I think it was George Eliot who wrote this, but I may be wrong: 'If I could, I would always write in silence and obscurity and let my efforts be known by their results.' This has been in the back of my mind for the last decade as a kind of artist's creed. You can see how it's worked out for me. I have been writing for a while now, with inconsistent effort and little result. Recently, I started writing with a few friends, employing considerably more effort and considerably less silence. Today was our last day on our first project together. It is finished. Thank you, boys. I am unspeakably grateful to be with you both.
because you were all wondering what I'm writing my dissertation on, here's a brief synopsis of my 'research context': When James Macpherson published his Fragments of Ancient Poetry in 1760, he went to great lengths to make the Fragments appear to be authentic remains of an ancient, heroic oral tradition. His reasons for this were largely political, and as such, influenced the content of the epics themselves. As an attempt to establish a particularly Scottish identity, the poems were quite effective. However, to do so required both a simplification and a manipulation of traditional mythology. Stripped of anagogical significance, the Ossian epics more or less represented an Enlightenment version of history, tradition, and mythic heritage. The stories themselves were changed by their very purpose and in turn changed the manner of representing myth in future narratives. Moreover, the emphasis on the Ossian epics as authentic tales from the past, as ‘fragments,’ served...
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