The Love Songs of John Knox

This collection consists of poems and musings on contemporary Scottish culture, literature and identity, thematically linked by the iconic - and controversial - figure of John Knox. Knox's voice has echoed down the centuries, lampooned by Burns, mimicked by Carlyle, given homage by MacDiarmid, secularised in the radical polemics of Jon Maclean and Willie Gallacher, and continues today with Alistair Findlay. In amusing reveries and letters to historical figures, Knox takes on a new role and highlights not only the clash of past ideas with those of the present, but also the similarities between them. Written in a blend of Scottish dialect and traditional English, Findlay's Knox addresses issues ranging from prostitution and revolution to Celtic FC and war in Iraq.