Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
16th Biennial Conference of the Hungarian Society for the Study of English, Miskolc, Macaristan, 26 - 28 Ocak 2023, ss.1-2
The themes of Urbanism and Identity in Val McDermid’s My
Scotland
In her last book,
My Scotland, Val McDermid offers readers a complete guide to Scotland. The book
goes through her titles and settings: from Kirkcaldy, where she was born, to
Wester Ross, from Skye to Jura, from Edinburgh to Glasgow, together with her
thoughts and what Scotland’s urban heritage means to her. In the
acknowledgement part of the book, it is stated that the love of the Scottish
landscape and an appreciation of its social history is a family heritage that
comes from her parents, and without the influence of that urbanism, her books
would be very different. Therefore, it is clear that her Scottish identity and
her authorship are deeply affected by the urban heritage that she has because
she lets readers see how the settings in her novel shape the life and thoughts
of her central characters. When fictional characters walk around the urban
parts of the cities, the reader starts to discover the hidden gems within
Scotland. As tourists often choose to visit the most tourist places, it is not
always expected of them to see the real life of the Scots. McDermid, thus,
gives a chance to the reader to set out on a comprehensive Scotland tour. With
the help of this book, readers could easily understand the facts and identity
of Scots. So, this paper will elaborate on the concept of identity and urbanism
through the light of Marxist literary criticism.
Key Words: My
Scotland, Scottish Identity, Urban, Heritage