‘If there is ocht in Scotland that’s worth ha’en / There is nae distance to which it’s unattached’. In 1984, during the inaugural months of the Scottish Poetry Library, of which I was the then Librarian, we commissioned a publicity poster carrying these lines from Hugh MacDiarmid’s To Circumjack Cencrastus (1930). Eleven years later, the Library’s Scottish internationalism entered a new phase when its Director, Dr Tessa Ransford, and its Secretary, Professor Peter France of the University of Edinburgh, initiated the Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation (BOSLIT). The National Library of Scotland came on board as an active partner with the University. In 2000 I succeeded Dr Paul Barnaby as BOSLIT’s Editor / Researcher and built on his pioneering work over the ensuing five years, visiting research libraries across mainland Europe and meeting literary academics in the various countries. BOSLIT is now hosted at the University of Glasgow (Welcome · boslit · BOSLIT), where its Convenor is Professor Kirsteen McCue (Scottish Literature); its renewal has been supported by an award from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [1]
During my time at BOSLIT, its clientèle was composed mostly of scholars based overseas. It is to be hoped that it will attract more attention from their counterparts within Scotland. The research possibilities are endless; no early career scholar should be stuck for a PhD / postdoc topic.
Indeed, Scottish studies can now engage more effectively with comparative literary programmes both at home and abroad. Examples are many, but wider participation of our home-grown scholars in such structures as the Scotland in Europe conferences at the University of Warsaw, or the new Scottish studies centre at the Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz, is extremely desirable. A further stage is possible, even necessary for Scotland’s intellectual health. The relationships with the rest of Europe – and beyond Europe – require to be two-way. Scottish-based scholars will greatly enrich their own work if they pursue an active interest in the cultures of their professionally-visited countries; after all, such countries have demonstrated a prior interest in Scotland. The favour deserves to be returned. We have the legacy of such eminent figures as Professor Ronald Jack (Edinburgh), who engaged reciprocally with Italy, and Dr Margery McCulloch (Glasgow) who did likewise with Prague via her work on Edwin Muir. I could name others who have pointed the way; it’s up to the rising generations to step out there, according to their own lights. I’d be interested to hear from those who already may be doing just that.
[1] Tom Hubbard, Reciprocities and Circularities – Notes on BOSLIT’s Literary Exchanges – The Bottle Imp Supplement 9 (August 2023)
Before he ‘retired’, Tom Hubbard was Lynn Wood Neag Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Connecticut and Professeur invité, Université de Grenoble. He is a former Honorary Fellow of the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and in March 2026 he delivered the Andrew Lang Memorial Lecture at the University of St Andrews. He is a novelist, poet and literary scholar who has authored, edited or co-edited some thirty books.
