 8. Buchan, MacLennan, and the Winds of Violence 202 Braggart's in My Step 222 Part Four 231 Open the Door! 231 9. Sinclair, Saunders, and the Outskirts of Story 239 10. Duncan, Munro, and the Vistas of Memory 259 Brought to Mind 276 Notes 283 Books Cited 309 Index 337 "Rapt in Plaid combines reflection, criticism, and memoir to illustrate a curious and long-lasting connection between Scottish and Canadian literary traditions. Examples drawn from genres including lyric poetry, narrative romance, war fiction, children's literature, sentimental fiction, thrillers, domestic novels, and short stories link Canadian writers such as John Richardson, Isabella Valancy Crawford, Sinclair Ross, Hugh MacLennan, Margaret Laurence, and W.O. Mitchell to Scottish writers such as Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, J.M. Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Buchan, and George Mackay Brown."--Jacket