George Mackay Brown Materials on Other Scottish Authors

The George Mackay Brown Papers (Coll-50) contain critical, biographical, and creative material on a number of other Scottish writers represented in EUL Special Collections. They cast particular light on his friendship and artistic engagement with Edwin Muir.

Authors

Alan Bold

  • George Mackay Brown's replies to questionnaires incorporated into Alan Bold's monograph George Mackay Brown (1978) (Gen. 2029/9/2)

Neil M. Gunn

  • Opinion of Mackay Brown's The Storm reported in letter from Edwin Muir to Mackay Brown, 3 August 1954 (Gen 767/7/18-19)

Norman MacCaig

  • Note on Norman MacCaig, January 1983 - MS (MS 2846/1/4)
  • MacCaig mentioned in letters from Edwin Muir to Mackay Brown, 5 April 1955, 8 December 1956, 5 April, 5 December, & 14 December 1957 (Gen 767/7/25, 32, 36, 40-42)

Hugh MacDiarmid

  • 'Hugh MacDiarmid and the Rationalists' (1963) - MS (Gen 1866/7)
  • 'Meeting with Hugh MacDiarmid', for Chapman (11 August 1992) - MS (MS 3112/5/6)

Edwin Muir

Creative Writings

  • 'Five Poems for Edwin Muir, 1887-1987' (1986-87) - MSS and TSS (MS 2845/2/1)
  • Edwin Muir and the Labyrinth: A Play (1987) - MS drafts (MS 2844/4)

Critical Writings

  • Essay on Edwin Muir (1966) - MS (Gen 1777)
  • Review of Selected Letters of Edwin Muir (1974?) - MS (Gen 1970)
  • ‘Edwin Muir’, essay (May 1979) - TS (MS 3115/2b)
  • ‘Edwin Muir at Newbattle’, with notes for essay on Muir (3 October 1980) and Script for BBC Radio broadcast on Muir (October 1980) - MSS (E2001.36)
  • Notes for Edwin Muir: Selected Prose, ed. Mackay Brown, with ‘Introduction’ and ‘Envoy: Edwin Muir at Newbattle’ (1986) - MS and TS drafts (MS 2844/5/3-5)
  • ‘Edwin Muir’ (June 1985), article for The Glasgow Herald - MS (MS 2846/2/3)
  • Reviews of George Marshall’s In a Distant Isle: The Orkney Background of Edwin Muir and of Edwin and Willa, broadcast readings by Tom Fleming and Anne Kristen (1987) - MS (MS 3114/2/1/2)
  • Review of Muir’s The Truth of Imagination for The Scotsman (23 July 1988) - MS notes, MS, and TS (MS 3112/8/6)
  • ‘Edwin Muir: A Memoir’ (1992) - MS and TS (MS 3118/16c)
  • ‘Edwin Muir's Poetry: The Double Aspect’, broadcast script (undated) - MS (Gen 1866/5)
  • ‘Edwin Muir’, article for Orkney View (undated) - MS and TS (MS 2845/1/4)
  • ‘Edwin Muir’, article for Radio Times (undated) - MS and TS (MS 2845/1/5)

Willa Muir

  • The Single Song of Two, BBC talk reviewing Willa Muir’s poems (1969) - MS (Gen 1866/15)

Tom Scott

  • Review of Tom Scott's The Dirty Business, for The Scotsman (18 December 1986) - MS (MS 2845/1/23)
  • Scott mentioned in letters from Edwin Muir to Mackay Brown, 23 July & 22 September 1953, 2 November 1954, 15 August 1955 (Gen 767/7/11-13, 21-22, 26)

Charles Senior

  • 'Death of a Poet', Obituary of Charles Senior for The Scotsman (1975) - MS (Gen 1998/6/10)

Burns Singer

  • Mentioned in letters from Edwin Muir to Mackay Brown, 2 November & 17 December 1954 (Gen 767/7/21-24)

Material on Other Scottish Writers

The George Mackay Brown papers also contains reviews and critical writings relating to: Alan Bold (MS 2845/1/15), Robert Burns (MS 2846/1/9, MS 3119/2e-f), Douglas Dunn (MS 2845/1/25, MS 2846/1/7, MS 3112/8/5), Robert Garioch (MS 2845/1/14, MS 3112/8/16), Eric Linklater (MS 2846/1/6), Liz Lochhead (MS 2846/1/12), George Macbeth (MS 2845/1/11), Brian McCabe (MS 3112/8/9, MS 3114/2/11/3), Carl MacDougall (MS 3118/17k), Naomi Mitchison (MS 3114/2/1/2), Tom Pow (MS 3112/8/9), Robert Rendall (MS 3115/3f), Bess Ross (MS 3114/2/9/2), Christopher Rush (MS 2846/1/8), and Iain Crichton Smith (MS 3118/17h).

Further Details

For a fuller listing, see the Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue and, for post-1987 accessions only, Handlist H50. For pre-1987 accessions, see also the manual Index to Manuscripts held in the Centre for Research Collections, Edinburgh University Library.

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