Regional Romanticism

“Gerard Lee McKeever’s Regional Romanticism: Literature and Southwest Scotland, c.1770–1830 offers a fascinating cultural and literary history of the southwest of Scotland. The book devotes itself to a specific region, Dumfriesshire and Galloway, on the Solway Firth, just northwest of England’s Lake District and south of Ayrshire and the Highlands to the north. … McKeever argues that the area was by the late eighteenth century recognized as a distinct entity, albeit one that was enmeshed within larger geographies.” (Saree Makdisi, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, Vol. 64 (3), 2026)

“McKeever moves skilfully over the generic landscape, and this genre-based methodology is the perfect lens through which to view the subject of regionalism. … ‘Regional cultures’, as McKeever argues, ‘were not merely a subsidiary feature of [nationhood]; in fact, they often formed the primary lexicon of cultural identity’ … . Regional Romanticism provides compelling impetus for, as well as a powerful example of, such a re-examination of the literary landscape and of the landscapes of literature.” (David O’Hanlon-Alexandra, The Review of English Studies, Vol. 77 (328), 2026)

“McKeever is an accomplished book historian, and his weaving of that field’s concern with textual publication, reception, and circulation into the wider environmental orientation of the project is perhaps the most significant achievement of this book … . The remaining chapters are a tour de force of archival scholarship, organized by genre (travel writing, poetry, romance, and science) … . The nuanced delineation of sovereignty … marks a significant turning point in Scottish Romantic criticism.” (Alexander Dick, European Romantic Review, Vol. 37 (3), 2026) 

“McKeever’s major achievement with Regional Romanticism is its archival reach and careful attention to the interaction between place and text. He moves deftly from macro-scale spatial circuits to micro-scale folklore and print networks, broadening the archive of Romantic studies. … his sustained focus on lesser-known authors and genres offers scholars of literary geography and Scottish Romanticism a critical resource — complete with exceptional footnotes — that shows how place, space, and regional identity were actively constructed through literature.” (Dana Graham Lai, Studies in Hogg and his World, Issue 31-32, 2026)

“McKeever’s description and analysis of this eccentric work is a tour de force, giving an engaging sense of the sheer inventiveness and exuberance of the content as well as making a compelling case for the significance of the book … . this book offers a compelling demonstration of how an engagement with the local, the minor, and the overlooked can enlarge our understanding of Scottish Romanticism as a whole.” (Pam Perkins, Eighteenth-Century Scotland, Vol. 39, 2025)