Jump to content

Kilmarnock, home of poetry and tartan noir.


jasper

Recommended Posts

Just what are they putting in the water ? Stewart Conn, Stuart A. Paterson, William McIlvanney, Hugh McIlvanney, Gordon Ferris, Graeme Macrae Burnet .... For a town that's taken such a socio-economic pounding in the last thirty years, it's amazing that so many very good writers have been spawned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe it has something to do with the socio-economic pounding you mention- adversity and poverty inspiring creativity. I was at university with Stuart A Paterson in the late eighties- when you spoke with a broad Ayrshire accent (even in the hallowed halls of Stirling University which had a reputation for giving working class children a chance) people thought you had straw coming out your ears and were basically a bit thick. So maybe then you use your creative writing to show them you are not. The same applies, I think, to the American South. It has always been viewed as the poor relation of the USA- poverty stricken, rural, backward, somehow different: the feared "other" to the enlightened founding ideals of the USA. But think of the writers this area has produced. Even today, people refer to "going down to Ayrshire" or "in deepest Ayrshire" as though it were a strange unknowable place to "outsiders": I think this sense of "otherness" is also a major spur to creativity. Or maybe @jasper they are putting something in the water.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...