Negotiations against difference

I’ve always considered myself belonging to the school of writers who should be read but not heard, so I don’t know what set of circumstances leads me to be standing here today. I suppose the subject matter, a national literature, is a compelling one for me, given the current political situation in these islands, what with the independence referendum, and the fact that I’m now in genuine exile in the us, rather than a half-arsed one in London or Dublin. It only really hits you living outside the UK, how much the casual remark ‘I’m Scottish’ or ‘I’m British’ is,