A critical history and analysis of (Scottish) Gaelic fiction

（苏格兰）盖尔小说的批判历史和分析

基本信息

批准号：
AH/H00744X/1
负责人：
Moray Watson
金额：
$ 2.97万
依托单位：
University of Aberdeen
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2010
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2010 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FH00744X%2F1
关键词：
critical history analysis Scottish Gaelic

项目摘要

My aim in applying for research leave is to allow me to complete a study of the prose fiction of Gaelic Scotland. I began this project in 2007, having done some preliminary work in the area from 2003 onwards. The main outcome of the project will be a single-authored book, to be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2010.This project is the first in-depth analysis of Gaelic fiction. Literary criticism of Gaelic has always concentrated on analysing the poetry, in spite of the gradual emergence of a substantial body of very significant prose literature from the latter half of the twentieth century onwards. Even though critics have been slow to respond to this emerging trend, newer authors have been inspired by it, to the extent that the early twenty-first century has seen more novels published than the entire previous history of the language combined. This project examines both sides of this phenomenon: i.e. why prose fiction has taken so long to flourish but has suddenly burgeoned at an unprecedented rate in the past seven years; and also why critics have been reluctant to engage with it until now. The study provides a framework for understanding the prose literature that has previously been passed over by critics, but also examines the few commentaries and critical works that have been written.To a large degree, Gaelic fiction is only around a century old. It was invented by a coterie of enthusiasts who wished to furnish the language with what they saw as a complete range of modes of literary expression. Their vision was informed by their knowledge of English literature, and their motivation was as much socio-political as it was cultural. This study considers the way a prose writing style developed, tending towards the florid, verbose and old-fashioned manners that characterised the secular prose that had begun to emerge in the nineteenth century. That nineteenth-century writing was heavily influenced by religious writing, and indeed much of it was composed or published by members of the clergy. Simultaneously, keen amateur scholars were in the process of writing down the folklore of the remaining Gaelic heartlands for the first time, in common with like-minded individuals throughout Europe, perhaps especially inspired by the Ossianic adventure. It is striking that the early fiction writers modelled their work stylistically on the religious and didactic paradigms rather than the pacy, popular, and highly-vernacular language of the folk tales. The current study examines some of the reasons for the choices that were made, and also analyses some of the corollaries of these choices.The study will feature analyses of certain key texts, especially some of those that have received less attention than might be expected. There will also be the first critical discussion of the highly-influential periodical Gairm, which ran for fifty years and officially produced two hundred issues.

我申请研究休假的目的是让我完成对苏格兰盖尔语散文小说的研究。我于 2007 年开始这个项目，从 2003 年开始在该领域做了一些前期工作。该项目的主要成果将是一本由爱丁堡大学出版社于 2010 年出版的单人著作。该项目是第一个对盖尔小说进行深入分析的项目。尽管从二十世纪下半叶开始逐渐出现了大量非常重要的散文文学，但盖尔语的文学批评始终集中在分析诗歌上。尽管批评家对这一新兴趋势反应迟缓，但新作家却受到了它的启发，以至于二十世纪初出版的小说数量比该语言之前整个历史的总和还多。这个项目审视了这一现象的两个方面：即为什么散文小说花了这么长时间才蓬勃发展，但在过去七年里突然以前所未有的速度蓬勃发展；为什么散文小说花了这么长时间才蓬勃发展？以及为什么批评家迄今为止一直不愿参与其中。这项研究为理解以前被批评家忽视的散文文学提供了一个框架，同时也审视了已经写下的为数不多的评论和批评作品。在很大程度上，盖尔小说只有一个世纪左右的历史。它是由一群爱好者发明的，他们希望为这种语言提供他们认为完整的文学表达模式。他们的愿景源于他们对英国文学的了解，他们的动机既是社会政治的，也是文化的。这项研究探讨了散文写作风格的发展方式，倾向于华丽、冗长和老式的风格，这是十九世纪开始出现的世俗散文的特征。十九世纪的著作深受宗教著作的影响，实际上其中很大一部分是由神职人员创作或出版的。与此同时，热心的业余学者们正在第一次写下盖尔人剩余中心地带的民间传说，与整个欧洲志同道合的人一样，也许特别受到奥西亚冒险的启发。令人惊讶的是，早期的小说作家在风格上以宗教和说教范式为蓝本，而不是以民间故事的节奏、通俗和高度白话的语言为蓝本。当前的研究探讨了做出选择的一些原因，并分析了这些选择的一些推论。该研究将对某些关键文本进行分析，特别是那些受到的关注少于预期的文本。还将首次对具有高度影响力的期刊 Gairm 进行批判性讨论，该期刊已运行 50 年，正式发行了 200 期。