The recent threat to categorise Scottish literature as a subset of English provoked a storm of protest, but Irish writers have long been grouped under 'English literature', reports Mike Wadein Scotland

Sitting under a portrait of the Scottish nationalist poet Hugh MacDiarmid, Ian Rankin's face was etched with concern. It was late December and here in Milne's Bar, Edinburgh's most famous literary haunt, a mortal threat to Scotland's 700-year-old literary tradition was hanging over the conversation.

The shadow was cast by a decision made in Washington's Library of Congress to abandon 40 headings and subheadings for Scottish writing and to file the country's authors under "English" categories. With a nationalist government in power in the devolved Scottish Parliament, these "English" labels had caused disbelief. Not even Robert Burns was exempt. "Wee, sleekit cow'rin, tim'rous beastie," might seem an indisputably Scottish line, but its author stood to be reclassified from the heading "Scottish Poetry" to "English Poetry, Scottish authors", under the system.

The policy seemed bizarre and Rankin was downcast. "It makes everything seem more bland than it actually is," he mused. "It soothes out all the differences between the countries of the United Kingdom. I find it very odd to find MacDiarmid or Burns listed as if he was Shakespeare."

Yet in just three weeks the mood had been transformed. As soon as the Library of Congress policy was made public by the press, a remarkable literary dogfight ensued. Over the new year, campaigners would force the Washington institution to rescind its decision. This resounding success left Scottish academics and authors wondering whether Ireland would follow suit.

People smile at the notion now, but the leaders of the literary sans culottes were drawn from an unlikely crew - cataloguing staff at the National Library of Scotland. When Washington officials published their plan they claimed they were merely extending the same system they used to categorise Irish authors in English. The Scots rejected that system as a "gross inaccuracy", which expressed Scottish literature as "a group within a country", as if Scotland - or Ireland for that matter - was not a nation in its own right.

Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) are adopted by libraries, publishers and retailers throughout the world, and with fears rising that Scotland's literary heritage would be buried, authors and academics joined the revolt. "By God if they are going to put Scottish authors into English literature, I insist they put the Americans there too," raged Alasdair Gray, whose novel Lanark is seen as the spark of a modern Scottish revival. The Scottish culture minister, Linda Fabiani, took the matter up with the US Congress.

With victory - announced last week in the press - came elation, and an unanswered question. What about the Irish? The notion that James Joyce or Samuel Beckett would still be filed under a catch-all heading of "English literature, Irish authors," baffled Scottish authors and academics. "Why would they tolerate that?" wondered Rankin.

The answer to that question, it seems, can be simple, but complicated too. "Only in Ireland," as one of Flann O'Brien's "Bores" might say. For more than a generation, the existing LCSH, so offensive to the Scots, have been employed by the National Library of Ireland. "Irish literature" refers specifically to works written in Irish, which has a much more substantial presence in the national psyche than does Gaelic in Scotland. Writers from Oscar Wilde to Roddy Doyle are filed under "English literature - Irish authors", making them a subset of England's writing tradition.

For some authors, the once poisonous effect of these distinctions has faded. "The problem is, of course, that the words 'English' and 'Irish' define nationalities as well as languages," says novelist Joseph O'Connor. "I wouldn't argue if my books were categorised as either 'English literature' or 'Irish literature', since they're written in the English language by an Irish author. But 'Irish literature' could also mean literature written in Gaelic. A lot depends on who's using the words, and why. But doesn't it always?"

SUPPORTERS OF THE Library of Congress policy accept it may be flawed but say it's more serviceable than the alternatives. There will be consultation between Dublin and Washington in the weeks ahead but a spokesman for the Library of Congress said there were no plans to change subject headings for literature in Ireland.

"The point was well argued in Scotland. 'Scottish literature' is a hold-all for Scots Gaelic, English literature written by Scots, and books in Lowlands Scots. That is reasonable," says Peter Guilding, assistant librarian at Trinity College Dublin. "I wouldn't want the same thing for Ireland, because 'Irish literature' already has a distinct meaning. There is no fancy way of overcoming this. Terms such as 'Anglo-Irish literature' have been debated, phrases are tossed around, they go in and out of fashion. But you have to be specific and pin something down."

There is an issue at stake here, according to Scottish authorities. It was "absurd" says Cairns Craig, professor of Irish and Scottish studies at Aberdeen University, that writers such as Joyce or Beckett should be categorised under "English" headings.

"The Irish situation is problematic, but no more problematic than for Scotland," says Prof Craig. "This is part of the old difficulty about where literature is the function of the language, or whether literature is the function of the nation. Many of these older categorisations are legacies. The famous one in the British Museum catalogue used to say, 'For Wales, see England'."

There is recognition in Scotland that the country's literary tradition has taken a radically different route from the Irish. Authors such as Scott, Hogg and Stevenson are held to have flourished on their own terms within a political union with England. In Ireland, writing in English was for decades seen by many critics as a mark of the colonial establishment.

The passions aroused by the debate are striking when Scottish authors and academics speak. The poet Liz Lochhead was "appalled" by the attitudes to Scotland at the Library of Congress. Alison Kennedy - winner of the Costa Book of the Year - spoke out against the Library of Congress headings. Alasdair Gray raised the case of Franz Kafka, the Czech novelist who wrote in German: was he therefore German?

SUCH DEEPLY FELT emotions are not expressed in the same ways by the Irish. "Proud as I am of being Irish, and of the Irish tradition, I spend more time trying to get out of boxes and categories than getting in to them." says the Booker prize-winning novelist, Anne Enright. "I usually take the use of the word 'English', in such contexts, to refer to the language the book is written in. Perhaps librarians might make this clear with a 'Literature in English' category."

O'Connor is equally at ease - just don't call him "an English writer", he says. "Not for nationalist reasons, but purely for accuracy. I'd feel the same about being listed as French or Italian. I might even like to be, but the fact is I'm not," adds O'Connor. "This might be solved, if it needs to be, by changing the category name to 'Literature in English: Irish Writers'. But you still end up having to define who's in and who's not. And frankly, I'd rather be writing."

Beyond the heat of the debate, a clear dividing line is discernible between the passionate views of the Scottish authors and the cool response of Irish writers. For the eminent US critic David Lloyd, this may have more significance for Scotland than Ireland.

"Perhaps it is on account of at least a part of Ireland's political independence from Britain that there has been less active protest of the classification of Irish authors under English literature," says Prof Lloyd.

"For many Irish, the question is less vexed because it is less politically loaded than it used to be. Maybe the proper next step is for Scotland to secede fully from the UK." What seemed a passionate bar-room debate in a famous Edinburgh bar may yet prove to be something far bigger. Scotland's battle of the book may prove to be the first salvo in a much longer struggle.