Ownership and access in the work of John Muir, John Buchan and Andrew Greig

Gifford, T (2013) 'Ownership and access in the work of John Muir, John Buchan and Andrew Greig.' Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism, 17 (2). pp. 164-174. ISSN 1468-8417

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2013.800334

Abstract

John Muir left Scotland in 1849 for America and became famous for the concept formulated in his book Our National Parks (1901). Issues of access and ownership in the Highlands were the background to a novel by Andrew Greig published in 1996, The Return of John Macnab, which took its title from John Buchan's novel of 1925, John Macnab. A comparison of the two novels reveals not only their historical differences and similarities in radicalism on these issues, but the problem of expressing a connected relationship with a national landscape (that Muir spent his lifetime seeking) when nature cannot be conceived except through the frames of politics and culture. Post-devolution, are these novels little more than historical curiosities today, given that Scotland now has national parks and the granting of a right to roam in 2003? Part of a historical momentum, these novels also explore key class tensions and landscape values for present readers.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: John Muir, John Buchan, Andrew Greig, Scotland, access, class
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism
P Language and Literature > PR English literature
T Technology > T Technology (General) > T201 Patents. Trademarks
Divisions: School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2013.800334
Date Deposited: 12 Jul 2017 20:55
Last Modified: 05 Jan 2022 15:24
URI / Page ID: https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/8707
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