- Alasdair Gray
Infobox Writer
name = Alasdair Gray
birthdate = Birth date and age|1934|12|28|df=y
birthplace = Glasgow, Scotland
birthname = Alasdair Gray
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Novelist, artist, playwright, academic, teacher, poet
genre =Science fiction , dystopianism,surrealism ,realism
movement =Post-modernism
notableworks =
1982, Janine
Poor Things
The Book of Prefaces
influences =
influenced =Anthony Burgess ,Iain Banks ,Will Self ,AL Kennedy Alasdair Gray (born 28 December 1934) is a Scottish writer and
artist . His most acclaimed work is his first novel "Lanark", published in 1981 and written over a period of almost 30 years. It is now regarded as a classic, and was described by "The Guardian " as "one of the landmarks of 20th-century fiction." [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-209,00.html Gray, Alasdair | Authors | Guardian Unlimited Books ] ] His novel "Poor Things " (1992) won theWhitbread Novel Award [ [http://www.nls.uk/writestuff/heads/wee-gray.html National Library of Scotland] ] and theGuardian Fiction Prize . [ [http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/guardian.html Guardian Fiction Prize ] ]Gray's works combine elements of realism,
fantasy , andscience fiction , plus clever use oftypography and his ownillustration s. He has also written onpolitics , in support ofsocialism andScottish independence , and on the history of English literature. He has been described by authorWill Self as "a creativepolymath with an integrated politico-philosophic vision" [Moores ed. "Alasdair Gray: Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography" (2001) p. 4.] and as "a great writer, perhaps the greatest living in this archipelago today" [ [http://will-self.com/2006/01/12/alisdair-gray-an-introduction-2/ will-self.com » Blog Archive » Alisdair Gray: An Introduction ] ] , and by himself as "a fat, spectacled, balding, increasingly old Glasgow pedestrian". [Gray, "The Ends of Our Tethers", Dustjacket (recto).]Life
Gray was born in
Riddrie , eastGlasgow . His father had been wounded in the First World War and worked at the time in a factory, while his mother worked in a shop. During theSecond World War , Gray was evacuated toPerthshire and thenLanarkshire , experiences which he drew on in his later fiction. The family lived on acouncil estate , and Gray received his education from a combination of state education, public libraries, andpublic service broadcasting : "the kind of education British governments now consider useless, especially for British working class children", as he later commented. He studied atGlasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957, and taught there from 1958 to 1962. It was as a student that he first began what would become the novel "Lanark".After his graduation, Gray worked as a scene and portrait painter, as well as an independent artist and writer. His first plays were broadcast on radio and television in 1968. Between 1972 and 1974, he participated in a writing group organised by
Philip Hobsbaum , where he metJames Kelman ,Liz Lochhead , andTom Leonard . From 1977 to 1979, he was Writer in Residence at Glasgow University. In 2001, he became, with Tom Leonard and James Kelman, joint Professor of the Creative Writing programme at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities.Gray illustrates his books himself, and has produced many
mural s as well as paintings. One of his longest-lasting murals can be seen, for free, in the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant in theWest End of Glasgow .In 2001, he stood as the candidate of the
Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association for the post ofRector of theUniversity of Glasgow , but was eventually narrowly defeated byGreg Hemphill .He has been married twice: firstly to Inge Sorenson (1961-1970), and since 1991 to Morag McAlpine. He has one son, Andrew, born in 1964. He still lives in the
West End of Glasgow .He produced the ceiling mural for The Auditorium of the Oran Mor on
Byres Road in Glasgow, one of the largest pieces of art in Scotland.Gray's famous quote, "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation", is engraved in the
Canongate Wall of theScottish Parliament building . His name was infamously misspelled as 'Alastair' on the attribution.Quotes
*"Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation." (Various works.)
*"It is plain that the vaster the social unit, the less possible is true democracy." Lanark, p.289
*"Who did the council fight?":"It split in two and fought itself.":"That's suicide!":"No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient half and grows stronger. War is just a violent way of doing what half the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat, machinery and sexual pleasure. Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation.":"I refuse to believe men kill each other just to make their enemies rich.":"How can men recognize their real enemies when their family, schools and work teach them to struggle with each other and to believe law and decency come from the teachers?":"My son won't be taught that," said Lanark firmly.:"You have a son?":"Not yet." Lanark, p.411Literary works
Novels
*"Lanark" (1981)
*"1982, Janine " (1984)
*"" (1985)
*"Something Leather " (1990)
*"McGrotty and Ludmilla " (1990)
*"Poor Things " (1992)
*"A History Maker " (1994)
*"Mavis Belfrage " (1996)
*"Old Men In Love " (2007)hort stories
*"
Lean Tales " (1985) (withJames Kelman andAgnes Owens )
*"Unlikely Stories, Mostly " (1983)
*"Ten Tales Tall & True " (1993)
*"Mavis Belfrage " (1996)
*"" (2003)Poetry
*"
Old Negatives " (1989)
*"Sixteen Occasional Poems " (2000)Non-fiction
*"
Why Scots Should Rule Scotland " (1992; revised 1997)
*"The Book of Prefaces " (ed.) (2000)
*"" (2001; includes contributions by Gray himself.)
*"How We Should Rule Ourselves (2005)Dramatic works (incomplete)
Theatre
*"Dialogue - A Duet (1971)"
*"The Loss Of The Golden Silence (1973) "
*"Homeward Bound - A Trio for Female Chauvinists (1973)"
*"Sam Lang and Miss Watson - A One Act Sexual Comedy In Four Scenes (1973)"
*"McGrotty and Ludmilla" (1986)
*"Working Legs: A Play for Those Without Them" (1997)
*"Goodbye Jimmy" (2006)Television
*"Dialogue - A Duet (1972)"
* "
Today and Yesterday "*"
Martin (Play) "Radio
*"Dialogue - A Duet (1969)"
*"
The Loss Of The Golden Silence (1973) "References
External links
* [http://www.alasdairgray.co.uk/ Official website]
*dmoz|Arts/Literature/Authors/G/Gray,_Alasdair/Bibliography
*Bernard Sellin (coord.), "Voices from Modern Scotland: Janice Galloway, Alasdair Gray", CRINI (Centre de Recherche sur les Identités Nationales et l'Interculturalité), Nantes, 2007, 143 p., ISBN 2-916424-10-5.
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