Leverhulme Funding for project to celebrate one of Scotland’s most influential 18th century writers
Published: 10 July 2023
A project which aims to celebrate one of Scotland’s most influential 18th century writers, whose legacy has tended to be neglected, has been awarded funding by the prestigious Leverhulme Trust.
A project which aims to celebrate one of Scotland’s most influential 18th century writers, whose legacy has tended to be neglected, has been awarded funding by the prestigious Leverhulme Trust.
Robert Fergusson died tragically young aged just 24 in 1774 but is credited with being one of Robert Burns’ key influences, leaving behind a substantial body of poetry.
Fergusson’s enduring legacy has seen him included on the Scott Monument on Princes Street in Edinburgh, opposite Burns who referred to Fergusson as his “elder brother in the muse”. He is also commemorated in a statue by David Annand on Edinburgh’s Canongate.
2024 marks the 250th anniversary of Fergusson’s death in Edinburgh’s Asylum for Pauper Lunatics. The £110,000 funding from the Leverhulme Trust Project Grant will be used to commemorate Fergusson’s textual and cultural legacies by holding events throughout 2024 to discuss his influence not only on the development of Scottish Literature, but on the treatment of mentally ill patients in his native city.
The two-year project entitled “The Works of Robert Fergusson: Reconstructing Textual and Cultural Legacies” is being led by Professor Rhona Brown.
Speaking about the award, Brown, a Professor in Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow’s School of Critical Studies, said: “Robert Fergusson’s short life has often been seen as tragic, but his poetic output is astonishing in its style, content, and influence.
“Finding inspiration in Allan Ramsay’s (c.1684-1758) Scots language literary project, Fergusson writes poems and songs in Scots and English which were so influential on Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, that he referred to Fergusson as his ‘elder brother in the muse’.
“The project will culminate in the publication of a new textual edition of Fergusson’s complete works, published by Edinburgh University Press, where Fergusson’s entire corpus will be edited to modern scholarly standards for the first time.”
First published: 10 July 2023
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