Abstract
' If there is ocht in Scotland that's worth ha'en / There is nae distance to which it's unattached.' These lines of Hugh MacDiarmid's sum up much in the work of those near contemporaries Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928) and Richard Demarco (b. 1930). My first serious encounter with the two men occurred in 1988, half-way through my period as the Scottish Poetry Library's librarian, at the MacDiarmid festival devised by Demarco and at which Stevenson performed. Against the you-in-your-small-corner mindset of dominant Scottish modes, here was a MacDiarmidian 'binding of the braids' of music, literature, and the visual/performing arts, of Scotland and the world at least, of Scotland and Europe. Demarco likes to quote E.M. Forster: 'Only connect'. Or, in many ways, re-connect.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
