ABSTRACT
Thisbook'sconcernwiththeself-defeatingandself-obsolescentheroismof theOssianicworldraisesimportantquestionsofculturalpolitics.For example,LukeGibbonsreadstheSmitheanconceptofsympathy'asa complex,nationalallegoryforthepredicamentofScottishcultureasa whole'inthemid-eighteenthcentury;theemphasisonstoicself-controlas wayof'redefiningScottishnessinaBritishframe';andtheconstructionin OssianofaCelticidentityinwhichsympathyisamajorifnotdefining elementaworkofculturalassimilation:'throughthepsychiceconomyof sympathy,CelticismmaybesaidtohaveachievedforGaelicculturewhat theclearancesdidfortheHighlands.' 2Inotherwords,asapeopleofinnate Sensibility'Highlandersarecondemnedtobepoetical,andpoetrytobe impractical'whilethe'immaterialsocietyofsentiment'istherecompense fortheGaelwho,accordingtodominantnotionsofpoliticalandeconomic ideologyatleast,isotherwiseconstitutionallyunabletopartakeinthe modemworld?ThePoemsofOssianarethen,accordingtothiswidespread criticalperception,keytextsofculturalimperialism,constructingamythof theCeltonthetermsofandtosuitthepurposesoftheAnglo-BritishState.
