The Edinburgh Companion to Liz Lochhead

Product Description Explores the significance of Liz Lochhead's work for the twenty-first centuryThe first contemporary critical investigation since Liz Lochhead's appointment as Scotland's second Scots Makar, this Companion examines her poetry, theatre, visual and performing arts, and broadcast media. It also discusses her theatre for children and young people, her translations for the stage as well as translations of her texts into foreign languages and cultures.Several poets offer commentaries on the influence of Liz Lochhead on their own practice while academic critics from America, Europe, England and Scotland offer new critical readings inspired by feminism, post-colonialism and cultural history. The volume addresses all of Lochhead's major outputs, from new appraisal of early work such as Dreaming Frankenstein and Blood and Ice to evaluations of her more recent works and collections such as The Colour of Black and White and Perfect Days. Key Features:Critical perspectives on Lochhead's established work and most recent interventions.Situates Lochhead at the forefront of developing Scottish culture in a global context.Provides a bibliography of Lochhead's works and a select bibliography of criticism. From the Back Cover Explores the significance of Liz Lochhead’s work for the twenty-first century Liz Lochhead was appointed Scots Makar in 2011 and this is the first comprehensive study of her work for 20 years. The volume addresses the full range of Lochhead’s work and considers her long-standing significance in Scottish culture. Her poetry, original stage plays, classical adaptations, theatre for young people and her work in translation are all explored in detail by international scholars and practitioners. Her pioneering woman’s voice, her manipulation of language, her engagement with history and with traditions of Scottish Gothic writing are examined, and important questions about the role of the artist and the arts in Scottish culture today are raised. Key Features: • written in an accessible style for both students and the general reader • the first collection of new criticism on Lochhead since 1994 • contributions by poets and theatre practitioners Anne Varty is Reader in Victorian Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway. She co-edited Liz Lochhead’s Voices (Edinburgh University Press, 1993) with Robert Crawford, and her most recent monograph is Children and Theatre in Victorian Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). Her research is multidisciplinary and focuses on interfaces between history, literature and theatre. About the Author Anne Varty is a Professor in the English Department at Royal Holloway, University of London. She specialises in poetry by women since WW1, theatre since the Victorian era, and Oscar Wilde. She has edited two collections of essays about Liz Lochhead, most recently The Edinburgh Companion to Liz Lochhead (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).