Scottish Literature
Yesterday, the Washington Post published Scottish? English? Library Thinks Twice by Mike Wade. Wade reveals the Library of Congress decided to classify Scottish literature as English literature. ”After reviewing thoughtful comments…” from the National Library of Scotland and the British Library, LC reversed their decision. Enjoy the full article here:
Tags: Books, Library of Congress, literature, Scotland
February 22, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Well, they’re both British literature, but Scotland and England are culturally (and, to a somewhat greater extent, of late) politically distinct. I think there’s a good case to be made that Kelman, Duncan McLean, Welsh, etc. are Scottish but not English, and that Nick Hornby, Zadie Smith, Magnus Mills etc. are English, but not Scottish. If you want a heading that covers both, I would warn you to reconsider, but if you must choose a heading to include both sets of writers, I think you might pick British literature.
I don’t even like the term British literature , so I want Scottish literature for the Scots, and English literature for the English.