Synopses & Reviews
The Vintage Book of Contemporary Scottish Fiction honors Scotland's explosive and innovative national literature with 47 of its finest representatives.
In addition to excerpts from writers such as Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares) and James Kelman (How Late It Was, How Late), this vibrant collection includes voices new to the international scene. Alison Fell ignites the page with an art model's rant in "There's Tradition for You." Duncan Williamson reinvents a rural storytelling tradition in the poignant "Mary and the Seal." And in his brilliant introduction, editor Peter Kravitz explores Scottish writers' conflict with publishers at home and abroad--from critics who consider material "depraved" to typesetters who demand higher wages when working on pieces written by Scots.
Provocative, engrossing, and timely, The Vintage Book of Contemporary Scottish Fiction celebrates nothing less than a literary revolution, in which the language and lifestyles of a generation of artists are making themselves known.
Synopsis
This anthology reflects the extraordinary flowering of Scottish fiction during the past two decades. The publication of Alasdair Gray's Lanark in 1981 and James Kelman's Not Not While the Giro two years later lit the torch for a new generation of writers more bold in their use of language and subject matter than any since Robert Louis Stevenson.
The explosion of new voices is such that many are now widely recognized as being at the forefront of contemporary literature. James Kelman, Alasdair Gray, and William McIlvanney have been joined by Janice Galloway, A.L. Kennedy, lain Banks, Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner and many others.
Their work ranges from realism to surrealism and includes some of the most savage and critical satire to appear since Jonathan Swift. Some draw on rural Celtic storytelling traditions, while others are distinctly urban and contemporary. The variety and range of this anthology is a cogent testament to a living and vibrant national literature.
About the Author
Peter Kravitz lives in Scotland.
Table of Contents
When Shankland comes / Agnes Owens -- from In the middle of the wood / Iain Crichton Smith -- Mary and the seal / Duncan Williamson -- from After Colette / Joan Lingard -- My childhood / Bill Douglas -- from Lanark / Alasdair Gray -- The fade / Jeff Torrington -- At the bar / William McIlvanney -- In the bare lands / Allan Massie -- A monk's tail / Stanley Robertson -- Original sin / John Herdman -- from The lights below / Carl MacDougall -- The political piano / Douglas Dunn -- from It might have been Jerusalem / Thomas Healy -- Honest / Tom Leonard -- from Cells of Knowledge / Sian Hayton --from The busconductor Hines / James Kelman -- Phyllis Marlowe: Only diamonds are forever / Liz Lochhead -- There's tradition for you / Alison Fell -- from A sparrow's flight / Margaret Elphinstone -- Undue haste / Liz Heron -- Brilliant / Alan Spence -- from Electric brae / Andrew Greig -- from A very quiet street / Frank Kuppner -- Not about the kids / Brian McCabe -- La plume de ma tante / Ronald Frame -- All the little loved ones / Dilys Rose -- from Dreams of sex and stage diving / Martin Millar -- Seven magpies / Candia McWilliam -- from The trick is to keep breathing / Janice Galloway -- from The bridge / Iain Banks -- Watch out, the world's behind you / Joseph Mills -- from Trainspotting / Irvine Welsh -- The last black Hoose / Robert Alan Jamieson -- A deep hole / Ian Rankin -- from Pfitz / Andrew Crumey -- from Trumpet / Jackie Kay -- Life on a Scottish council estate vol. 1 / Gordon Legge -- The unthinkable happens to people every day / Ali Smith -- The farmer's wife / Frank Shon -- Hours of darkness / Duncan McLean -- Incidents on the road / Bridget Penney -- The man who walks / Alan Warner -- from Looking for the possible dance / A. L. Kennedy -- St Andrew's Day / Mark Fleming --Glass cheques -- Andrew O'Hagan.