Roderick Watson (born 1943) is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
poet. He is a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
emeritus in English Studies at the
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...
.
Life
Watson was born on 12th May 1943 in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
. He was educated at
Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department.
It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...
and
Aberdeen University
, mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research universityAncient university
, endowment = £58.4 million (2021)
, budget ...
before doing postgraduate study at
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...
,
where his doctoral thesis was on the poetry of
Hugh MacDiarmid
Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...
. He was later to write a critical study of MacDiarmid, whom he met and befriended as a student. Watson later taught at the
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, before coming back to Scotland and joining the University of Stirling.
He has written and lectured widely on Scottish literature and cultural identity, and served as General Editor of the Canongate Classics reprint series since the start of the project in 1987. He is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
and is currently the co-editor (with Linda Dryden) of ''The Journal of Stevenson Studies''.
He has published two main volumes of verse over the years, and has featured in numerous periodicals and anthologies. After an early pamphlet he published his debut work ''True History on the Walls'' in 1976, and this was followed by the
Luath Press publication ''Into the Blue Wavelengths'' in 2004. Upon its publication it was lauded by
Philip Hobsbaum
Philip Dennis Hobsbaum (29 June 1932 – 28 June 2005) was a British teacher, poet and critic.
Life
Hobsbaum was born into a Polish Jewish family in London, and brought up in Bradford, Yorkshire, where he attended Belle Vue Boys' Grammar Sc ...
, who labelled Watson as a "poet of introspection and retrospection".
Notes
* Watson, R (1985) ''MacDiarmid'' (The Open University Press)
* Watson, R (1984; 2nd ed. in 2 vols 2007) ''The Literature of Scotland'' (Macmillan)
* Watson, R (1989) ''The Poetry of Norman MacCaig'' (Association for Scottish Literary Studies)
* Watson, R (1996) ''The Poetry of Scotland'' (Edinburgh University Press)
* Watson, R (1964) ''28 Poems'' with James Rankin (Aberdeen)
* Watson, R (1970) ''Roderick Watson'', (Parklands Poets, Preston)
* Watson, R (1971) ''Trio'', with Val Simmons and Paul Mills, (New Rivers Press, New York)
* Watson, R (1976) ''True History on the Walls'' (Macdonald, Edinburgh)
* Watson, R, and Martin Gray (1978) ''The Penguin Book of the Bicycle'' (Allen Lane, London)
* Watson, R (2004) ''Into the Blue Wavelengths''(Luath Press, Edinburgh)
References
External links
University of Stirling staff information page* http://textualities.net/richie-mccaffery/‘this-reluctant-ink’-the-poetry-of-roderick-watson/
Scottish poets
Cycling writers
Living people
1943 births
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