Derick Thomson and the Gaelic revival
Explores Derick Thomson's far-reaching influence on the 20th-century revival of Scottish Gaelic Introduces the scholar and activist who was the driving force behind influential initiatives aimed at promoting GaelicOffers a fresh European perspective on the subject, from an author with a command of Gaelic who is herself not Scottish Incorporates a multifaceted approach that brings together Derick Thomson's cultural and political activism, poetry and scholarshipExamines Thomson's engagement with other countries, especially Ireland and Wales, and with other figures, including Alexander MacDonald (Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair), James Macpherson, and Ruaraidh Erskine of MarWritten with regard to international audiences and relevant for both Gaelic speakers and readers without a command of GaelicEnables the incorporation of modern Gaelic writing into comparative literature in EuropeDerick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival focuses in expert detail on the "other" great twentieth-century Scottish Gaelic poet and intellectual. Thomson's poetry ranks with Sorley MacLean's as among the best in the Gaelic language, and he contributed to the preservation and development of the language as an editor, journalist, scholar, and activist. As well as founding and steering the most important modern Gaelic magazine, Gairm, he instigated a number of ventures aimed at promoting Gaelic and had major impact on Gaelic studies as an academic subject. His vision of the Gaelic revival is characterised by high aesthetic standards, organisational and economic shrewdness, openness to second-language users, support for Scottish political independence and a broad European outlook. This is the very first book-length study devoted to Thomson and it explores his career within the context of the history of the Gaelic revival in Scotland and other minority-language movements in Europe