Literary wars
Having insulted two authors I have read and even sort of like, I think it's time for (another) rant about Edinburgh's status as world capital of literature, certified by UNESCO. I'm reluctant to rant about this too much since while I don't believe there's been any great literature written in or around Edinburgh since at least The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 1886 (and that's set in London), I'm probably going to have to implicitly criticise JK Rowling as not being the literary equal of e.g. James Kelman, though even that's unfair (to both of them) as Rowling only moved here just over 10 years ago. And I've not actually read most of the writers I slag off below.
There was a recent piece in the Guardian about how Ian Rankin (who writes detective novels that I've never managed to finish) has been walking the streets of Edinburgh handing out copies of Stevenson's Kidnapped (also 1886) which is chosen as the official book of the world capital of literature. I've seen the film. It appears to involve a lot of running over hills. I'm sure Rankin is in no way involved for publicity or to try and promote the literary merits of his hackdom in print and on television.
Edinburgh's greatest literary figure is of course Walter Scott, whom nobody ever reads (seriously); mad conservative Thomas Carlyle stopped by for a while too - I think some people read him (fascists and masochists) but not literature students. As the capital of Scotland and formerly the centre of its publishing industry - a status it has arguably recently regained - most notable literary figures paid at least a brief visit till the end of the 19th century, such as Burns and Hogg, though in many cases they were mostly looking for money or publishers.
Edinburgh's main claim to greatness is that the city has a long association with popular, genre, and children's fiction. It was the birthplace of Stevenson and Arthur Conan Doyle, and for a while home to JM Barrie; more recently JK Rowling settled here and the city produced more detective novelists, Rankin (originally from Fife) and Alexander McCall Smith (who was born in Rhodesia and spent most of his early life in southern Africa). Also popular is Nigel Tranter (born Glasgow, lived in Edinburgh) who wrote a mix of historical fiction and pure hackwork (including ten cowboy novels!). But Stevenson fled to the south Pacific and Scott, a genuinely important figure in Edinburgh society, spent a lot of time in the Borders. (Interestingly, appallingly popular hack painter/tracer Jack Vettriano is also from near Edinburgh.)
While Edinburgh has brushed with genuine actual literature since Stevenson - Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting certainly has its merits, and there's the poet Norman MacCaig (not Scotland's greatest but not terrible) - it can hardly compete with the proper literary renaissance in Glasgow that's brought us Alasdair Gray and James Kelman (two novelists the equal of any in Britain since WW2) and the poets Edwin Morgan and Tom Leonard as well as west-coast figures such as Agnes Owens and Janice Galloway, or the earlier Scottish Renaissance of the 1930s that tended more towards the geographical margins.
When The List held a poll for the best ever Scottish book, the winner was Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon from Aberdeenshire. The only Scot to win the Booker Prize is James Kelman, from Glasgow. Since 1990 there are 5 other shortlisted Scots of whom only Shena Mackay (who is almost unknown) was born in Edinburgh (later moving to England); the others were Alasdair Gray (Glasgow), Andrew O'Hagan (born and raised Glasgow, now in London), Ali Smith (originally from Inverness but now living in England), and George Mackay Brown (Orkneys). Though Yorkshirewoman Kate Atkinson who won the Whitbread now lives in Edinburgh.
Jackie Kay and Muriel Spark were both born in Edinburgh, but Kay left as a baby and Spark as a teenager. Iain Banks whose novels are of variable quality from excellent to awful (I must confess to having mostly read the bad ones) was born and still lives in Fife, near Edinburgh.
Glasgow gave the world beat novelist Alexander Trocchi (who got out quickly). John Buchan was born in Kirkcaldy, 25 minutes from Edinburgh by train, moving to Glasgow then England. AL Kennedy was born in Dundee but lives in Glasgow. Liz Lochhead was born near Glasgow and now lives there; William McIlvanney is from Ayrshire. Crime writer Denise Mina (who I've actually met, though not read) is from Glasgow and writes about the city though she's not as prolific as Rankin. Many of Scotland's greatest figures like Hugh McDiarmid, Iain Crichton Smith and Sorley Maclain come from more isolated places (though Crichton Smith was actually born in Glasgow). Edwin Muir moved for a while from Orkney to Glasgow.
But maybe it's fair enough to market Edinburgh as a city that sells a lot of books regardless of their merits, or as some kind of literary tourist theme park. But as for the capital city of literature? It hardly qualifies compared to other cities in Scotland. (In terms of literary tourism, near Aberdeen there's the Lewis Grassic Gibbon centre and, er, Storybook Glen.) And in the world? What about Dublin, London, Paris, St Petersburg, New York?
And even with the Edinburgh authors, aside from Rankin and Welsh, how many of their books are set here? Rowling writes about an idealised England; McCall Smith's best-known series is set in Africa; Scott covered Scotland and England; Stevenson's books roam the world. The greatest Edinburgh novel is probably Hogg's Justified Sinner, and he was from the Borders.
BBC's pick of 44 Scottish writers
Born Glasgow (7) - Catherine Carswell, Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, Tom Leonard, Edwin Morgan, Iain Crichton Smith, Alexander Trocchi
Born near Glasgow (10) - George Douglas Brown, Robert Burns, Douglas Dunn, John Galt, John Robin Jenkins, Liz Lochhead, William McIlvanney, Margaret Oliphant, Allan Ramsay, James Thomson
Born Edinburgh (8) - Robert Fergusson, Robert Garioch, Jackie Kay, Norman MacCaig, Walter Scott, Muriel Spark, Robert Louis Stevenson, Irvine Welsh
Born near Edinburgh (3) - Iain Banks, John Buchan, Ian Rankin
Lived in Glasgow (19) - JM Barrie, George Douglas Brown, John Buchan, Catherine Carswell, Douglas Dunn, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Alasdair Gray, Robert Henryson, John Robin Jenkins, Jackie Kay, James Kelman, A L Kennedy, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, Edwin Morgan, Edwin Muir, Neil Munro, Margaret Oliphant, Alexander Trocchi
Lived in Edinburgh (16) - JM Barrie, Robert Burns, William Dunbar, Robert Fergusson, Robert Garioch, Hamish Henderson, James Hogg, Liz Lochhead, Norman MacCaig, Sorley Maclean, Allan Ramsay, Ian Rankin, Walter Scott, Muriel Spark, Robert Louis Stevenson, Irvine Welsh
Also on the subject of Edinburgh being shit, they're currently digging up every road junction in the City of Edinburgh. I don't know if they're replacing the traffic lights with disco balls, or what, but it must be something serious. I guess they figure it's half term so nobody uses the roads, not even buses.
There was a recent piece in the Guardian about how Ian Rankin (who writes detective novels that I've never managed to finish) has been walking the streets of Edinburgh handing out copies of Stevenson's Kidnapped (also 1886) which is chosen as the official book of the world capital of literature. I've seen the film. It appears to involve a lot of running over hills. I'm sure Rankin is in no way involved for publicity or to try and promote the literary merits of his hackdom in print and on television.
Edinburgh's greatest literary figure is of course Walter Scott, whom nobody ever reads (seriously); mad conservative Thomas Carlyle stopped by for a while too - I think some people read him (fascists and masochists) but not literature students. As the capital of Scotland and formerly the centre of its publishing industry - a status it has arguably recently regained - most notable literary figures paid at least a brief visit till the end of the 19th century, such as Burns and Hogg, though in many cases they were mostly looking for money or publishers.
Edinburgh's main claim to greatness is that the city has a long association with popular, genre, and children's fiction. It was the birthplace of Stevenson and Arthur Conan Doyle, and for a while home to JM Barrie; more recently JK Rowling settled here and the city produced more detective novelists, Rankin (originally from Fife) and Alexander McCall Smith (who was born in Rhodesia and spent most of his early life in southern Africa). Also popular is Nigel Tranter (born Glasgow, lived in Edinburgh) who wrote a mix of historical fiction and pure hackwork (including ten cowboy novels!). But Stevenson fled to the south Pacific and Scott, a genuinely important figure in Edinburgh society, spent a lot of time in the Borders. (Interestingly, appallingly popular hack painter/tracer Jack Vettriano is also from near Edinburgh.)
While Edinburgh has brushed with genuine actual literature since Stevenson - Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting certainly has its merits, and there's the poet Norman MacCaig (not Scotland's greatest but not terrible) - it can hardly compete with the proper literary renaissance in Glasgow that's brought us Alasdair Gray and James Kelman (two novelists the equal of any in Britain since WW2) and the poets Edwin Morgan and Tom Leonard as well as west-coast figures such as Agnes Owens and Janice Galloway, or the earlier Scottish Renaissance of the 1930s that tended more towards the geographical margins.
When The List held a poll for the best ever Scottish book, the winner was Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon from Aberdeenshire. The only Scot to win the Booker Prize is James Kelman, from Glasgow. Since 1990 there are 5 other shortlisted Scots of whom only Shena Mackay (who is almost unknown) was born in Edinburgh (later moving to England); the others were Alasdair Gray (Glasgow), Andrew O'Hagan (born and raised Glasgow, now in London), Ali Smith (originally from Inverness but now living in England), and George Mackay Brown (Orkneys). Though Yorkshirewoman Kate Atkinson who won the Whitbread now lives in Edinburgh.
Jackie Kay and Muriel Spark were both born in Edinburgh, but Kay left as a baby and Spark as a teenager. Iain Banks whose novels are of variable quality from excellent to awful (I must confess to having mostly read the bad ones) was born and still lives in Fife, near Edinburgh.
Glasgow gave the world beat novelist Alexander Trocchi (who got out quickly). John Buchan was born in Kirkcaldy, 25 minutes from Edinburgh by train, moving to Glasgow then England. AL Kennedy was born in Dundee but lives in Glasgow. Liz Lochhead was born near Glasgow and now lives there; William McIlvanney is from Ayrshire. Crime writer Denise Mina (who I've actually met, though not read) is from Glasgow and writes about the city though she's not as prolific as Rankin. Many of Scotland's greatest figures like Hugh McDiarmid, Iain Crichton Smith and Sorley Maclain come from more isolated places (though Crichton Smith was actually born in Glasgow). Edwin Muir moved for a while from Orkney to Glasgow.
But maybe it's fair enough to market Edinburgh as a city that sells a lot of books regardless of their merits, or as some kind of literary tourist theme park. But as for the capital city of literature? It hardly qualifies compared to other cities in Scotland. (In terms of literary tourism, near Aberdeen there's the Lewis Grassic Gibbon centre and, er, Storybook Glen.) And in the world? What about Dublin, London, Paris, St Petersburg, New York?
And even with the Edinburgh authors, aside from Rankin and Welsh, how many of their books are set here? Rowling writes about an idealised England; McCall Smith's best-known series is set in Africa; Scott covered Scotland and England; Stevenson's books roam the world. The greatest Edinburgh novel is probably Hogg's Justified Sinner, and he was from the Borders.
BBC's pick of 44 Scottish writers
Born Glasgow (7) - Catherine Carswell, Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, Tom Leonard, Edwin Morgan, Iain Crichton Smith, Alexander Trocchi
Born near Glasgow (10) - George Douglas Brown, Robert Burns, Douglas Dunn, John Galt, John Robin Jenkins, Liz Lochhead, William McIlvanney, Margaret Oliphant, Allan Ramsay, James Thomson
Born Edinburgh (8) - Robert Fergusson, Robert Garioch, Jackie Kay, Norman MacCaig, Walter Scott, Muriel Spark, Robert Louis Stevenson, Irvine Welsh
Born near Edinburgh (3) - Iain Banks, John Buchan, Ian Rankin
Lived in Glasgow (19) - JM Barrie, George Douglas Brown, John Buchan, Catherine Carswell, Douglas Dunn, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Alasdair Gray, Robert Henryson, John Robin Jenkins, Jackie Kay, James Kelman, A L Kennedy, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead, Edwin Morgan, Edwin Muir, Neil Munro, Margaret Oliphant, Alexander Trocchi
Lived in Edinburgh (16) - JM Barrie, Robert Burns, William Dunbar, Robert Fergusson, Robert Garioch, Hamish Henderson, James Hogg, Liz Lochhead, Norman MacCaig, Sorley Maclean, Allan Ramsay, Ian Rankin, Walter Scott, Muriel Spark, Robert Louis Stevenson, Irvine Welsh
Also on the subject of Edinburgh being shit, they're currently digging up every road junction in the City of Edinburgh. I don't know if they're replacing the traffic lights with disco balls, or what, but it must be something serious. I guess they figure it's half term so nobody uses the roads, not even buses.