Nickie-Ben's Close and The Devil loves Scotland: Devil influence in Scottish history and literature, and Nickie-Ben's Close
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Date
29/07/2020Author
Pierce, Kelly Elizabeth
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Abstract
The novel Nickie-Ben's Close is a magical realism bildungsroman that takes
the existing Devil archetype and reimagines him in a story set in modern-day
Edinburgh, Scotland. Through the first person perspective of our protagonist
Morag, who goes by the initial 'M', this novel explores the transition from
childhood to adulthood and finding one's own identity. The Devil uses M's lack
of identity and determination for independence to his advantage in seducing
her into selling her soul. As an effect of her immoral choices in Edinburgh, M
grows in maturity and understanding of herself and the reality of her life. Nickie-Ben's Close shows how easily people are willing to give their - metaphorical - souls away for instant gratification.
In Section I of 'The Devil Loves Scotland', I provide a brief history of Devil
belief in Scotland through changes in culture, society, religion, and
enlightenment from medieval times to present day. I start with supernatural
Scottish Border Ballads and then consider the shift in the Devil's
representation with the Reformation. Then I examine how the rise of science
changed the Devil's representation in the modern era, and how Scottish
literature has used the Devil to comment on these changes in belief. In Section
II, I explore Muriel Spark's The Ballad of Peckham Rye and argue it is a reimagining of the traditional supernatural Scottish Border Ballad through
analyzing its style, structure, and theme in relation to the Border Ballad. In
Section III, I reflect on my novel in terms of craft and inspiration from Scottish
Devil belief and supernatural literature, with specific examples from The
Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg, The
Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson, and The Ballad of Peckham
Rye by Muriel Spark.