Bibliographie
Primary Reading : Alan Bissett
Fiction
Boyracers, Edinburgh: Polygon, 2001.
Pack Men, London: Hachette Scotland, 2011; paperback, 2012.
Theatre
The Ching Room (2009), Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 1-48.
Turbo Folk (2010), Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 49-107.
The Moira Monologues (2010), Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 145-204.
Jock: Scotland on Trial (2014), Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 265-289.
The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant (2014), Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 108-144.
Non Fiction
Bissett, A., and McKillop, A. (eds.), Born Under a Union Flag: Rangers, Britain and Scottish Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2014.
Bissett A., and Gow, J. C., “Two Rangers Fans Debate National Identity - Alan Bissett and John C. Gow”, in A. Bissett and A. McKillop (eds.), Born Under a Union Flag: Rangers, Britain and Scottish Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2014, pp. 85-103.
Secondary Reading
Works
Camp-Pietrain, E., L’Écosse et la tentation de l’indépendance, Villeneuve d’Ascq : Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2014.
Gray, A., Independence: An Argument For Home Rule, Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2014.
Hassan G., Mitchell, J. (eds.), After Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2013.
Macwhirter, I., Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won a Referendum but Lost Scotland, Glasgow: Cargo Publishing, 2014.
Schoene, B. (ed.), The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
Torrance, D., The Battle for Britain, London: Biteback Publishing, 2013.
Articles
Civardi, C., « Loisirs et Militantisme des ouvriers écossais au début du XXe siècle », in J. Berton (ed.), Le Loisir en Écosse, actes du colloque de la Société Française d’Études Écossaises du 24-25 octobre 2003, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, 2004, pp. 146-155.
Hassan, G., “Who Speaks for Scotland? Entitlement, Exclusion, the Power of Voice and Social Change”, in G. Hassan, J. Mitchell (eds.), After Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2013, pp. 297-310.
Lambert, M., “Grasping the Fizzle: Culture, Identity and Independence”, in G. Hassan, J. Mitchell (eds.), After Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2013, pp. 283-296.
Leydier, G., “ ‘The Old Firm’ : Une institution culturelle écossaise entre tradition et modernité”, in J. Berton (ed.), Le Loisir en Écosse, actes du colloque de la Société Française d’Études Écossaises du 24-25 octobre 2003, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, 2004, pp. 101-119.
Schlesinger, P., “Cultural Policy and the Constitutional Question”, in G. Hassan, J. Mitchell (eds.), After Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2013, pp. 272-282.
Simard, J-P., « Autour de l’autonomie, la part du théâtre écossais » in Études Écossaises n° 5, Une Écosse autonome ?/ Towards Scottish Autonomy ?, Grenoble : Université Stendhal Grenoble 3, 1998, pp 99-110.
« 1973-2003 : spectacle et interventionnisme culturel, les représentations du loisir en Écosse », in J. Berton (ed.), Le Loisir en Écosse, actes du colloque de la Société Française d’Études Écossaises du 24-25 octobre 2003, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, 2004, pp. 58-71.
Stevenson, R., “Scottish Theatre 1950-1980”, in C. Craig (ed.), The History of Scottish Literature, Volume 4 The Twentieth Century, Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, (1987), 1989, Chapter 23, pp. 349-366.
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Notes
Macwhirter, I., Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won a Referendum But Lost Scotland, Glasgow: Cargo Publishing, 2014, p. 70.
Bissett, A., “How Scottish Theatre Predicted the Referendum”, Bella Caledonia, accessed on 04/04/2015.
Alan Bissett, extract from our e-mail exchange with Alan Bissett based on a set of questions the author answered on 26/08/2015. We are very grateful to him for taking the time to reply.
MacLennan, D., Introduction to Bissett, A., Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, p. vi; David MacLennan died in June 2014.
1948-2014, actor, writer, producer ; brother-in law of John McGrath and member of the 7.84 troupe; co-founder of the Wildcat troupe which “kept theatre jocular and political”, with Scottish actor and musician David Anderson, in 1978, thanks to a Scottish Arts Council Grant. It was operational for 20 years, but MacLennan resigned in 1998, as funding was stopped.
Òran Mór, opened in 2004, is a major Scottish lunchtime theatre venue, which collaborates nationally with Aberdeen Performing Arts and the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, as well as with Sherman Cymru in Cardiff and the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. It hosts Scottish plays but also others from around the world. See playpiepint.com.
The Ching Room, Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 1-48.
David MacLennan, ibid, 2015. The travelling theatre company 7.84 Scotland was created by John McGrath to meet the Scottish people in village halls and social clubs. His flagship play in Marxist mode is The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (1973): “This historical tableau retraces the history of Scotland from 1814 to this day, going from the clearing of Highland populations to make way for the much more profitable Cheviot race of sheep, to North Sea Oil.” Our translation of Simard, J.-P., « 1973-2003 : spectacle et interventionnisme culturel, les représentations du loisir en Écosse », in J. Berton (ed.), Le Loisir en Écosse, actes du colloque de la Société Française d’Études Écossaises du 24-25 octobre 2003, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, 2004, pp. 59-71 ; p. 60 « Cette fresque historique retrace l’histoire de l’Écosse de 1814 à nos jours, de l’éviction des populations des Highlands pour faire place au mouton Cheviot plus rentable, jusqu’au pétrole de la mer du nord. » See also by Simard « Autour de l’autonomie, la part du théâtre écossais », in Études Écossaises, n° 5, Une Écosse Autonome ?/Towards Scottish Autonomy? Grenoble : Université Stendhal, Grenoble 3, 1998, pp. 99-110.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
The Moira Monologues (2009), Collected Plays, pp. 145-204, “which toured Scotland to great acclaim” in 2010, Foreword to Bissett, A., Pack Men, London: Hachette Scotland, 2011.
The Pure the Dead and the Brilliant, Jock or Scotland on Trial (2014), Collected Plays, pp 108-144 and pp. 265-289, respectively. See Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
Bissett, A. and McKillop, A. (eds.), Born Under A Union Flag: Rangers, Britain & Scottish Independence, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2014. See in particular for Bissett’s campaign argumentation “Two Rangers Fans Debate National Identity – Alan Bissett and John C. Gow”, pp. 85-103.
See <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-znkbMzi4A>.
This poem was first recited at the Yes in the Park event in Glasgow on 07/06/2014. See <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylv_kyS3T9E>.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
Aye Right Radio; the extract is from a speech dating back to 30/04 2014 that is representative of Bissett’s regular interventions, at <https://ayerightradio.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/alan-bisset-i-am-not-a-nationalist/>; our transcriptions all follow the spelling used by Bissett in the Falkirk dialect/accent used in dialogue in Boyracers, Edinburgh: Polygon, 2001, and its sequel Pack Men, London: Hachette Scotland, 2011 (working edition: 2012, paperback).
This refers back to a remark made by Joyce Hendry about the politically committed writer Neil M. Gunn and his covert negotiating towards the fusion that produced the Scottish National Party in the late nineteen twenties and early thirties, quoted in Munro-Landi, M., “Negotiating Nationalism: Neil M. Gunn’s Political Sentiment” in B. Sellin, A. Thiec, P. Carboni, (eds.), Écosse : l’identité nationale en question/Scotland: Questioning National Identity, Nantes: CRINI, 2009, pp. 177-191.
Camp-Pietrain, E., L’Écosse et la tentation de l’indépendance, Villeneuve d’Ascq : Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2014 ; our translation/adaptation of « À la tête de celui-ci se trouve Dennis Canavan, ancien député travailliste à Westminster et à Holyrood. Il est entouré de personnalités venant d’horizons divers : Andrew Fairlie (chef cuisinier, fils d’un ancien membre du parti, Jim), Elaine [C.] Smith (actrice), Dan McDonald, Pat Kane (chanteur de Hue&Cry), Tasmina Ahmed Sheik (ancien membre du parti conservateur), Sarah Jane Walls (chef d’entreprise) et Colin Fox (SSP), ainsi que Patrick Harvie. », p. 78.
Wilson, R., Foreword, Bisset, A. and McKillop, A., (eds.), op. cit., p 15. This sentiment seems to echo the late Bill Shankly’s remark “Football is life, the rest is mere detail”, quoted in the first lines of an article specifically explaining the status of football in Scottish life and society: Leydier, G., “ ‘The Old Firm’ : Une institution culturelle écossaise entre traditions et modernité”, in J. Berton (ed.), Le Loisir en Écosse, actes du colloque de la Société Française d’Études Écossaises du 24-25 octobre 2003, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, 2004, p. 101.
Bissett, A., “Vote Scotland”, 2014, line 10 (our transcription).
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
Bissett, A., 30/04/2014.
Bissett, A., “Vote Scotland”, 2014, lines 11-12.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
Bissett, A., The Pure, The Dead and the Brilliant, Bissett, A., Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 140-141.
“The ‘Radical Independence Campaign’ launched in Glasgow in November 2012 gathered trade unionists, socialists, environmentalists and anti-poverty campaigners, whose objective was to promote a radical, progressive vision of Scotland”, Thiec, A., “‘Yes Scotland’: More than a Party Political Campaign, a National Movement Fostering a New Active Citizenship”, in N. Duclos (ed.), Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique, Vol XX, n° 2 (PDF online), 2015, p. 7; see https://rfcb.revues.org/, last accessed on 23 July 2015. See “The People’s Vow” text was read by Bissett at the RI Convention in November 2014.
More precisely, YouTube has a “straight” version of the address, the RIC archive leaving in the humorous introductory aside on the capacity for the Scottish left to unite… see <http://radicalindependence.org/2014/11/23/the-peoples-vow/>.
4 sessions, broadcast on the Internet from Shawlands, Glasgow, on 22/01/2014, Bissett featured in session 3 out of the 4 and in the questions session. See <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F8ERrVB1S0>.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015. He goes on “I wanted it to feel like a bucket of water in the face, waking Scots up to the reality of our situation within the UK. But you can’t just keep striking that tone, so I released ’Vote Scotland’ and my play The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant late in the campaign as something more positive and constructive, to rally and motivate.”
<http:/national collective.com/2013/03/14/amy-shipway-independence-will-provide-local-solutions-for-local-problems/#sthash.20DR416N.dpuf>, accessed on 30 July 2015.
Bambery, C., A People’s History of Scotland, London: Verso, 2014, p. 324.
The term “purred” here refers to Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to the victory of the “No” in the referendum, as relayed publicly by David Cameron on the 19th September 2014.
Bissett, A., 30/04/2014.
Gifford, D., Dunnigan, S., MacGillivray, A., (eds.), Scottish Literature, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002, p. 802. The reference here is once gain to McGrath’s The Cheviot… .
The expression is borrowed from Stevenson, R., « Scottish Theatre 1950-1980” in C. Craig (ed.) The History of Scottish Literature – Volume 4 The Twentieth Century, Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1987 (working edition 1989) Chapter 23, pp. 349-366 (in particular 361-366).
Pack Men, op. cit.; this novel is relevant as it relates the terrible events of the 2008 UEFA final between Rangers FC (suggested as the British establishment-supporting team in Scotland) and Zenit St Petersburg, in Manchester, seen through the eyes of a small group of Rangers fans from Falkirk.
Bissett, A., op. cit., pp. 143-144.
Martin, G. R. R., A Game of Thrones, London: Voyager, 1996 (set in Minion by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk, Stirlingshire), better known to the public through the television adaptation made by Martin and produced by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, from 2012 onwards.
See 30/04 2014 speech reference to David Bowie’s asking Scotland to stay in the union, otherwise: “there’s gonna be like in Game of Thrones a giant wall of ice between Scotland and England that you cannot penetrate after independence. It’ll still take you exactly the same time to get on a train and travel between Glasgow and Liverpool after independence as it does now.”
Bissett, A., op. cit., p. 124; the capitals are Bissett’s.
Bissett, A., op. cit., p. 143.
Bissett, A., 30/04/2014.
Bissett A., The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, p. 144 and “Vote Scotland”, line 9, respectively.
Bissett, A., Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, pp. 49-107.
Bissett, A. and Gow, J. C., “Two Rangers Fans Debate National Identity – Alan Bissett and John C. Gow”, in A. Bissett, A. and A. McKillop (eds), Born Under a Union Flag, p. 85.
“My belief is that a Scottish government making Scottish decisions will be better for all of us, including Rangers fans. It is Westminster, after all, not Holyrood, which is currently holding a gun to the Govan shipyards in order to win the referendum (how many of those workers are Bears?) and it was Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs which hounded Rangers to the point of liquidation”, in Bissett. A, and Gow, J. C., op. cit., p. 97.
Bissett, A., “Vote Britain”, 2012, line 24, (our transcription).
Bissett A., The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, p. 125.
Bissett, A., “Vote Britain”, lines 31-32.
Bissett, A., The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, p. 124 (the capitals are Bissett’s).
Bissett, A., Jock: Scotland On Trial, in Alan Bissett Collected Plays 2009-2014, Glasgow: Freight Books, 2015, p. 271.
Bissett, A. and Gow, J. C., “Two Rangers Fans Debate National Identity – Alan Bissett and John C. Gow”, in A. Bissett and A. McKillop (eds), Born Under a Union Flag, p.99.
Bissett, A., Jock: Scotland On Trial, p. 281 and pp. 285-286; The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, p. 127.
Bissett, A., Jock: Scotland On Trial, pp. 282-284; The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, p. 128.
Bissett, A., Jock: Scotland On Trial, pp. 282; The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, ibid.
Op. cit., p. 277.
Bissett, A., The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, pp. 123-124. The reference made in the play here is to Scotland Analysis Borders and Citizenship, published by the UK government in January 2014 (the 10th UK government Scotland Analysis “informational” document), the linguistic pragmatics and argumentative discourse of which were, as we see it, clearly designed to frighten voters, or future immigrants to an independent Scotland. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scotland-analysis-borders-and-citizenship>.
Bissett, A., The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant, p. 124.
Bissett, A. and McKillop, A., op. cit., p. 17.
Bissett, A., op. cit., p. 129.
Bissett, A., op. cit., p. 283 (the punctuation is Bissett’s).
Russell, B. and Kelbie, P., The Independent, 09/02/2005, <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/how-black-gold-was-hijacked-north-sea-oil-and-the-betrayal-of-scotland-518697.html>, last accessed on 30 August 2015.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
Stewart, S., in Stratagem, 24/09/2014, quoted in Macwhirter, I., op.cit., p. 67.
Macwhirter, I., op.cit., p. 67.
Quoted in Macwhirter, I., op.cit., p. 67.
Quoted in Macwhirter, I., op.cit., p. 55.
Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
“For example my show which toured my hometown of Falkirk earlier this year, What the F**kirk?, was consciously about community rather than nation. I have in progress plays about a famous football manager, a dead rock star and a couple in crisis. None of these are ‘political’, yet you can’t stop your worldview burbling out from below.” Bissett, A., 26/08/2015.
This new party, a Left Project Scotland initiative, was launched on 29th August 2015 in Glasgow, the speakers including Colin Fox, co-convener of the Scottish Socialist Party, Jean Urquhart, the independent Highlands and Islands MSP, and Cat Boyd, the trade unionist and Radical Independence activist, Mike Small, editor of Bella Caledonia and occasional writer in the Guardian. See http://www.leftlaunch2016.scot/, accessed on 30/08/2015.
See http://www.leftlaunch2016.scot/news/2015/8/13/alan-bissett-to-speak-at-left-project-launch.
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