Explores Derick Thomson's far-reaching influence on the 20th-century revival of Scottish Gaelic
8th April 2026
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
Explores Derick Thomson's far-reaching influence on the 20th-century revival of Scottish Gaelic
Description
Derick Thomson was one of the most influential personalities of Gaelic Scotland in the twentieth century. His poetry counts among the best written in the language; he founded the most important modern Gaelic journal, Gairm, and was the force behind many ventures aimed at the preservation and development of Gaelic. He made major contributions to Gaelic studies as an academic subject and his publications are still indispensable to all working in the field. Thomson's vision of the Gaelic revival is characterised by high standards, organisational and economic shrewdness, openness to second-language users, and broad European outlook.
This is the very first book-length study devoted to Thomson and it explores his career within the context of the history of the Gaelic revival in Scotland and other minority-language movements in Europe
Critic Reviews
Petra Johana Poncarová's probing but accessible new study of Thomson's role in the modern Gaelic revival makes an important addition not only to our understanding of Thomson's personal contribution but also to the surprisingly understudied field of modern Gaelic cultural history more generally. [...] Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival is a valuable and original contribution to our understanding of Gaelic history in the twentieth century and how Thomson combined political commitment, organisational energy and artistic integrity to defend and promote his language and culture.--Wilson McLeod, Emeritus Professor of Gaelic, University of Edinburgh "The Bottle Imp"
Lucid, thoughtful and comparative: the scale of Derick Thomson's achievement is now clear thanks to this Czech scholar's extraordinary work.
--Murray Pittock, University of GlasgowAbout the Author
Petra Johana Poncarová is based at the University of Glasgow. Her publications include Scotnote Study Guide The Gaelic Poetry of Derick Thomson (Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2020) and a number of articles on twentieth-century Scottish literature. She also translates directly from Gaelic into Czech and her award-winning Czech edition of Tormod Caimbeul's Deireadh an Fhoghair is the first complete translation of the iconic novel into any foreign language. Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival is her first monograph.
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8th April 2026
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