Robert Burns in the counsellor's chair: A socio-cultural analysis of the Burns myth

Abstract

(First presented as ‘The Immortal Memory of Robert Burns’ at the Moray House Institute of Education Burns Supper, 25 January 2000.) It is no small matter to be invited to toast the immortal memory of Robert Burns. It is an honour which gives rise to a certain amount of anxiety. What will I say, and how will it be received? My own sense of anxiety is increased by virtue of the fact that, while I take great pleasure in Burns Suppers and the public performance of his work, I have strong views about the Burns cult as it has developed in the last 204 years. I want to pose three related questions: which memory or memories are we talking about? Who is Robert Burns and what does he represent? And what is the nature and meaning of our interest in him? I shall not conceal from my brothers and sisters here assembled that I have been most cruelly treated in relation to this invitation. I assumed that I would be expected to speak for perhaps an hour and a half, in line with hallowed tradition, and you can imagine how chagrined I felt when I was informed by the Grand Mistress of Ceremonies that I had a mere Žfteen minutes. I had managed to bargain her back up to thirty minutes when the Grand Master himself entered the room, and ruled that I had a maximum of twenty-Žve PSYCHODYNAMIC COUNSELLING 6.4 NOVEMBER 2000