James MacPherson produced one of the greatest forgeries in history when he passed off his own writings as "discovered" antique Gaelic poetry, by a blind bard named Ossian. Ossian was praised by figures as distant as such as Jefferson, Goethe, Napoléon, etc. However, on the discovery that Ossian was, in fact, a forgery, the Celtomania that had been inspired by it died out, Goethe doing a famous retcon when he wrote that his hero, Werther, "praised Homer when sane, and Ossian when mad". According to the Ossian Online Projects, MacPherson's texts basically disappeared from common printing until the 1990s.
Ironically, Ossian is cited as a text awakening an interest in the Gaelic past of Scotland (especially after the Jacobite suppressions after 1745), but also apparently influenced Byron and Scott. (I've never read MacPherson's work, so I have no idea as to the veracity of this statement), not to mention numerous composers (Méhul, LeSueur (and through him, Berlioz), Pleyel, Catel, Mendelssohn, Gade, Wagner and d'Indy) and painters (Girodet, Isabey, Gérard).
So, what if the Ossianic revival is longer lived? Does it need MacPherson's forgery to not be discovered? And what impact might this have in bridging the Sturm und Drang movement and the Romanticism of the 19th century (which was largely a knee-jerk to the Classical overtones of the Revolutionary era). And what would Ossian's role be (if any) in Scottish nationalism?
Ironically, Ossian is cited as a text awakening an interest in the Gaelic past of Scotland (especially after the Jacobite suppressions after 1745), but also apparently influenced Byron and Scott. (I've never read MacPherson's work, so I have no idea as to the veracity of this statement), not to mention numerous composers (Méhul, LeSueur (and through him, Berlioz), Pleyel, Catel, Mendelssohn, Gade, Wagner and d'Indy) and painters (Girodet, Isabey, Gérard).
So, what if the Ossianic revival is longer lived? Does it need MacPherson's forgery to not be discovered? And what impact might this have in bridging the Sturm und Drang movement and the Romanticism of the 19th century (which was largely a knee-jerk to the Classical overtones of the Revolutionary era). And what would Ossian's role be (if any) in Scottish nationalism?