oisín

Macpherson is getting into the canon, they say. And if you want to see the original, look here, but you know, it might be gone. And, ach, sometimes that's the way it is.

But apparently the Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature is trying to give Macpherson his due. Professor Susan Manning, the editor of the volume in question, is quoted speaking about the Ossian kerfuffle, the great supposed hoax of its day, saying that it was a misunderstanding:

"That’s why it’s not as simple as a fraud versus a genuine translation. A lot of Highland readers said, ‘Yes, this is a translation, we remember these stories’. They would attest to its authenticity whereas the sceptics - often English or Anglo-Scots - would say translations require original manuscripts. "It was a clash of culture between an oral and a written tradition."

But now Macpherson is getting into the book. Johnson must be spinning in his grave, about ready to fight that duel now.