During his talk to day, Jim mentioned that as he began to write his book, his surveyed the existing identity literature and theory and found them extremely lacking. Fair enough. There really isn’t a lot out there on credentialing and identification.
This triggered a thought/memory/realization. I’ve never quite understood why I like working in the identity space. The people are interesting, sure. The concepts are approachable and visceral… after all, identity management is about me: my stuff, what am I allowed to do, who is allowed to know what about me, etc. At the bottom of it, the problems of identity are fascinating to me.
And in the instant I pondered Jim’s point that there was little identity literature, I realized that he might not have been looking in the right place. He probably didn’t expect that one of the greatest bodies of writing on identity lives in Scottish Literature.
Years ago, I spent my junior year abroad at the University of Edinburgh. Scottish lit was part of my course work. Ian Campbell, Cairns Craig, and Alieen Christianson were my guides through everything from Redgaunlet to Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. Scottish writers have a strong tradition of approaching identity and duality issues. Three that books I read and highly recommend:
• The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray
Each one is packed with identity fun. Identity fraud, identity theft (the real, metaphysical kind… wait, can something be real and metaphysical?), self-asserted credentials, and more.
Ok, I grant you that none of those titles cover strong multi-factor identification, federation, URL-based identity and the like, but they do make for a great read. And if it ever gets cold around here again, I’ll definitely be picking one of them back up for some fireside reading.