Not surprisingly, many authors have been writing about the referendum, but this political approach to their work has problematic implications
Why are so many Scottish writers keen on an independent Scotland? Why are so many writing and talking about what a Yes vote will mean to them over the years to come?
I can only think it’s because it’s an exciting and creative thing to do – to imagine a new kind of country with new opportunities and ideas about identity. It’s like starting a new book, having a clean page … As though all the ideals and hopes one might have for a literary project could be writ large in the planning of a country’s future.
Surely it can’t be that any of them believe that their literary lives will change at all? It can’t be that they don’t want their work to be published and reviewed in territories outside Scotland, or that they would want to see a Scottish readership prioritised over a national one in the way that the SNP want to give the Scottish vote this month only to those who live permanently inside Scotland now?
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I can only think it’s because it’s an exciting and creative thing to do – to imagine a new kind of country with new opportunities and ideas about identity. It’s like starting a new book, having a clean page … As though all the ideals and hopes one might have for a literary project could be writ large in the planning of a country’s future.
Surely it can’t be that any of them believe that their literary lives will change at all? It can’t be that they don’t want their work to be published and reviewed in territories outside Scotland, or that they would want to see a Scottish readership prioritised over a national one in the way that the SNP want to give the Scottish vote this month only to those who live permanently inside Scotland now?
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