Transculturation and Historicisation: New Directions for the Study of Scottish Literature c.1840–1914

Abstract

This article addresses the emerging enthusiasm for Scottish Victorian and Edwardian literature and argues that more historicist and transcultural approaches would enliven and develop critical discussions. I demonstrate that there has been relatively little attempt to historicise Scotland's literature c.1840–1914, and I establish how we can consider the various writings of the period through their responses to particular cultures in Scotland, including the formation of the Free Church and the development of cultural and political identity debates. I also argue that overlooking the global circulation of Scottish Victorian and Edwardian literature is debilitating considering such writers as Stevenson and Conan Doyle have been hugely popular internationally and, while the work of comparable English writers has been effectively considered in the context of global circulation, a great deal more could be done with Scottish writers. There are signs that this literature is increasingly being situated historically and internationally; this article proposes how these gains can be advanced.