Notional Identities: Ideology, Genre and National Identity in Popular Scottish Fiction Since the Seventies

284 Pages·2013·1.072 MB·English

by  Thomas Christie

Notional Identities
All excerpts from Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin appear by permission of the
Orion Publishing Group.
Knots and Crosses is Copyright ©1987 Ian Rankin, all rights reserved.
All excerpts from The Incomer by Margaret Elphinstone appear by kind courtesy
of Margaret Elphinstone.
The Incomer is Copyright ©1987 Margaret Elphinstone, all rights reserved.
Fair use is assumed for quotations drawn from all other referenced texts, for the
purposes of critical study.
Every reasonable attempt was made to contact the rights-holders of the texts which
are discussed in this book.
Notional Identities:
Ideology, Genre and National Identity
in Popular Scottish Fiction Since the Seventies
By
Thomas Christie
Notional Identities:
Ideology, Genre and National Identity in Popular Scottish Fiction Since the Seventies,
by Thomas Christie
This book first published 2013
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2013 by Thomas Christie
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-5056-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5056-8
This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my parents
Gilbert Christie (1945-81) and Alexandra Christie (1947-2010)
“Literature is the question minus the answer.”
Roland Barthes (1915-80)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ................................................................................... ix
General Introduction .................................................................................... 1
PART I: Scottish Speculative Fiction
Chapter One ............................................................................................... 13
Scottish Speculative Fiction: An Introduction
Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 25
Iain M. Banks’s The State of the Art (1989) and Ken MacLeod’s
The Stone Canal (1996)
Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 71
Margaret Elphinstone’s The Incomer (1987) and Matthew Fitt’s
But n Ben A-Go-Go (2000)
PART II: Scottish Crime Fiction
Chapter Four ............................................................................................ 115
Scottish Crime Fiction: An Introduction
Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 125
Ian Rankin’s Knots and Crosses (1987) and Christopher Brookmyre’s
Quite Ugly One Morning (1996)
Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 163
Denise Mina’s Garnethill (1998) and Louise Welsh’s The Cutting Room
(2002)
Conclusion ............................................................................................... 197
Notes ........................................................................................................ 205
Bibliography ............................................................................................ 227
Index ........................................................................................................ 263

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who offered their
support and encouragement during the research and compilation of this
book.
I am immensely grateful to my wonderful family, Julie Christie and Mary
Melville, for all of their thoughtfulness and encouragement all the way
throughout the entire writing process. I would also like to thank Stirling
University’s Professor Roderick Watson, Dr Scott Hames and Dr Suzanne
Gilbert, as well as Professor Alan Riach of the University of Glasgow, for
their invaluable advice and guidance.
I must also take this opportunity to sincerely thank Dr Elspeth King,
Michael Donnelly, Douglas J. Allen and the late Mrs Janey Buchan (1926-
2012) for their fellowship and counsel. A special note of gratitude is also
due to Alasdair Gray and the late Iain M. Banks (1954-2013) for so kindly
having taken time out of their busy schedules to speak with me about my
research.
It would be an impossible task to thank everybody who has offered me
their goodwill and encouragement during the completion of this book, but
sincere appreciation is most certainly due to my good friends Ivy Lannon,
Eddy and Dorothy Bryan, Ian McNeish, Denham and Stella Hardwick, Dr
Colin M. Barron, Michael McGinnes, Bill and Sue Wood, Lesley Duncan,
Alex and Kelley Tucker, and Rachael J. McClure. My heartfelt
appreciation goes out to each and every one of you.