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AlanRiach
UniversityofGlasgow,Scotland
BOUNDLESSSCOTLAND:ANINTRODUCTION
“Space”
,saidCaptainKirk,“thefinalfrontier”
.ButEdwinMorgan
aptlyremindsus:“itisn’treally,it’stime”(Morgan,Midnight396).
mereisnomodernwritermoreintergalacticinhisimagination
thanMorgan,butasalways,everywhere,thereinevitablyarecon-
finements,borders,boundaries,limits,roadstakenandnottaken,
withinthepressurestimecreates,andtheseareneedful,because
suchthingssupplyco-ordinatepoints,theyhelpcreaterelationships,
andtherefore,makeitpossibleforpeopletonavigate,tofindaway
through,beyond,evenout,andintotheboundless.meastronauts
inMorgan’spoem,“AHomeinSpace”
,cutthemselvesawayfromthe
mothership,theearthbase,andmoveout“inanimpeccabletrajec-
tory”
,a“bandoftranquildefiers”notwantingtoplantahomewith
rootsbuttokeep“avoyaginggenerationvoyaging”andmakespace
itselftheirhome,andunderstand,andactupontheknowledgethat
inhabitationdelivers:“spacethatneedstimeandtimethatneeds
life”(Morgan,“Home”388).
matseriesofconsequentnecessitiesiscrucial,andcentralinthe
arts,andespeciallyinfiction.Itisthereintheopeningsentencesof
CharlesOlson’sbrilliantstudyofHermanMelville,CallMeIshmael:
“ItakeSPACEtobethecentralfacttomanborninAmerica,from
Folsomcavetonow.Ispellitlargebecauseitcomeslargehere.Large,
andwithoutmercy”(15).Melville,inMoby-Dick,circumnavigates
theoceansoftheworld,andOlson,inhisopeningsentencethere,in
aslight,gesturalphrase,indicatesandtakesusthroughallhumanly
appreciabletime,“fromFolsomcavetonow”
.So,throughspaceand
time,theneedforlifedeterminesthatwemakeourhumanstories,