It came to my attention recently that some organizations that had tried­­­­ to organize some celebrations about Sir Walter Scott’s (August 15, 1771—September 21, 1832) 200^th anniversary of his publication of The Antiquary had little success, if any.

In 2005, the 100^th anniversary of James M. Barrie’s (May 9, 1860—June 19, 1937) Peter Pan, there were a number of events, including a major film, Finding Neverland with Johnny Depp playing the author.

Now while it is true that The Antiquary is certainly far less known that Peter Pan, other factors are involved. First, Scott is well known as a writer of what has come to be known as “tartanry”. His most famous works, Lady in the Lake, Ivanhoe, The Waverly Novels (including Rob Roy, The Antiquary, The Heart of Midlothian The Bride of Lammermuir and so on) are set in the 1500s, 1600, 1700 – largely in a periods before Scott’s time. Many of them are set in Scotland, although not all.

The stories, while often seen as adventure stories, have underlying political subtexts and reflect a somewhat conflicted view of Scotland in which there is a longing for a “fictionalized” past and some positive recognition of the changes happening in his own time. His work has waned over the years and while some of his novels were required reading, that time seems long past. This approach and some of his novels have been labeled as “tartanry”. “Tartanry” is defined by literary critic Cairns Craig as "the false glamour that Scott had foisted on Scotland and which had turned it into Brigadoon."

Other definitions of tartanry include is “the kitsch and ahistorical elements of Scottish culture that have been over-emphasised or superimposed on the country, first by the emergent Scottish tourist industry in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, and later by the American film industry” (Wikipedia). The same source includes words like “twee” in the definition. In many ways, the romanticism involves the glorification of the Scottish highlands and the idea of “the noble savage” so popular in American literature about the American West (especially a fictionalized non existent West of the mid to late 1800’s and 1900’s). The parallels with the American West are almost to be expected since nations often need to create something of a “past” to give the population some substance of who and what they are. This is not to negate any of the true bravery and nobility that occurred at those times, but rather to purge some of the more “unsavory” moments which made give one pause.

Tartanry is anathema at this point for many Scots to the point that Colin McArthur refers to America’s “Tartan” day in disparaging terms calling it “The ridiculous Tartan Day” in his book Brigadoon, Braveheart and the Scots.

There is little doubt though, that it is the “tartanry” approach to “Scottishness” that generates a great deal of the tourism in Scotland which is so vital to the countries economics.

Almost at the other end of the spectrum from “tartanry” is the approach in literature called the “kailyard” tradition expemplified by James Barrie in many of his works. While Scott’s novels focus on Scotland and a certain image of Scotland, most of Barrie’s works do not. His most famous work, Peter Pan, is certainly not a Scottish story in the sense that Rob Roy is. However Barrie’s earlier works, like A Window in Thrums, The Little Minister or Auld Lichts Idylls do. These stories are not a romanticization of Highland Scotland, but of rural life. The term Kailyard (or Kailyaird) refers to a small cabbage patch, usually adjacent to a cottage.

Romanticization of any aspect of culture has been heralded as a problem. People in Iceland objected to the film Cold Fever a joint Iceland Japan production, in which the Icelandic people are depicted sort of mystically which the Icelanders were not happy about. They didn’t want that image, nor, would it appear, do they want to be thought of as Vikings! They would like to be regarded as modern business people as would Scots.

The Romantic schools were replaced ultimately with what became known as “realism” – in a sense an equally distorted view of reality but in a different direction. Rather than finding something attractive in the culture, there is a tendency to look at difficulties in the culture. One might think this would lead to a negativity about one’s own culture, but the results are not in on that yet. While Scott and Barrie look at some aspect of Scotland with some whimsy and nostalgia, novels like Trainspotting depict a part of Scotland too, but Scotland is no more Trainspotting than Rob Roy or the Little Minister are. The move seems to be more to look at the more unpleasant parts of life. Whether this glorifies it or not is an open question. It has been said no war film can be anti-war. The very fact that you make a film about it glorifies it. Maybe the same can be said about novels.

Be that as it may, fiction (which is called that because it isn’t real) reflects many things about the times in which the authors lived and wrote. They speak often more about that, than they do about the times discussed in the novels themselves.

It seems likely that Barrie’s later writings which are often comedies with little reference to Scotland have fallen into some degree of oblivion because the social structure of the times is no longer known or of any interest to people. So they have more or less slipped away. His more recognized opus, Peter Pan is a fantasy, with complex undertones and operates on many levels. If there is one thing it is not, it is not a romantic idea of any aspect of Scottish society and culture and so Barrie’s reputation for this play alone is likely to outlive any question about the depiction of a group of people, culture or country.

Darrie house

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