The Complete Scottish Sketches of R.B. Cunninghame Graham - by Lachlan Munro & W R B Cunninghame Graham (Hardcover)

About the Book

Presents and sets in context all of Cunninghame Graham's Scottish works, transcribed from their original sources

Book Synopsis

Cunninghame Graham was a famous and hugely influential figure in late 19th and early 20th century Scottish politics and literature. He published 34 books during his lifetime, equally divided between histories (mostly of South America), and anthologies of his impressionistic sketches of South America, Morocco, and Scotland, the large majority of which had been published previously in literary magazines between 1896 and 1933.
For the first time, the editors have compiled his entire Scottish oeuvre chronologically, into one volume, and set them in their historical and social contexts, which explores and contextualises the works themselves, and traces Graham's development as a much-admired literary artist and social documentarist. One of the editors is a Cunninghame Graham family member, and the family historian, who has provided insights and peculiar details, unavailable to previous biographers, which hopefully provides added depth and understanding to Graham's works.

From the Back Cover

Presents and sets in context all of Cunninghame Graham's Scottish works, transcribed from their original sources R. B. Cunninghame Graham was a hugely influential figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Scottish politics and literature. For the first time, his entire Scottish oeuvre has been compiled chronologically, from their original sources, into one volume, and set in their historical, cultural and social contexts. This volume highlights Graham's writings on landscape, climate, history, local traditions, mythology, Scots dialect and social diversity - but also pays rare attention to his writings about Scots abroad. Almost every location of Graham's sketches has been visited and investigated, and the editors - one of whom has intimate connections to his family history - have sought out individuals with local knowledge and insights, lending depth and substance to his descriptions, and to their commentaries. The book also explores the works themselves, and traces Graham's development as a much-admired literary artist and social documentarist whose atmospheric evocations of Scottish landscape and character are unique within Scottish literature. Lachlan Munro is an independent scholar and freelance historian. W. R. B. (Robin) Cunninghame is the great-great-nephew of R. B. Cunninghame Graham and holds the Barony of Gartmore as head of the Cunninghame Graham family. He is a Fellow of The Society of Antiquaries (Scotland).

Review Quotes

I cannot overstate how important this collection is to our appreciation of my great-great-uncle as a writer, as a Scot, and as a man.

--James Jauncey, author of Don Roberto: the Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham

Read together, these Scottish sketches provide a remarkable overview of Graham's literary, political and personal development; moreover, the editors' explication of the historical context of his writings and the evolution of his literary style allows readers to connect this iconoclastic author to the major historical changes he experienced across his lifetime.

--Jennifer Hayward, Adolfo Ibáñez University

This is a work of immense archival scholarship, more than adequate and apt for a readership of both scholars and anyone curious about Scotland, literary modernism and modern British, European and world politics and cultural history. Just as importantly, the book is also immensely lucid, readable and compelling and has all the character and urgency and relevance of the author - Cunninghame Graham - himself.

-- "Alan Riach, University of Glasgow"

About the Author

Lachlan Munro is an Independent Scholar and Freelance Historian. Born and brought up in Stirlingshire, he holds first class honours degrees in History and Politics, and a PhD in History from the University of Glasgow. He was previously a Research Fellow at The National Library of Scotland. His publications include: R. B. Cunninghame Graham and Scotland: Party, Prose, and Political Aesthetic, (EUP, 2022) which was shortlisted for the Saltire Society 'History Book of the Year' 2022, The Scenery of Dreams: The True Story of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Kidnapped', (The Deveron Press, 2018), An Eagle In A Hen-House: Selected Political Speeches and Writings of R. B. Cunninghame Graham, (The Deveron Press, 2017).

W.R.B (Robin) is the great-great-nephew of R.B. Cunninghame Graham and holds the Barony of Gartmore as head of the Cunninghame Graham family. He is a Fellow of The Society of Antiquaries (Scotland). He has been a lecturer in further education, published in TESOL journals, and currently works with an American publisher, editing translations of books written by South American authors.