Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century
The Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century project aims to build connections between researchers working in the field of 19th century Scottish studies and to foster public awareness of the richness and diversity of Scottish culture in the period.
Contact SWINC by email: S.W.I.N.C@ed.ac.uk
Current / Future Events
Listen to the SWINC Annual Lecture online
Professor Roger Luckhurst's lecture, 'Stevenson Among the Psychologists', is now available online - click here to listen.
Next SWINC Reading Group
5pm, please email for further details
For our final meeting of the academic year, Brian Wall (University of Edinburgh) will introduce Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet.
SWINC Reading Group
1pm, 6.11, David Hume Tower
Kristian Kerr (University of Chicago) will introduce Scotch Novel Reading, by Sarah Green.
If you're unable to find it in the library, there is a copy of it on Google Books here.
All welcome!
The Literary 1880s
University of Edinburgh: Conference Room, David Hume Tower
Workshops sponsored by British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
For more information, click here.
Spaces are limited - please email Sarah Ames to attend.
SWINC Annual Lecture: Stevenson Among the Psychologists
6-7.15pm, Lecture Theatre 2, Appleton Tower
Professor Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck College, University of London)
This lecture explores Stevenson's dialogue with Victorian psychology, which was in a ferment from the phrenological Edinburgh of the 1820s and 30s, through the controversial physiology of the mind that succeeded it in London, to the first halting development of psycho-dynamic theories at the time when Stevenson began to write. In particular, we will explore Stevenson's relationship to the brilliant but wayward psychologist, poet and Spiritualist Frederic Myers, a close reader of Stevenson's work, Myers took Stevenson to be a vindication of his odd and decidedly Gothic theory of the genius of the 'subliminal mind.'
The event is free, but please book a place beforehand at: http://edinburgh-university-80.eventbrite.co.uk/
SWINC Reading Group
5pm, 22 Buccleuch Place, Room 1.2
This month, SWINC gets hard core with Hugh MacDiarmid's modernist epic 'A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle'. Come along have a guess at what it's all about, led by our own Alex Thomson.
SWINC Reading Group
4pm, Room S37, 7 George Square
Professor Deidre Lynch (University of Toronto) will introduce some ghost stories by Margaret Oliphant:
'The Library Window'
'The Portrait'
'The Secret Chamber
'Earthbound'
These are all available in 'Selected Short Stories of the Supernatural', ed. Margaret Gray, of which there are a number of copies in the library (PR5113 Oli.)
If you're unable to get hold of a copy, or only have time to read one, there will be photocopies of 'The Library Window' in the English office on the 6th floor of the David Hume Tower.
Burns in Edinburgh
6-7.15pm, Faculty Room South, David Hume Tower
Although we may associate Burns with Ayrshire, Edinburgh was very important to him. He stayed in the city between 1786 and 1788 where he met important figures from the Scottish Enlightenment, and the young Walter Scott who later spoke of his 'extraordinary talents'. In this event, Edinburgh poets will speak about what Burns means to them, and critics from Edinburgh university will discuss his time in the city. So celebrate Burns Night with us in 'Edina, Scotia's darling seat.'
This event is free, but please email s.ames@sms.ed.ac.uk to book a place.
SWINC Reading Group
5.30pm, please email for further details.
Katherine Wright will introduce Ann Radcliffe's The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne.
See you there!
What Are You Reading? Part 3: Editing Puzzles and Techniques
18.00, National Library of Scotland
Hands-on workshop about modern editing techniques using some practical examples from the 'New Edinburgh Edition of Robert Louis Stevenson'. Look at various states of Stevenson's works from manuscript to final publication, including 'Kidnapped' and 'A Child's Garden of Verses'. Find out about some specific problems faced by the Stevenson editorial team, and produce your own edited extracts of the novels and poems.
The event is free, but please book places beforehand at: https://auth.nls.uk/events/
Series sponsored by Edinburgh University and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
SWINC Reading Group
4pm, Conference Room, David Hume Tower
Sarah Ames will introduce The Dynamiter, by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson.
All welcome.
What Are You Reading? Part 2: Textual editing in principle and practice
18.00, National Library of Scotland
In this lecture, scholars working on major editions of key Scottish authors will explore how modern editors set about producing an edited text. What are the principles we adhere to? What is the evidence that counts in valuing one state of the text over another? Should we prefer the author’s first or last version? How should we treat the author’s original manuscript? In the second part of the talk we will demonstrate the process of editing, in particular how we can benefit from the latest technological advances.
Why we edit books (Dr. Alison Lumsden, Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels)
How we edit books (Dr. Anthony Mandal (New Edinburgh Edition of Robert Louis Stevenson)
The event is free, but please book places beforehand at: https://auth.nls.uk/events/
Series sponsored by Edinburgh University and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Civic Scotland
Day Workshop sponsored by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, University of Aberdeen.
Following on from SWINC's successful Glasgow workshop, 'Secret
Scotland, Civic Scotland' is a workshop to explore forms of public,
civic and institutional knowledge in nineteenth-century Scotland. We
will look at ways in which ideas about political organisation, urban
space, national memory, and scientific discovery constitute Scotland's
sense of itself as a civic nation with a cultural memory in the second
half of the century.
Papers will be on the Scott Memorial and the Royal Mile, emigration
and Empire, liberalism, science and religion.
The event is now fully booked but please e-mail Sarah Ames to be placed on the reserve list.
What Are You Reading? Part 1: The Secret Lives of Texts
18.00-19.30, National Library of Scotland
In three short talks at the National Library of Scotland, scholars from the University of Edinburgh explore the strange and complex lives of three famous works. They will explain how these works came into existence, what technologies were used, and the expectations that their original authors and readers might have held. We will talk about the social assumptions and practical possibilities that influenced these books and created their different versions.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet (Dr James Loxley)
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (Dr Jonathan Wild)
James Joyce, Ulysses (Dr Lee Spinks)
The event is free, but places must be booked beforehand at:
http://www.nls.uk/events#oct12
This is the first of a three-talk series, 'What are you Reading?', organised by SWINC and the NLS.
Series sponsored by Edinburgh University and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Talk by Professor Erik Simpson (Grinnell University)
16.30-1930, David Hume Tower
'Stevenson and the Bravo'
Starting from the moment in Stevenson's Strange Case when Jekyll refers to his creation of Hyde as like employing a bravo (a murderer for hire) Professor Simpson will discuss the literary history of the bravo, developments in nineteenth-century professionalism and Stevenson's connection between these subjects in the novel.
SWINC Reading Group
2pm, Room 6.11, David Hume Tower.
Professor John Plotz (Brandeis University) will introduce some short stories by George MacDonald:
'The Fantastic Imagination'
'The Light Princess'
'The Golden'
'Nanny's Dream'
'Diamond's Dream' (all stories can be found in the Penguin edition)
Photocopies of 'The Light Princess' will be available in the 6th floor office, DHT.
Talk by Professor John Plotz (Brandeis University)
Professor John Plotz will give a talk on:
Residual and Emergent: Magic Lanterns, William Morris, and the ‘New-Old’ Kelmscott Press
Room 1.01, 14 Buccleuch Place
4pm - 5.30pm
All welcome.
SWINC Reading Group meeting
4pm, Room 6.11, David Hume Tower, University of Edinburgh.
Silvia Mergenthal (University of Konstanz) will introduce Walter Scott's Chronicles of the Canongate.
We look forward to seeing you there!
EdRLS News
The New Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Works of Robert Louis Stevenson has been awarded a Major Research Grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. EdRLS is very proud of its association with the RSE who generously backed the 2008 workshop ‘Stevenson in the Twenty-first Century’ that established the editorial policy for the edition, and who have sponsored two of our Annual SWINC Public Lectures. The award is the first Arts and Humanities Major Research Grant to be conferred by the RSE and is financed by the Scottish Government, allowing this international edition of Stevenson to be published by a Scottish academic press. The General Editors of EdRLS are very grateful to the RSE for their continuing generosity and support.
The grant will allow EdRLS to expand its editorial team. Lena Wånggren will take the post of RSE Research Fellow from September with Ph D students Sarah Ames and Kirsten Banks as Research Assistants. Dr Gillian Hughes, the distinguished editor of James Hogg, will advise the team as Consultant Editor.
EdRLS is particularly happy that the grant will enable its continuing work with readers and cultural institutions in Edinburgh and beyond. A series of lectures and workshops will take place at the National Library of Scotland in Autumn/Winter 2011 with further events planned with the Edinburgh Writers’ Museum.
For updates on the edition see http://edrls.wordpress.com/
SWINC Reading Group meeting
3pm, Room 6.11, David Hume Tower
Dr Anna Vaninskaya will introduce John Buchan's Huntingtower.
SWINC Reading Group meeting (CANCELLED)
4pm, Ground Floor Conference Room, David Hume Tower, University of Edinburgh
Professor Maureen McLane (New York University) will introduce some ballads from Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border:
Twa Corbies
The Bonny Hynd
Sir Patrick Spens
The Battle of Otterbourne
The Cruel Sister
The Queen's Marie
The War Song of the Edinburgh Light Dragoons
Photocopies can be found in the 6th floor English Literature office, David Hume Tower
Please email s.ames@sms.ed.ac.uk for additional reading:
Scott, Introduction to Popular Poetry
Robert Jamieson, Popular Ballads and Songs (1806)
- in particular, 'The Dey's Sang'
Public Lecture: ‘Border Trouble: 'World Literature' and the Case of Scottish Balladry’ Dr Maureen McLane, New York University
This year's annual SWINC lecture is supported by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Edinburgh. Dr Maureen McLane will discuss the relationship of Scottish vernacular poetry and popular song to the idea of world literature, an increasingly important reference point for contemporary literary studies. The lecture is a part of the SWINC project Civic Scotlands / Secret Scotlands.
SWINC Reading Group Meeting
4pm, Ground Floor Conference Room, David Hume Tower, University of Edinburgh
Dr Karina Williamson will present a selection of patriotic war songs:
Sir Henry Erskine, 'In the garb of old Gaul' (c.1760)
Robert Burns, 'The Dumfries Volunteers' (1795)
Walter Scott, 'War Song, for the Edinburgh Cavalry Association' (1798?)
John Mayne, ‘English, Scots and Irishmen (1803)
Mungo Park, 'Song of the Tweddale Cavalry' (1803)
James Hogg, 'Donald Macdonald' (1803)
James Hogg, 'Scotia's Glens' (1803)
Secret Scotland
Secret Scotland: Day Workshop sponsored by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
Room 202, Department of English, University of Glasgow, 4 University Gardens
Saturday 16th October, 2010: 10.00-5.00
‘Secret Scotland’ is the first of a series of interdisciplinary events shared between the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, organised by Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century and sponsored by the Carnegie Trust. This workshop explores aspects of Scotland’s unofficial history in political, social, and cultural contexts in the period 1780-1850. We will look at how radical or socially excluded ideas both challenged political assumptions and maintained an uneasy alliance with language and literature. Papers will be on spies, radical organisations, clandestine societies, Gothic secrets, covert sexualities and forms of language. Speakers include: Penny Fielding (Edinburgh), Pauline Gray (Glasgow), Nigel Leask (Glasgow), Gordon Pentland (Edinburgh), Murray Pittock (Glasgow), Andrew Prescott (Glasgow), Janet Sorensen (Berkeley), James Watt (York). The event (including lunch) is free but places are limited and must be reserved. Contact: Ralph McLean
The Edinburgh Companion to Robert Louis Stevenson
SWINC is delighted to announce the publication this month of The Edinburgh Companion to Robert Louis Stevenson, edited by SWINC co-director Dr Penny Fielding and published by Edinburgh University Press. The book features contributions by a number of members of the SWINC team and the SWINC International Network. This wide-ranging collection is the first to set Stevenson in detailed social, political and literary contexts, taking account of Stevenson's extraordinary thematic and generic diversity and his geographical range. The chapters explore his relation to late nineteenth-century publishing, psychology, travel, the colonial world, and the emergence of modernism in prose and poetry. Through the pivotal figure of Stevenson, the collection explores how literary publishing and cultural life changed across the second half of the nineteenth century. Stevenson emerges as a complex writer, author both of hugely popular boys' stories and of seminally important adult novels, as well as the literary figure who debated with Henry James the theory of fiction and the nature of realism.
Locating Stevenson conference, University of Stirling
SWINC was well represented at Locating Stevenson, the 6th International Robert Louis Stevenson conference, held at the University Stirling between the 8th and 10th of July. Papers were given by SWINC members Sarah Ames, Penny Fielding, Robert Irvine and Alex Thomson. The conference covered a very wide range of topics, united by the theme of location. Papers travelled from Falkirk to Samoa, and addressed aspects of Stevenson’s work from his relations to American French and Japanese writing, developments in science, Stevenson’s style and the global publishing world of the later nineteenth century. Abstracts of all the papers given can be found on the conference website
EVENT CANCELLED
Public Lecture:
‘Border Trouble: Scottish Ballads and World Literature’
Dr Maureen McLane, New York University
Unfortunately, Dr McLane has been unable to travel from the US. We will reschedule this event.
This year's annual SWINC lecture is supported by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Edinburgh. Dr Maureen McLane will discuss the relationship of Scottish vernacular poetry and popular song to the idea of world literature, an increasingly important reference point for contemporary literary studies. The lecture also marks the start of the SWINC project Civic Scotlands / Secret Scotlands.