The Book of Scotlands

by Momus

The Book of Scotlands outlines 156 possible Scotlands which currently do not exist anywhere but maybe, someday, could. At a moment when, after centuries of desire and unrest, independence seems to be a real possibility for Scotland, Scottish-born, Berlin-based musician/author/journalist Momus, real name Nick Currie, offers a delirium of visions, practical and absurd. Momus, who describes himself as a polymath-dabbler, suggests that the real Scotland is free to embrace or reject this parallel world.

Genres: Fiction, Scotland, Humor

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nick Currie, more popularly known under the artist name Momus (after the Greek god of mockery), is a prolific songwriter, blogger and former journalist for Wired. Most of his songs are self-referential and many could be classified as postmodern.

For more than twenty-five years he has been releasing, to marginal commercial and critical success, albums on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In his lyrics and his other writing he makes seemingly random use of decontextualized pieces of continental (mostly French) philosophy, and has built up a personal world he says is "dominated by values like diversity, orientalism, and a respect for otherness." He is fascinated by identity, Japan, Rome, the avant-garde, time travel and sex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus_%2...

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soft-spoken Caledonian songster Momus – real name Nick Currie – offers a myriad different visions of alternative Scotlands in this playful but hit-and-miss book of thought experiments. Many of them are very short, and range from the brilliant:

SCOTLAND 164

The Scotland in which four hundred years of profound influence from Calvin is replaced by four huundred years of profound influence from Calvino.

…to the intriguing:

SCOTLAND 76

The mist-filled Scotland in which people chant Hugh MacDiarmid poems over Side Two of David Bowie's Low.

…to the trite:

SCOTLAND 73

Would the last to leave Scotland please switch off the light?

Quite a few, though, run across several pages, and include elements of science-fiction, sexual fantasy and political satire. Momus has never seemed an especially Scottish figure to me – he's not lived there for a long time (being based largely in Berlin and Japan), has almost no accent, uses very little in the way of Scottish vocab, and has rarely sung about Scotland as far as I can recall – so this book is an intriguing reflection of his thoughts about his home country. Still, it never scales the heights of his best lyrics (which are among the best ever written, for my money) and in the end the book remains a fairly inconsequential jeu d'esprit.

[Alex Sarll]

A timely new edition of the 2009 release in which Momus imagined a series of possible Scotlands. In one of the introductions added for this release, he explains his motivation: "I chose to lie about Scotland because I love my land – as much for what it may become as what it is, as much a place to dream about as to know." If only others who chose to lie about their countries in the intervening years had had such lofty goals. Some of the Scotlands are shown to us by way of short stories, others as one-liners (for instance the Scotland in which Calvin's influence is replaced with Calvino's), and each is numbered - so 'Scotland 107' is a paean to a Bohemian utopia, while the full description of Scotland 98 is "The Scotland which makes ten or more children per family compulsory". And this numbering in particular reminded me of the work another Scot, Grant Morrison, who revived DC's superhero multiverse - but while I knew the two of them were of the same generation and nation, I'd no idea that only 11 days, and half an hour down the M8, separated their births. Which is the sort of thing almost to make one look again at astrology, isn't it? I wonder which Scotland it would be where star signs are indeed destiny.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purposefully took a long time over this book because it's fairly short and I didn't want it to end.

This book is so charming and full of so many bizarre alternative Scotlands - some range from surreal and hilarious, where as others turn political status quos on their head, revealing the arbitrary nature of what we except as 'the way things are'. For example a Scotland and England that more resemble Palestine and Israel.

What's nice is most of the imagined Scotlands are short - the longest ones are usually only a few pages, most are only a few lines. I like being given the space to imagine that Scotland, without having too much dictated to me.

While this book is about Scotland(s), not too much insider knowledge is needed to appreciate it.

I would definitely recommend this to everyone as a lovely wee read.

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has always held a mild fascination with the idea of alternative realities there was a decent chance this was going to be a hit with me. Wasn't quite what I was expecting, although not sure if that's a good thing or not. Utterly bonkers book, farcical and surreal with an odd dark moment thrown in here and there to keep the reader's attention. Certainly a few smiles were raised along the way.

Introduction aside, there was no new content added since the book's original release in 2009, which is fine since the author doesn't really use contemporary ideas or moments to base universes around so everything aged rather well.

Overall, I rather liked it. Helped that it was an extremely quick read that didn't overstay its welcome.

This was an ARC in exchange for an honest review. With thanks to Netgalley and Luath Press.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strange treat of a book, which uses its sardonic, comic, alien and poetic alternate Scotlands to make social comment or simply for the creative possibilities on offer. Most of the Scotlands are no longer than a sentence, a thought provoking little bit of brain candy or an amusing image. Many are in the form of travelogues that take travel writing cliches about other nations and apply them to a version of Scotland, using the alienation to encourage reconsideration of those ideas (or to simply enjoy the juxtaposition). Some of the Scotlands are clearly neighbours in the multiverse, allowing for characters and histories to reappear in multiple episodes. There's poetic prose and sardonic wit throughout. Always a pleasure to pick up and ponder.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whimsical alternative histories invokes the writing of Italo Calvino. This is appropriate. In many ways it feels like Calvino’s Invisible Cities without over doing the similarities. I approve.
A fine read for fans of Scotland, alternative history, postmodern fiction, and whimsy.

[Grim-Anal King · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blizzard of ideas and none too subtle satirical digs and contrasts, i'm glad this was short enough that the novelty didn't wear off before I was finished.

[Park Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it. I loved it even before I saw him do a reading from it, with highly developed character voices and all. Really rich ideas, absurdist and grotesque yet mesmerizing and magical.