Retrieve Of Me And Others: 1952–2019 Depicted By Alasdair Gray File
expensive deluxe hardback edition, in a pretty plastic slipcase, contains approximately every previously uncollected piece of nonfiction written by Alasdair Gray, including lamentably, childhood essays, an art school thesis!, and all manner of unnecessary bottomdrawer scraps, such as several personal letters, unpublished reviews and obituaries, and various uncollected writings on art primarily catalogue intros.
Accompanying this orgy of obsessive careercompletionism Grays prior books have been Collected Poems, Collected Stories, and Collected Playsalternate title for this Collected Shit Left Uncollected, is a disappointing sequence of previously published forewords, introductions, and epilogues to his own novels available to read, of course, in the novels themselves, and stuffy, overly deferential portraits of artists and writers that moved in his circle in the olden days.
Gray, with this volume, has now become the premier barrelscraping writer in the country, and this book, while prettily designed and typeset in Grays familiar manner, is utterly unnecessary, even for diehard fans, and such is the extent of his recyclomania, certain pieces in this volume contain asterisked divisions where he had previously repeated himself, referring the reader back to the original utterance which doesnt prevent various things being said in different ways twice or thrice.
Gray has always been one of my heroes, but this book really is proof that while theres popularity, and arts council funding, there will be pointless deluxe hardcover editions of material best left uncollected.
In this frank, playful and typically unorthodox collection of essays, Alasdair Gray tells of how his early life experiences influenced his writing, including the creation of those landmarks of literature, Lanark and, Janine.
He details the inspirations behind his many acclaimed artworks and murals, and makes clear how his moral, social and political beliefs and his work are inextricably linked.
Incisive, funny and fired with passion, Of Me and Others is as much about people, place and politics as it is about Gray's own life in art.
Fantastic collection of Alasdair Gray's essays, letters, obituaries and diatribes over several decades, Several I had read before epilogues and introductions for books but many new and interesting pieces, Subjects vary from autobiographical pieces, to the disappointment of the Kelvingrove Art Galleries renovations, and interesting bits on culture in Glasgow and the lack of respect shown to Elspeth King at the People's
Palace.
A jumble of pieces from our recently deceased polymath, I didn't enjoy this one, as it had a lot of typos and seemed to drag on at the end, Others may enjoy it, but I just had a hard time getting into it, Alasdair James Gray was a Scottish writer and artist, His first novel, Lanark, is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction, He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature, His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards, He studied at Glasgow School of Art fromto, As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals, His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections, Before Lanark, he had plays performed on radio and TV, His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, G Alasdair James Gray was a Scottish writer and artist.
His first novel, Lanark, is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction, He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature, His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards, He studied at Glasgow School of Art fromto, As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals, His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections, Before Lanark, he had plays performed on radio and TV, His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works that influenced it, His books inspired many younger Scottish writers, including sitelink Irvine Welsh, sitelink Alan Warner, sitelink A, L. Kennedy, sitelink Janice Galloway, sitelink Chris Kelso and sitelink Iain Banks, He was writer in residence at the University of Glasgow fromto, and professor of Creative Writing at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities fromto.
Gray was a civic nationalist and a republican, and wrote supporting socialism and Scottish independence, He popularised the epigram "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" taken from a poem by Canadian poet Dennis Leigh which was engraved in the Canongate Wall of the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh when it opened in.
He lived almost all his life in Glasgow, married twice, and had one son, On his death The Guardian referred to him as "the father figure of the renaissance in Scottish literature and art", sitelink.