Comments on: Unlikely stories, likely

Unlikely stories, likely

jbickers — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:40:58 -0800

Poet, playwright, novelist, mural painter, experimentalist, illustrator; a "fat, spectacled, balding, increasingly old Glasgow pedestrian"; and perhaps "the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott," Alasdair Gray has a new book out.

The "maker of imagined objects," perhaps best known for "Lanark," also blogs his poetry/prose/plays, offers up a lovely archive of some hard-to-find volumes, and shows us the storyboards for the late lamented attempt at a Lanark film. If you're curious, an excellent bio awaits, as does your new-found quest to locate his hard-to-find, out-of-print titles (requisite Wikipedia link for building your checklist). (Previously here and here.)

By: liam

liam — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:58:18 -0800

1982 Janine is one of my favourite novels. Here's Will Self's introduction to it

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:21:10 -0800

This is fantastic. Thanks for the post.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:44:23 -0800

Not the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott by a distance. Maybe in his own lunchtime at the Ubiquitous Chip. Storyboard is interesting though.

By: joseph_elmhurst

joseph_elmhurst — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:55:40 -0800

Your favorite controversial Glaswegian author sucks. Seriously good post!

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:59:47 -0800

Wow, I'd not seen the Lanark film storyboards before.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:09:39 -0800

I really, really need to read more Alasdair Gray. 1982 Janine is one of those books that's been on my to-read list since I read the wondrous Lanark seven or eight years ago and loved, loved, loved it, but I keep forgetting about 1982 Janine when I'm looking for what to read after finishing a book.

By: SaintCynr

SaintCynr — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:31:23 -0800

>>the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott I guess some folks have forgotten about Robert Louis Stevenson because his ideas have become part of everyday language; that there are entire concepts that can't be touched upon without referencing his body of work. That must be it.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:01:31 -0800

nice post, cheers.

By: little apollo

little apollo — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:11:04 -0800

Nice post. I had an argument about Lanark in the pub on Friday night with a man who insisted that I hadn't read it because, "No-one's read that shit." I was indignant. Which didn't help. Anyway, some other Alasdair Gray links: The Scots Hippo - a print series he did last year An exhibition of paintings in Glasgow in April A full biography of Gray by his assistant Rodge Glass is due out in September. Long may the old codger continue to sit on his front step drinking Special Brew.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:12:24 -0800

I have always meant to get a "work as if you were in the earlier days of a better nation" tattoo, thanks for the reminder.

By: kcds

kcds — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:53:38 -0800

Man is the pie that bakes and eats itself.

By: imperium

imperium — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:18:54 -0800

"Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" is also the title of a previous MeFi post, and is carved onto the outside of the new Scottish Parliament building (tours available to MeFites on request).

By: El Brendano

El Brendano — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:12:30 -0800

This makes my day, completely. Thanks!

By: goo

goo — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:13:01 -0800

Excellent post - thanks! I look forward to reading his new book.

By: Mocata

Mocata — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:28:11 -0800

Good to see A. Gray here 'new book' is a stretch - it came out last October.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:43:06 -0800

There's a good audio interview with Grey here. Been meaning to read Lanark for ages, not least because it's supposed to have been a huge influence on Iain Bank's The Bridge (probably my favourite novel)

By: newmoistness

newmoistness — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:47:58 -0800

Great post -- thanks, jbickers. Gray is fantastic, and criminally under-read. As liam has already noted, 1982 Janine is a terrific book; A History Maker and Something Leather (first edition available for 39 cents) are also well worth reading.

By: Len

Len — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:39:52 -0800

Great stuff; I'd never seen the storyboards before. Some pics of the mural he did for the Scotland – Russia society, apparently as a graduation project, here (scroll down for some more).

By: Dex Quire

Dex Quire — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:26:50 -0800

Great post; Gray is wonderful - check out his "Poor Things" a wild fantasmagorical novel told in the most charming alarming deadpan. He also illustrated and compiled a book called "A Book of Prefaces" which is just that: a book of prefaces of great English-speaking writers going back before Chaucer. He makes the history of English the daring, racing and slightly subversive thing that it really is/was. Throw out all the crappy English textbooks; Gray's "Prefaces" should be required reading for every high school student in America. Cheers.

By: ClanvidHorse

ClanvidHorse — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:19:31 -0800

Great stuff! Thanks!