SCOTLAMD IS WAKING UP.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18075, 19 July 1930, Page 13 (Supplement)

SCOTLAMD IS WAKING UP.

SCOTTISH life continues to be very different from English but the difference is very inadequately reflected in modern imaginative literature. Where any regular reader of Action would have little difficulty in giving the titles of several scores of modern English novels of undoubted consequence, to name even half-a-dozen Scottish ones would be difficult. This can be seen at a glance if we think of H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, Sheila Kaye-Smith, Rose Macaulay, W. B. Maxwell, Somerset Maugham, Frank Swinnerton, Rudyard Kipling, John Galsworthy, May Sinclair —and ask. ourselves what Scottish novelists there are to set alongside any of these. It is immediately apparent that there are no Scottish novelists to compare with writers of the calibre of Conrad or Wells. The Old School. The most productive of such northern authors as are specially Scottish rather than English in their subject matter and style—John Buchan and Neil Munroe, despite the many fine qualities of their work,' obviously belong to a lower category, and rank rather with Sheila KayeSmith or W. B. Maxwell. They are very womanlike writers, but have added nothing of real influence to the evolution of the novel. There are a few distinguished Scottish writers whose books are, for all practical purposes, to be regarded as English rather than Scottish —Compton Mackenzie, for example, and Norman Douglas. Neither of them has so far written anything of a distinctively Scottish character. R. B. Cunninghame-Graham has won his literary laurels in very different fields, and his specifically Scottish writings are confined to a few sketches —admirable in quality but merely indicating the possibilities of a Scottish literature rather than making any substantive contribution to its development. Probably the great majority of fiction' readers, asked to give the title of a modern Scottish novel, would name “The House with the Green Shutters.” It is significant of the relatively slow development and poor ■quality of'Scottish Action that a one book author like George Douglas Brown should continue to dominate the field in this way. Whatever may be said of the “Kailyaird School,” its authors, Barrie, Crockett, lan Maclaren, and others, built up within the limits of their conception of Scottish life a solid succession of novels and an array of short stories In comparison with which all that has been subsequently written seems very tentative and badly organised. Scottish life has been revolutionised in the interval; and in any case, the Kailyaird School confined themselves to a few types of Scottish character by no means representative of their compatriots as a whole. Nevertheless, they succeeded in imposing their conceptions of Scottish life, for what they were worth, on the world at large. New Writers. It is only within the last few years that any serious

NEW LITERARY DEVELOPMENT.

attempt has been made to widen the range of distinctively Scottish literature. A whole host of new writers have made their appearance-f-Orgill Mackenzie, Nan Shepherd, Neil Gunn, John Cockburn, George Blake, Winifred Duke, Christine Orr, Dot Allan and many others. It can safe y be said that their general level of workmanship is much higher than any hitherto found in Scottish literature. Neil Gunn has written many admirable short stones, but it would be wide of the mark to suggest that he is in any degree a Scottish equivalent of the Irish Liam 0 Flaherty, or such English writers as A. E. Coppard or the late Katharine Mansfield. George Blake is the most considerable living Scottish novelist apart from Buchan and Neil IMunro, but he has still his big book to write. Scottish fiction is no longer confined, to one or . two channels. It is developing simultaneously in all directions. Hopeful Outlook. Scottish writers have ceased to be all of one school. They have many different points of view, and very diverse styles. This is“ all to the good. There are few aspects of Scotland left out of account now. If quantity is increasing and a serious effort being made to bring Scottish fiction up to date, quality is another matter. That may come. Happily Scotland has to-dav a army of young writers conscious of their country s plight. Along " lth thU Realisation of the comparative Povarty and backwardness of Scottish literature has nf C °^ tt L in nnp nf the reasons for the failure of Scottish writers in the past has been a lack of discrimination between whatsis distinctivelv Scottish and what is English, duality of attention to Scottish life has served to emphasise its difference from English life. The younger writers are not only endeavouring to broaden out Scuuish litera ture until it takes in every angle and aspect of Scottish life, but they are looking for ways and means of building up an independent national literature in the fullest sense of the term. Many difficulties beset them in this enterprise. First of all, there are the language difficulties. Can a separate Scottish use of English be evolved which will preserve l flavour of Scottish speech? What is to be done about dialect? These, and a host of other problems, depend on the attitude to Scotland as a whole which the new movement evolves. So far there is no consensus of opinion with regard to national values, and without that there cannot be an adequate basis for a full-sized national literary effort. It is significant, however, that Scottish writers are beginning to draw together and to form organisations which may enable them to come to some understanding with each other. By means of the Scottish centre of the P.E.N. Club, literary Scotland is already much better organised than it was in the past, and a common front and an agreed policy may come in due course.