sawyl | Time to read Waverley? (Reply)

I've quoted this before and I'm doing so again because it seems to capture something about the current political situation:

"...What about Waverley? You'd like that. Walter Scott."
"What's it about?"
"Masculinity and national identity, mostly. Whether it's better to be Scottish and Romantic or English and reasonable."
Nothing out to sea, either. The only thing that moves here now is the grass and the water. "No, what's it about really? What happens?"
She raised an eyebrow.

Moss, S., (2010), Cold Earth, Granta, 238

To give it a bit of context the conversation between Nina, a neurotic literature post-grad, and Jim, an American archaeologist, takes place on an expedition to investigate a liminal settlement on the coast of Greenland. The expedition leader hasn't done much preparation and the group soon lose communication with the outside world. At the same time Nina becomes convinced that they are being haunted by the ghosts of the dead Greenlanders and refuses to leave her tent, choosing instead to remain in bed reading classic novels and fantasising about the food she is going to cook when she gets home. (For a more complete overview, see my review of Sarah Moss' novel Cold Earth from 2010)