Reception of Ossian in Europe

Howard Gaskill retired in 2001 as Reader in German at the University of Edinburgh. He is editor of The Poems of Ossian and Related Works (Edinburgh University Press, 1996) and co-editor of From Gaelic to Romantic: Ossianic Translations.

• Acknowledgements; List of Contributors; Primary Ossianic Texts/Abbreviations; Timeline of Ossian's European Reception; Introduction: 'Genuine poetry...like gold' by Howard Gaskill, University of Edinburgh; The Reception of the Poems of Ossian in England and Scotland by Dafydd Moore, University of Plymouth; The Sublime Gael: The Impact of Macpherson's Ossian on Literary Creativity and Cultural Perception in Gaelic Scotland by Donald Meek, University of Edinburgh; Ossian in Wales and Brittany by Mary-Ann Constantine, University of Wales; 'We know all these poems': the Irish Response to Ossian by Micheal Mac Craith, University of Galway; Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism by Joep Leerssen, University of Amsterdam; Chateaubriand's Ossian by Colin Smethurst, University of Glasgow The Reception and Reworking of Ossian in Klopstock's 'Hermanns Schlacht' by Sandro Jung, Chester, UK; Goethe's Translation from the Gaelic Ossian by Caitriona O; Dochartaigh, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 'Menschlichschon' and 'kolossalisch': The Discursive Function of Ossian in Schiller's Poetry and Aesthetics by Wolf Gerhard Schmidt, University of Saarbrucken; Ossian in Sweden and Swedish-speaking Finland by Peter Graves, University of Sweden; Literary, Artistic and Political Resonances of Ossian in the Czech; National Revival by James Porter, University of Aberdeen; Ossian in Hungary by Gabriella Hartvig, University of Pecs; Ossian in Poland by Nina Taylor-Terlecka, Oxford, UK; Fingal in Russia by Peter France, University of Edinburgh; Ossian in Italy: From Cesarotti to the Theatre by Enrico Mattioda; From Smith's Antiquities to Leoni's Nuovi Cantl: The Making of the Ossianic Tradition Revisited by Francesca Broggi-Wuthrich The Suggestiveness of Ossian in Romantic Spain: The Case of Espronceda and Garcia Gutierrez by Andrew Ginger; Ossian in Portugal by Gerald Bar, Aberta University; Ossian in Music by Christopher Smith, Norwich, UK; Ossian and Art: Scotland into Europe via Rome by Murdo MacDonald, University of Dundee; Bibliography; Index

"The Reception of Ossian in Europe is necessary reading for scholars of eighteenth-century and Romantic studies; no serious library should be without it...[this] book breaks so much fresh ground in these various nations and raises so many topics of debate regarding the connections of authenticity and national identity, that...no single critical study has so thoroughly demonstrated Macpherson's impact through Europe as the book under review...Gaskill and his contributors have collectively produced a major literary achievement that traces Macpherson's formative influence through some of the most significant European authors from the 1760's onward. Read The Reception of Ossian in Europe and be prepared for some surprises."Mel Kersey, Eighteenth Century Scotland, July 2005