Merciful Solidarity Across Space and Time: Affective Communities in Contemporary Scottish Fiction (2014–2024)

In twentieth-century Scotland, the project of independence was advanced as much by literature as by politics. Central to many literary works was an idea of community, both local and national, which this article argues was defined by a distinct and powerful sense of “placedness.” Such an idea has been deeply transformed by the negative outcome of the 2014 Independence Referendum and the ensuing local and global events, which have collectively redefined the bonds of solidarity that shape and sustain it. Using the concepts of “affective community” and “merciful solidarity,” this article examines how four novels - Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies, Jenni Fagan’s Luckenbooth, James Robertson’s News of the Dead and Martin MacInnes’s In Ascension - portray the emergence of new coalitions across and beyond Scotland. The analysis frames these alliances not as simply expressive of a culture of care, but as possessing a transformative potential to navigate rapid and traumatic change.