Ossian 3: Ossian’s Last Stand?
For over a century after the publication of James Macpherson’s Ossianic epics, controversy raged over their authenticity. Had the young man really discovered precious heroic poems handed down in Highland oral tradition for nearly 1,500 years, or was Macpherson nothing more than a forger, a chancer guilty of an audacious literary confidence trick that misled readers across the globe?
In this concluding talk, we’ll look at how the literary battle lines were drawn on both sides, and how the controversy was fought out, in books, magazines, letters, and reports. We’ll examine the arguments and evidence used—especially how some supporters tried to convince themselves and others that Macpherson’s claims held water. For them, nothing less than the reputation of the Scottish Gàidhealtachd and its people was at stake.
In this talk, we’ll meet a motley cast of characters, including Church of Scotland ministers, a forgotten female Gaelic writer, Agricultural Sir John Sinclair, an emigrant bishop, an enthusiastic Canadian student, a high-flying civil servant, and a penniless Highland aristocrat—before trying to answer the enduring question: ‘how much of Macpherson is the real thing, and how much of it an epic hoax?’
Speaker Bio:
From the Isle of Lewis, Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart is a leading scholar of Scottish Gaelic language, folklore, and oral tradition. He is Associate Professor at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, University of the Highlands and Islands, where he lectures in Scottish Highland history and material culture, and Gaelic literature and folklore. He has written numerous academic articles, and is often interviewed on radio and television.
Curated & Hosted by:
Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
