Speech and writing form the basis of much modern critical thinking, but there is little consensus about what they are or whether there is any essential difference between them. In this book, Fielding explores the concepts of nationality and culture in the context of 19th-century Scottish fiction, namely Walter Scott, James Hogg, R.L. Stevenson and Margaret Oliphant. Through this exploration, she concludes that the differences between speech and writing are created by social forces.

Focusing on the relationship between England and Scotland and the interaction between history and geography, Penny Fielding explores how Scottish literature in the Romantic period was shaped by the understanding of place and space. The book examines geography as a form of regional, national and global definition, addressing national surveys, local stories, place-names and travel writing, and argues that the case of Scotland complicates the identification of Romanticism with the local. Fielding considers Scotland as North Britain in a period when the North of Europe was becoming a strong...

Focusing on the relationship between England and Scotland and the interaction between history and geography, Penny Fielding explores how Scottish literature in the Romantic period was shaped by the understanding of place and space. The book examines geography as a form of regional, national and global definition, addressing national surveys, local stories, place-names and travel writing, and argues that the case of Scotland complicates the identification of Romanticism with the local. Fielding considers Scotland as North Britain in a period when the North of Europe was becoming a strong...