Scottish fantasy today

Elphinstone, Margaret (2001) Scottish fantasy today. Ecloga Online Journal, 1. pp. 1-13. ISSN 1473-2777

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Abstract

The question that arises, when one is asked to talk about Scottish fantasy today, is whether this simply means fantasy texts that come out of Scotland, or whether there is currently a genre that might be labelled 'Scottish fantasy' which is significantly different from fantasy that comes from anywhere else. The unique status of Scottish fantasy has been a well-established tenet of Scottish literature and criticism, but the dominant genre at the end of the twentieth century is contemporary, urban and realistic. Can we still assert that there is a distinctively Scottish fantasy genre, which is neither retrospective nor nostalgic, but which uses traditional elements to produce texts relevant to the modern world? I have a vested interest in saying yes, a claim I'll now attempt to substantiate.