On Glasgow and Edinburgh - Rilegato

Crawford, Robert

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0674048881 ISBN 13: 9780674048881

Casa editrice: Belknap Pr, 2013

Riassunto

Edinburgh and Glasgow enjoy a famously scratchy relationship. Resembling other intercity rivalries throughout the world, from Madrid and Barcelona, to Moscow and St. Petersburg, to Beijing and Shanghai, Scotland’s sparring metropolises just happen to be much smaller and closer together—like twin stars orbiting a common axis. Yet their size belies their world-historical importance as cultural and commercial capitals of the British Empire, and the mere forty miles between their city centers does not diminish their stubbornly individual nature.

Robert Crawford dares to bring both cities to life between the covers of one book. His story of the fluctuating fortunes of each city is animated by the one-upping that has been entrenched since the eighteenth century, when Edinburgh lost parliamentary sovereignty and took on its proud wistfulness, while Glasgow came into its industrial promise and defiance. Using landmarks and individuals as gateways to their character and past, this tale of two cities mixes novelty and familiarity just as Scotland’s capital and its largest city do. Crawford gives us Adam Smith and Walter Scott, the Scottish Enlightenment and the School of Art, but also tiny apartments, a poetry library, Spanish Civil War volunteers, and the nineteenth-century entrepreneur Maria Theresa Short. We see Glasgow’s best-known street through the eyes of a Victorian child, and Edinburgh University as it appeared to Charles Darwin.

Crawford's lively account, drawing on a wealth of historical and literary sources, affirms what people from Glasgow and Edinburgh have long doubted—that it is possible to love both cities at the same time.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"From the eminent poet and professor of literature comes a thoughtful and provocative account of the rivalry that has dogged these two cities. It s his belief that this ongoing duel has played a significant part in shaping Scotland, but also that it ought now to be resolved." --Rosemary Goring, Glasgow Sunday Herald, 6 January 2013

"As with all good ideas, one wonders why no-one has ever written a book about Glasgow and Edinburgh before. ... In On Glasgow And Edinburgh, Crawford attempts, with admirable evenhandedness, to explain their parallel stories...There is much that is familiar but what distinguishes his account is his studied enthusiasm and willingness to personalise it." --Alan Taylor, The Glasgow Herald, 19 January 2013

"On Glasgow and Edinburgh is a thoroughly enjoyable book, all the more so for provoking arguments (the Glaswegian's favorite hobby). Readers familiar with the two cities will enjoy the recitation of familiar history and the frequent occurrence of unfamiliar fact and anecdote. Those who have not (yet) gazed from Castle Street in the New Town to Castle Rock, the high glory of the Old, will read about it and make plans to visit. After Edinburgh, they should fly around the world and arrive at Glasgow and discover Scotland all over again."--James Campbell, Wall Street Journal, February 8th 2013

"A delightfully engaging mix of history, architectural reference, and literary allusion. A most enjoyable read, which will have wide appeal well beyond aficionados of these two great cities." --T. M.Devine, author of The Scottish Nation: A Modern History

"A Poet [...] Crawford's interest in chiefly literary. He presents Edinburgh as a bizarre but thrilling mixture of the fanatical, Gothic, Romantic, scientific [...] Because so much happened within the Old Town, Crawford leads a series of tours often into strange corners. That works less well in the larger compass of Glasgow, but Crawford takes us up through the Victorian shops of Buchanan Street and down Sauchiehall." --James Buchan, Spectator, 8th March 2013

"This new book - written ' for both with love' - is about the two cities the poet appears to car about most. [...] Such is my wholly prejudiced, bullying and the sneering preference for Glasgow, and so keen was I for evidence of a secret love expressed in code, that I read this book at times as if it were a parish romance. [Alas], he is fair. His personification of these cities is so thorough, and in keeping with his overall aesthetic as a poet who tenders contradiction, that you cannot [...] use the book as a primer on how to stoke up the ancient and holy rivalries." --Andrew O'Hagan, London Review of Books, 23/05/2013

"A fascinating book filled with pithy observations and unexpected anecdotes. Crawford comes across like an erudite, beady eyed flaneur, alive to the relationship between topography and history [...] This richly illustrated, intelligent and compelling work of history and reflection offers heartfelt tribute to both [cities] and would fit handsomely on the shelves of libraries in the east or west." --David Stenhouse, Scotland on Sunday, 27 January 2013

"This new book - written ' for both with love' - is about the two cities the poet appears to car about most. [...] Such is my wholly prejudiced, bullying and the sneering preference for Glasgow, and so keen was I for evidence of a secret love expressed in code, that I read this book at times as if it were a parish romance. [Alas], he is fair. His personification of these cities is so thorough, and in keeping with his overall aesthetic as a poet who tenders contradiction, that you cannot [...] use the book as a primer on how to stoke up the ancient and holy rivalries."

--Andrew O'Hagan, London Review of Books, 23/05/2013

"Robert Crawford... has in On Glasgow and Edinburgh yoked together the two warring siblings of urban Scotland, seeking to calm their feud by writing separately, perceptively and in great detail about each. Edinburgh, its golden age of 18th-century enlightenment over, is still rich enough in sights and in the artefacts of history to fascinate. Glaswegians see themselves as more passionately attached to their city, the dear green place , even to the stereotypes of fried Mars Bars and the violence of the Rangers-Celtic, Protestant-Catholic wars, which can still draw blood." --John Lloyd, Financial Times, 13 December 2013

"a fascinating book filled with pithy observations and unexpected anecdotes. Crawford comes across like an erudite, beady eyed flaneur, alive to the relationship between topography and history [...] This richly illustrated, intelligent and compelling work of history and reflection offers heartfelt tribute to both [cities] and would fit handsomely on the shelves of libraries in the east or west." --David Stenhouse, Scotland on Sunday, 27 January 2013

L'autore:

Robert Crawford is Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of St. Andrews.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Belknap Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0674048881
• ISBN 13: 9780674048881
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 345