Review of Sebastiaan Verweij, The Literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland

Journal article

Any initiative to write about Scottish early modern literary culture from the point of view of the primary witnesses of manuscripts is to be commended, particularly a study which explores what can be gleaned from them about their use and circulation. This is not an over- studied field: many earlier studies require to be revised, there are clearly discoveries still to be made. Early modern Scotland offers immense scope for research: it is far from certain that the canon of Scottish renaissance literature in the vernacular has been fully explored or established; it is certain that the canon of Scottish renaissance Latin has not. Early modern Scottish Literary culture is wholly worthy of study in itself and as part of the Europe-wide comparative study of renaissance and renaissances. In some respects it is still much easier to identify a Scottish renaissance on a European model, than it is to pinpoint a cogent renaissance in England. The fascination of that comparison alone would be a reason to welcome Sebastiaan Verweij’s new book.

Authors: Davidsdon, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Journal: Seventeenth Century
• Publication date: 2016-10-03
• Acceptance date: 2016-08-25
• DOI: 10.1080/0268117X.2016.1230515
• EISSN: 2050-4616
• ISSN: 0268-117X