Sunset Song's status as a Scottish literary classic doesn't depend on being studied at school

The novel Sunset Song, made into a film in 2015, has been removed from the Higher English set text list | contributed

News that Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s 1932 book Sunset Song is to be removed from the set text list for Higher English may cause some outrage. It is, after all, a particularly Scottish literary classic.

The novel, the first of the trilogy, A Scots Quair, is also unusual in that a man, at a time when women had only just got the vote and sexist attitudes were prevalent, was able to create a central character who was a strong, credible young woman, Chris Guthrie. He was an insightful writer whose ability to see beyond widely accepted stereotypes helped give his work a timeless quality.

Other sad omissions include The Cone-Gatherers by Robin Jenkins and John McGrath’s play, The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil. However, there should be no sacred texts and new entrants like Jenni Fagan, Kathleen Jamie and David Greig are worthy of their places.

And it may be that Sunset Song benefits from being discovered in later life – some may remember childhood struggles with school texts that, unfortunately, put them off great works for life. It will not be forgotten.