Course Description

Text: 
       No assigned text. The most useful book is the instructor's three-volume Scottish Literature: An Anthology, Vols. I and II, published by Peter Lang, New York, 1966 and 1967, Vol. III published by Scottish Cultural Press, Edinburgh, 2001. However, buying these huge books isn't necessary. One can consult them in libraries. This is the standard collection of Scottish literature.

Methodology:  
       The class, "Scottish Literature: On-Site," is double-listed for both graduate and undergraduate credit, but most of the students will be elementary or high school teachers taking it at the graduate level for in-service credits.

       UW-Stout's Office of Continuing Education will sponsor the course.  UW-Stout facilitates the use of its Continuing Education offerings by making registration easy and by charging out-state distance education students only slightly higher than its in-state tuition.

        Students will make their own travel arrangements. There will be no group travel (unless a group of students would wish to arrange such a thing themselves).

       Once students have registered, they may either download these rather extensive course materials or request them by mail. The course materials will present an overview of Scotland itself and Scottish literature and a bibliography. The student will be expected to have begun a study of the literature before traveling to Scotland. He or she will keep a journal listing which Scottish works have been read and commenting upon them in any fashion (literary exegesis or reader-response) which shows the reader has thought about the materials.  

       The student is advised to e-mail the instructor to verify the course procedures i.e., what he or she intends to read/visit.. The instructor's e-mail address is mccordickd@uwstout.edu.  

       The student then explores Scotland, keeping an extensive notebook on literature read, sites visited, events experienced, and the correspondences among all these duly noted. Among the "local" materials students will be expected to examine would be Scottish theater, as Edinburgh is immediately at hand and Glasgow only 40 miles away, and there are various theater festivals available during the summer. Also, the major bookstores in Edinburgh and Glasgow sponsor readings by noted authors almost every week. And there are various other venues where literature is being produced, examined, celebrated, recorded. But of course, finding out what is available is part of the learning process itself; the students will discover exciting possibilities all about them. One of the most rewarding aspects of this unique experience is that each student will have intellectual and aesthetic encounters in Scotland which he/she did not anticipate and even the instructor cannot match. In this class, the students are not being led by the nose; they will learn how to learn about Scotland-and thus how to learn about any country. This is an invaluable lesson for a student in any major.

Return to top

Meet the Instructor

David McCordick is the editor of the now-standard collection of Scottish literature: three volumes of 1250 pages each, entitled Scottish Literature: An Anthology. The first two volumes have been published in hardback by Peter Lang Publishing in New York. The entire three-volume set is to be published in paperback by Scottish Cultural Press of Edinburgh, thanks in part to a grant of several thousand pounds by the Scottish Arts Council. Professor McCordick taught at Dalkeith House in the first year of UW-Stout's campus abroad program (1987). In 1992 he was awarded a sabbatical to pursue his work on the Anthology. In 1997 he was awarded a Faculty Development grant by UW-Stout for a summer's residence at Dalkeith House for the same purpose. And in 2000 he was awarded an additional grant by the Office of International Programs for the development of this course.

Return to top

The Dalkeith House Option

       Students may opt to stay-whenever rooms are available-at Dalkeith House, the former ducal palace outside Edinburgh. As the House is available for this purpose virtually all Summer, the students can select whatever days are convenient for them. (Presumably they will be touring England as well, and perhaps the Continent.) If the course instructor is at Dalkeith when they are able to attend, so much the better, but the course is designed to operate without the student ever meeting the instructor. Among the course materials will be instructions as to how to get to Dalkeith House and how to inform the House Director when they are coming (ordinarily by E-mail) and what other simple procedures are necessary. (Admission is by a code number punched in at the door; all the rooms have numbers; the kitchen is self-service-cook your own food). In short Dalkeith House is set up admirably for this sort of self-directed study. However, there is a resident director present at all times, and almost always other personnel to answer questions.  

        The student will, of course, be encouraged to travel outwith the Dalkeith region-to take overnights in the Highlands, the Orkneys, the Western Isles. The ten-day Dalkeith stay will be flexible-there is no necessity that the period be contiguous.  

       The Dalkeith House library has a number of books on Scotland and its literature and a few subscriptions to Scottish literary journals and to the local newspapers. The Dalkeith library is abundantly supplied with maps, bus and train schedules, and other travel materials.  

Dalkeith House rates and availability:   

        Any course participant may stay at Dalkeith House at a rate of $10/day. This rate is considered a "hostel" rate in that the student is responsible for making his/her own bed and cleaning up. The House provides a linen packet. The rooms hold 2-6 persons.  The rate is the same regardless of the number of persons in the room.  Provisions for couples and families are possible, but one must contact the director.  

       A student would be expected to make room reservations with the Resident Director directly or through the Wisconsin in Scotland program at the University of Wisconsin-River falls. Payment would be made at the House at the time of the stay. A three week advance reservation would be appreciated. Room reservations are contingent upon availability. The booking period is June, July and the first ten days of August.  

       The simplest way to check availability is to e-mail the House directly. The Director will be Bill O'Neill until July 1, after which Russ Phillips will assume this position. Before July 1, oneillw@uwstout.edu.  

       After July 1, phillips.russ@uwlax.edu   The Dalkeith House address is Dalkeith House/ Dalkeith/ Midlothian/ Scotland EH22 2NA. Fax is 131 654 0320.  

       Students may also contact the Wisconsin in Scotland program coordinator Jan Quinn at the River Falls booking office at jan.quinn@uwrf.edu.   The Office phone is 715 425 3238.  

       Call the House (131 663 5632) before arrival (to make sure someone will be there to let you in). Dalkeith house is 30 minutes south of the Edinburgh city center (where the train station, bus station and "I" office are all clustered), by any of about a dozen different buses. Ask at the "I" or the bus station. In Dalkeith walk east on the High Street (the main street) into the Park and follow the "Wisconsin in Scotland" signs. Bus drivers are quite friendly (as are the natives generally).  

Return to top

Costs

The student is expected to travel on his own. The cheapest flights to Scotland from Minneapolis/St. Paul cost about $650-750. Living and traveling expenses will vary greatly, of course, depending upon individual interests and traveling preferences, but $100/day is a prudent expectation.  This last figure would be reduced very considerably if the student resides at Dalkeith House for some part of the summer, as the rates there are only $10/day.

Tuition for the three-credit course for the summer of 2001 will be:

Students in "Scottish Literature: On-Site," will have as their objectives, to learn: 

The student will be graded upon the degree of familiarity with and insight into Scottish literature and its sites. The journal (to be mailed to the instructor) will be the primary assessment tool. If the instructor feels the journal is itself quite sufficient to merit three hours of credit, that will be the end of the student's obligation; more probably the instructor will ask for a term paper to be written upon a subject to be negotiated with the student. The paper might require the student to read more Scottish literature, if the journal showed a weakness in that area.  Students taking this course for graduate credit will probably be asked to write a paper. on either a particular author (of the student's choosing), or a particular site.  

Where to Find the Sites

First, read and save the article on "Scotland" from a major encyclopedia (several are on-line). Then get a good map. A Scottish tour book would also be a fine idea: the Michelin Scotland is excellent. And the Baedeker Scotland is especially useful for its city maps and its removable map of the country. Both have fine introductions to Scottish culture.

The student enrolled in this course may examine in Scotland:  

1. Scotland itself has been a very frequent subject for literature.  A remarkable number of Scottish poems in particular discuss the country as a whole (often rather bitterly). The Scottish Literature volumes feature dozens of them, but works on "Scotland" per se are to be found anywhere, and all are welcome in a study of this kind, as the student has come to Scotland partly to feel what the country as a whole is like. Read, and comment on all the "nation-wide" Scottish literature you care to.

 2. Scottish places. A remarkable number of Scottish poems, especially traditional songs, have place names in their titles. A glance at the Table of Contents for the last two volumes of Scottish Literature: An Anthology reveals dozens. Some are tied to the named locale in only the vaguest way; others are fairly specific, but all can have some validity in this course of study (when the student has visited the place in question), as they stir up associations in the Scots themselves, and an objective of this class is to match those associations, however partially.

The major sites are of course the Highlands in general, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Islands (Western Islands, Orkney, or Shetland), and the North-east (say, St Andrews to Montrose, to Aberdeen).

 3. The Scottish dialects are a fruitful field of study. Here the trick is simply to listen to local speakers in the major divisions of Scottish speech (say, Glasgow working neighborhoods, coffee shops in Aberdeen, or Stromness), and try and match them to the dialect works the student has read.

 4. Scottish historical sites are of course the inspiration for much Scottish literature, whether they refer directly to the physical features of the site or not. The closer one feels to Scottish history, the closer one feels to the Scots, and thus their literature. Visits to historical sites are encouraged.

5. Scottish museums, either literary (for example, authors’ homes) or historical, are a major source of inspiration for the student of Scottish literature. Especially recommended here is the Scottish Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

6. Scottish literature on the hoof, so to speak, is especially useful. This can be taken in by attending Scottish plays (preferably on Scottish subjects), “readings” by Scottish writers, or if the students can manage it, conversations with Scottish writers.

7. Meeting the Scots themselves. Naturally, this is the best way to know Scotland. Talk to everyone who will talk to you, whether about literature or anything else (preferably Scottish affairs, of course). Then write up the conversation, in terms of anything that struck you. Ask questions. It isn’t always necessary to tie your journal discussions to a particular work of literature (though there are many individual works which discuss the nature of Scottish people in the abstract).

 8. Scottish song. Songs by Scots about Scotland are often very revealing. Many are about Scotland itself, or Scottish places or events. Listening to Scottish CD’s, reading song-lyric collections, or attending Scottish song concerts and ceilidhs are all useful.

 

Additional Information about Where To Find the Sites