Language, Discourse, Society
1 total work
In 1746 the Highlands of Scotland were still an alien province: separated from the rest of the kingdom by language, culture and social system, they were the scene of the last military uprising to occur on the British mainland. Within half a century that otherness had been tamed and assimilated by a remarkable semiotic operation - it had been made into a romance. This study attempts to trace the origins of the romantic image of the Highlands which still survives today, by examining the economic, military and ideological circumstances of the region's subjugation by the British state. It combines literary criticism and cultural history to produce an original case study of the making of the myth.