The John Galt Society

If he had done nothing more in his fiction than anatomise the small town Scottish society of his time then John Galt would be worthy of considerable respect and remembrance. Yet he did so much more: he invented the political novel, he wrote histories, biographies, poetry, travel books, journalism and short stories. He was also a pioneer and founder of Canadian cities, a man whose qualified support of Enlightenment ideals was informed by his empirical and sceptical intelligence. Galt was, moreover, someone who took a very different tack to Walter Scott in ‘balancing’ his Scottish and British identities.

It is a glaring gap in the Scottish literary landscape that Galt has had such minimal concerted critical attention. In an effort to promote the appreciation and study of his life and works we are preparing to establish a John Galt Society. We are compiling an international mailing list towards discussing the founding of the society and planning activities which should include in the first instance a day symposium on Galt somewhere in the west of Scotland and timetabling a future visit to the writer’s graveside.

Please can you let us know if you would be interested in being part of the John Galt Society, by contacting j.mcghee.1@research.gla.ac.uk [End Page 115]