I am disappointed that Kenneth Roy (2 October) falls short of sharing my passion for the bard of Stratford-upon-Avon, demonstrated by my two cats being called Florizel and Hamlet and my daughter Rosalind, none of these choices accidental. I am also rather partial to the Golden Treasury and give me Keats, Shelley and Browning to Hugh McDiarmid any day. But surely the point is that it shouldn’t be either/or.
The riches of English, Scottish and indeed all literature deserve to be acknowledged, celebrated and shared with all students at all levels. When I taught English which I did for almost 30 years, I revelled in ‘doing’ Edwin Morgan and Liz Lochhead alongside WB Yeats and Dylan Thomas; Harold Pinter and Arthur Miller as well as Shakespeare and Scott Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Orwell. One of the glories of English teaching in my day was the absence of ‘prescribed texts’ at all levels short of sixth year studies. It was often argued that there was de facto prescription because of the books available in the cupboard, but that’s a different matter. The reality was that you didn’t have to teach what you loathed.
Two things are crucial to the teaching and learning process here: one, the teacher must like what s/he is teaching (Sir Walter Scott never found a place in my repertoire) to have any hope of enthusing the students; and two, there must be a response, an element of engagement, a frisson if you like, from the class. Sometimes and with some groups it’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’; sometimes with others it’s ‘Tam O’Shanter’. Long may we have both.
Rose Galt
Past president, Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS)
I would have had more sympathy for the position taken if Kenneth Roy had suggested Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Burns, or John Buchan, all good Scots authors, with volumes of works to choose from, as suitable subject matter in Scottish schools, if the desire is to focus more on Scots authors.
The Daily Telegraph was misleading in suggesting that the proposal was to reject Shakespeare entirely in favour of modern Scots authors. However studying Shakespeare, Conrad, Chaucer, Milton
and Blake for my exams in the early 1960s in Scotland, combined with parental encouragement in reading Stevenson, Walter Scott, John Buchan, and Conan Doyle, along with some of the Scots Doric poets my father introduced me to (James Murray’s ‘Hamewith’, and J M Caie’s ‘Twixt Hill and Sea’), provided me with a much broader background in English literature, than focussing primarily on the then-modern Scots authors.
To suggest the study of more recent works on an English literature course in Scotland, before the crucible of time and years confirms their strengths, seems to me like proposing that art students should focus mainly on the works of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. Do you not consider that there is value to focussing on established literature, rather than simply concentrating on the work of our more recent authors, just because they happen to be Scots?
James McNie
Kenneth Roy uses the term ‘self respecting nation’ but what does he understand by that? How much thought has he given to it, if any? If he is thinking of nations like Denmark, Norway or Ireland, the difference between their status and ours could scarcely be more obvious. I have no doubt there are self respecting regions, counties, cities or even villages but I suspect they have a better understanding of their true status than the Scottish nation. Devout unionists, by contrast, frequently feel obliged to ensure that we are all aware of the fact that they are ‘proud Scots’, even when they declare North Sea oil revenues to be worth no more than a row of beans (Willie Ross, the arch ‘proud Scot’) or that an independent Scotland would be another Albania (Donald Dewar, ‘Father of the Nation’), – so much so that one wonders if they are/were not experiencing an underlying sense of guilt.
Of course, our current status enables a nationalist government at Holyrood to further an appreciation of Scottish literature but what are we to make of the ‘proud Scots’ at Holyrood, who would happily reverse all this on the grounds that it is nothing more than an attempt to boost nationalism? I would suggest to indignant Scots, who may be preciously wary of independence, that the Telegraph may be the wrong target. So far as the rest of the world is concerned, Scotland is a region/province and we are are not supposed to be good at anything but engineering, medicine, soldiering, preaching and the consumption of alcohol. Why should the Telegraph have a different vision of us when it is so widespread and entirely and pathetically of our own making?
John MacCorquodale
Kenneth Roy may have missed an introduction to Scots literature whilst at school, but I am pleased to report that even I, nearing my half-century, received education in the works of, amongst others: Lewis Grassic Gibbon, George Mackay Brown, Iain Crichton Smith, Hugh MacDiarmid, Neil M Gunn, Norman MacCaig and Edwin Muir during the late 70s and early 80s at Kirkcudbright Academy.
Whilst many of these were brought to my attention by the estimable Mr Dave Durie during higher and sixth year classes, we were visited in the school by both MacCaig and Crichton Smith, an opportunity not given to Shakespeare, who was lang deid. Shakespeare was, however, promoted through opportunities for theatrical visits, and encouragement to watch filmed performances.
Things may or may not have gone downhill again since then, but I remain grateful for having my attention brought to these (admittedly all male) Scots writers, who were added to during later study and recreational reading.
Harry Thomson
I was interested in Kenneth Roy’s column. He implies that Scottish schools have been ignoring Scottish writers and that the SNP government is trying to repair this, and that the Daily Telegraph is critical of this. However, as far as I am aware, ‘Men Should Weep’ has been taught for the Scottish highers for many years now, no doubt ‘replacing’ some Shakespeare, so the point is maybe a moot one. Incidentally, I enjoyed the recent productions of ‘Men Should Weep’ at the National Theatre (with excellent programme notes) and also at the NTS.
Ian Ritchie
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