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The first applied research volume in Scottish Romanticism, this collection foregrounds the concept of progress as 'improvement' as a constitutive theme of Scottish writing during the long eighteenth century. It explores improvement as the animating principle behind Scotland's post-1707 project of modernization, a narrative both shaped and reflected in the literary sphere. It represents a vital moment in Romantic studies, as a 'four-nations' interrogation of the British context reaches maturity. Equally, the volume contributes to a central concern in the study of Scottish culture, amplifying a critical synthesis of Romanticism and Enlightenment.
Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781351056427_oachapter9.pdf
List of contents
Foreword Nicholas Phillipson Introduction: Mapping Cultures of Improvement in Scottish Romanticism Alex Benchimol and Gerard Lee McKeever Part I: Print, Progress and Politeness 1. Andrew Millar’s 'Good Vouchers': The Malt Tax Crisis and Trade in Controversy Adam Budd 2. Let Scotland Flourish by the Printing of the Word: Commerce, Civic Enlightenment and National Improvement in the Glasgow Advertiser, 1783-1800 Alex Benchimol 3. 'Simplicity, Rightly Understood': Improvement in the Collaboration of Robert Burns and George Thomson Gerard Lee McKeever Part II: Literature, Land and Commerce 4. Thomas Pennant, National Description and the Project of Improvement Nigel Leask 5. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Improvement: David Dale, Robert Owen and New Lanark Cotton Michael Morris 6. Pastoral Optimism at Improvement’s Frontier: James Hogg’s Highland Journeys Alex Deans 7. 'Earth and Stone': Improvement, Entailment and Geographical Futures in the Novel of the 1820s Penny Fielding Part III: Death, Legacy and Medicine 8. Reading John Anderson’s Will: Improving Human Nature, Science and Scotland in a Commercial Society Tom Furniss 9. Medicine and Improvement in the Scots Magazine; and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany (1804-17) Megan Coyer 10. A Death in the Cottage: Spiritual and Economic Improvement in Romantic-Era Scottish Death Narratives Sarah Sharp Postscript: Varieties of Cultural Improvement in the Long Eighteenth Century Gerard Carruthers
About the author
Alex Benchimol is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Glasgow.
Gerard Lee McKeever is a founding Co-Convener of the Scottish Romanticism Research Group at the University of Glasgow.
Summary
This collection foregrounds progress as "improvement" as a constitutive theme of Scottish writing during the long eighteenth century. It explores improvement as the animating principle behind Scotland’s post-1707 project of modernization, a narrative both shaped and reflected in the literary sphere.
