Alexander Scott (1920–1989) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

poet, playwright and scholar born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He wrote poetry in both Scots and

Scottish English Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...

as well as plays, literary reviews and critical studies of literature. As a writer, scholar, dramatist, broadcaster, critic and editor, he showed a life-long commitment to Scottish literary culture. He was latterly a tutor and reader of Scottish literature at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, where he was instrumental in establishing Scotland's first Department of

Scottish Literature Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes works in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin, Norn or other languages written within the modern boundaries of Scotland. The e ...

in the academic year 1971–72. In 1972, Scott was one of the founders of the Lallans Society (later the

Scots Language Society The Scots Language Society, or Scots Leid Associe, also formerly known as the Lallans Society, is a body that works for the promotion of the Scots language "in literature, drama, the media, education and everyday use". It was founded in 1972 and ...

). He was a member of its committee from the outset and served as Preses from 1974 to 1977 and from 1979 to 1983. He also served as president of the

Association for Scottish Literary Studies The Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) is a Scottish educational charitable organization, charity, founded in 1970 to promote and support the teaching, study and writing of Scottish literature. Its founding members included the Sco ...

from 1976 to 1979. In 1985 he succeeded

Robert McLellan Robert McLellan OBE (1907–1985) was a Scottish Renaissance dramatist, writer and poet and a leading figure in the twentieth century movement to recover Scotland’s distinctive theatrical traditions. He found popular success with plays and ...

as Honorary Preses.Purves, David, ''Obituary: Alexander Scott'', in ''Lallans'' Nummer 33, Mairtinmas 1989, p. 32, In 1983, Scott became a founding editor of the periodical ''

New Writing Scotland The Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) is a Scottish educational charitable organization, charity, founded in 1970 to promote and support the teaching, study and writing of Scottish literature. Its founding members included the Sco ...

''. On 27 November 1989,

The Scots Independent ''The Scots Independent'' is a monthly Scottish political newspaper that is in favour of Scottish independence. It was formed in 1926 with William Gillies as editor, by the Scots National League (SNL) and switched its allegiance to the Natio ...

and the

presented a celebration of the poetry and prose of Alexander Scott at the Netherbow Theatre in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Works

Books

*''Selected Poems'', Saltire Modern Poets series, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1950 *''Still Life:

William Soutar William Soutar (28 April 1898 – 15 October 1943) was a Scottish poet and diarist who wrote in English and in Braid Scots. He is known best for his epigrams. Life and works William Soutar was born on 28 April 1898 on South Inch Terrace in P ...

, 1898 - 1943'', Chambers, 1958 *''The MacDiarmid Makars, 1923 - 1972'', Akros Publications, 1972 *''Double Agent: Poems in English and Scots'', Akros Publications, 1972 *'' Neil M. Gunn: The Man and the Writer'' (contributing editor), Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1973, *''Selected Poems, 1943 - 1974'', Akros Publications, 1975 *''Modern Scots Verse 1922 - 1977'' (Editor), Akros Publications, 1978 *''Scotch Passion: An Anthology of Scottish Erotic Poetry'' (Editor), Robert Hale, 1982 *''Voices of Our Kind: An Anthology of Modern Scottish Poetry from 1920 to the Present'' (Editor), Larousse Kingfisher Chambers, 1987 *''The Comic Poems of William Tennant'' (Editor), Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1989 *''Sing Frae the Hert: The Literary Criticism of Alexander Scott'' (edited by Neil R. MacCallum), Scottish Cultural Press, 1996,

Articles

* ''The Makar

Fergusson Fergusson may refer to: Places *County of Fergusson, South Australia, Australia *Fergusson Island, off the coast of New Guinea *Fergusson Glacier, Wilson Hills, Antarctica *Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, the only road across the Santa Lucia Range in t ...

'', in Annand, J.K. (ed.), ''Lallans'', Number 2: Whitsunday 1974, The Lallans Society, pp. 7 - 9 *'' Edwin Morgan: Experimenter Extraordinary'', in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), ''The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment'' 28, November 1982, pp. 22 – 26, *''Pink Elephants in

Anstruther Anstruther ( ; ) is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a st ...

: Scottish Identity'', in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), ''The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment'' 33, February 1984, pp. 3 – 8,

Reviews

* Campbell, Ian (1975), review of ''Selected Poems, 1943 - 1974'', in Burnett, Ray (ed.), ''Calgacus'' No. 3, Spring 1976, pp. 54 – 56,

References

External links

International journal of Scottish literature
review of David Robb's biography of Alexander Scott.
J Derrick McClure
online biography of Alexander Scott {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Alexander 1920 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Scottish poets Scots-language poets Scottish male poets Writers from Aberdeen 20th-century Scottish male writers