Scottish National Identity in Contemporary Scottish Literature

Abstract

The topic of my thesis is a certain form of identity, that is, national identity, in a special context: I will explore the workings of national identity in a community which has not been independent for the last 300 years, and which can even be characterized as a “stateless nation,” a community without its own sovereignty: Scotland. Their special situation allowed the birth of a unique sense of national identity which is reflected through their culture with all its contradictions and distinctive features. Although not necessarily in a straightforward manner, this tension is visible in Scottish literature, in the heavy use of Scots dialect, the multitude of unreliable narrators, the ubiquity of meaningful typography or the often fragmented narration of contemporary Scottish novels, which set their literature apart from mainstream traditions.