Download or read book Poor Things written by Alasdair Gray and published by Dalkey Archive Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Alasdair Gray's most brilliant creations, Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter--a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for Baxter's creation.The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be "the whole story" in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter.Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland's most accomplished authors.
Download or read book Lanark written by Alasdair Gray and published by Canongate Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This novel is a work of extraordinary imagination and wide range. Its playful narrative techniques convey a profound message, both personal and political, about humankind's inability to love and yet our compulsion to go on trying.
Download or read book Shades of Gray written by Dietmar Böhnke and published by Galda & Wilch. This book was released on 2004 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Alasdair Gray s Lanark A Life in Four Books A truly postmodern work written by Hedy Mühleck and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2020-02-26 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1.3, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar), course: Postmodernism - Theory and Fiction, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to show how Alasdair Gray's famous first novel Lanark fits the postmodern label. Although Alasdair Gray has often been considered the postmodern Scottish writer par excellence, he does not necessarily fit that description, nor does he intend to fit it. In this paper, I will try to show how his famous "Lanark. A Life in Four Books" lives up to a postmodern label, and where it differentiates from it. For this purpose, I will begin with an outline of the concept of postmodern, paying special attention to developments in Great Britain. This outline can by no means provide a definition and shall only serve as defining guideline, to which I will then compare the most striking aspects of "Lanark" after giving a brief overview of its structure and the progress of its development.
Download or read book Alasdair Gray and the Postmodern written by Neil James Rhind and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prominence of the term 'Postmodernism' in critical responses to the work of Alasdair Gray has often appeared at odds with Gray's own writing, both in his commitment to seemingly non-postmodernist concerns and his own repeatedly stated rejection of the label. In order to better understand Gray's relationship to postmodernism, this thesis begins by outlining Gray's reservations in this regard. Principally, this is taken as the result of his concerns over the academic appropriation of his work, and his suggestion that 'postmodernism' is an entity wholly constructed and primarily active within critical theory, with a tendency to elide the political dimension of literature under its own assumed apolitical solipsism. While acknowledging these reservations, this thesis goes on to explore the extent to which theories elaborated under the 'postmodern' heading possess utility as an approach to Gray's work, primarily focussing on the extent to which they necessarily stand at odds with his political concerns. To this end, subsequent chapters go on to read Gray's major works in parallel with appropriate theoretical models drawn from the diverse configurations given postmodernism. Comparison between Gray's project in Lanark of providing contemporary Glasgow with imaginative depiction and the cognitive mapping demanded in Fredric Jameson's account of the postmodern not only highlights their similarities, but identifies this notion of the 'epic map' as a central aspect of the political dimension of Gray's writing. The 'epic map' recurs in consideration of 1982, Janine, which explores the potential political agenda in its narrators' seemingly postmodern fabulism, and its relationship to seemingly less 'postmodern' concerns of the novellas The Fall Of Kelvin Walker, McGrotty and Ludmilla and Something Leather. Likewise, 'mapping' also plays a part in approaching Poor Things in the context of postmodern historiography as described by Jameson and Linda Hutcheon. The penultimate chapter explores A History Maker as a complex negotiation with the very notion of postmodernism, installing, rejecting and subverting tropes drawn from postmodern theories, principally those of Fukuyama, Baudrillard and Jameson. In the concluding chapter, while no final conclusion is reached regarding a fixed relationship between Gray and the postmodern - a notion taken as impossible, given the heterogeneity of the values ascribed to the term - a degree of utility, and certainly of relevance, in approaching even Gray's political concerns is thus established.
Download or read book Alasdair Gray written by Stephen Bernstein and published by Bucknell University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Since the publication of Lanark in 1981 Alasdair Gray has been a figure of importance in contemporary literature. Now, through attention to mixed genre, counter-historical narrative, and the thematics of memory, this first study of Alasdair Gray's novels shows the coherence of the Scottish writer's varied body of work. Stephen Bernstein refuses to view Gray's work through the vague lens of postmodernism, seeing Gray instead as a writer at home in a variety of literary traditions. Beginning by providing an American audience with backgrounds to Gray's work, this study recounts the chronology of his publications and their reception by an international audience, simultaneously placing his writing in the contexts of Scottish culture and literature."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Beyond Postmodernism written by Klaus Stierstorfer and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2012-05-02 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the veritable hype concerning postmodernism in the 1980s and early 1990s, when questions about when it began, what it means and which texts it comprises were apt to trigger heated discussions, the excitement has notably cooled down at the turn of the century. Voices are now beginning to be heard which seem to suggest a new episteme in the making which points beyond postmodernism, while it remains at the same time very uncertain whether what appears as newness is not rather a return to traditional concepts, theoretical premises, and authorial practices. Contributors to this volume propose to explore new openings and recent developments in anglophone literatures and cultural theories which engage with issues seen to be central in the construction of a postmodern paradigm, but deal with them in ways that promise new openings or a new Zeitgeist.
Download or read book The Postmodern written by Simon Malpas and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simon Malpas investigates the theories and definitions of postmodernism and postmodernity, and explores their impact in such areas as identity, history, art, literature and culture. In attempting to map the different forms of the postmodern, and the contrasting experiences of postmodernity in the Western and developing worlds, he looks closely at: * modernism and postmodernism * modernity and postmodernity * subjectivity * history * politics. This useful guidebook will introduce students to a range of key thinkers who have sought to question the contemporary situation, and will enable readers to begin to approach the primary texts of postmodern theory and culture with confidence.
Download or read book The Postmodern Chronotope written by Paul Smethurst and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 2000 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Postmodern Chronotope is an innovative interdisciplinary study of the contemporary. It will be of special interest to anyone interested in relations between postmodernism, geography and contemporary fiction. Some claim that postmodernism questions history and historical bases to culture; some say it is about loss of affect, loss of depth models, and superficiality; others claim it follows from the conditions of post-industrial society; and others cite commodification of place, Disneyfication, simulation and post-tourist spectacle as evidence that postmodernism is wedded to late capitalism. Whatever postmodernism is, or turns out to have been, it is bound up in rethinking and reworking space and time, and Paul Smethurst's intervention here is to introduce the postmodern chronotope as a term through which these spatial and temporal shifts might be apprehended. The postmodern chronotope constitutes a postmodern world-view and postmodern way of seeing. In a sense it is the natural successor to a modernist way of seeing defined through cubism, montage and relativity. The book is arranged as follows: - Part 1 is an interdisciplinary study casting a wide net across a range of cultural, social and scientific activity, from chaos theory to cinema, from architecture to performance art, from IT to tourism. - Part 2 offers original readings of a selection of postmodern novels, including Graham Swift's Waterland and Out of this World, Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor and First Light, Alasdair Gray's Lanark, J. M. Coetzee's Foe, Marina Warner's Indigo, Caryl Phillips' Cambridge, and Don DeLillo's The Names and Ratner's Star.
Download or read book Something Leather written by Alasdair Gray and published by Random House (UK). This book was released on 1990 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Shades of Gray written by Dietmar Böhnke and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Alasdair Gray written by Gavin Miller and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 2005 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Features English literature and Scottish literature.
Download or read book The Fall of Kelvin Walker written by Alasdair Gray and published by Canongate Books. This book was released on 2021-02-18 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is the Swinging Sixties and Kelvin Walker has moved from Scotland to London to make his fortune. Through his wanton ambition, a megalomania surfaces that is unrelieved by his insensitive attempts at friendship and romance. Yet is he all bad, or are the true villains the establishment figures who he tricks and deceives? And, ultimately, does it matter? Gray’s twist on the follies of religion, the media and the imperial British centre is as relevant now as ever.
Download or read book The Ends of Our Tethers written by Alasdair Gray and published by Canongate Us. This book was released on 2005-01-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans of the work of Donald Barthelme, Kurt Vonnegut, George Saunders, and T. Coraghessan Boyle will revel in Alasdair Gray's masterful, witty collection. Gray's stories defy genre, and his angular, playful style, prodigious wit, and razor-sharp intellect are matched by his remarkable skill with the short-story form. In Job's Skin Game, the narrator humbly tells his life story like the evenings news. During a moment of awkward revelation, he shares the strangely exquisite pleasure he receives from scratching at the skin condition he's developed since losing his two sons in the Twin Towers tragedy and a small fortune in the dot-com meltdown. In Big Pockets with Button Flaps, a wily old man teases and taunts a pair of punk teenage girls as their confrontation takes on social implication through lightning-fast transfers of power and wit. The Ends of Our Tethers is vintage Gray--accessible, experimental, mischievous, wide ranging, beautifully written, and wise.
Download or read book McGrotty and Ludmilla written by Alasdair Gray and published by Canongate Books. This book was released on 2021-02-18 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mungo McGrotty’s career in Whitehall is going nowhere. But when he finds the mysterious (and deadly) Harbinger Report, he realises he can blackmail his way to the very top. This twisted Grayian retelling of the Aladdin story under the Thatcher regime sees our hero rise from pawn to power. But at what cost?
Download or read book Glasgow Urban Writing and Postmodernism written by Beat Witschi and published by Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. This book was released on 1991 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alasdair Gray is one of the most innovative and imaginative writers to have appeared on the Scottish literary scene for many years. Gray radically challenges the vision of Glasgow and Scotland as defined by the traditional Glasgow novel. This study first looks back into the past of Glasgow writing to locate some specific novelistic models which Gray echoes in his fiction. The main part of the study then illustrates that Gray's literary attitude of looking beyond Glasgow (or Scotland) is much more helpful in «imagining Glasgow» than to follow the established and trodden paths of Scottish urban writing. In this sense, Gray proves that the narrative techniques characteristic of postmodernist writing are not only helpful in expressing the often quoted Scottish experience of fragmentation, but also in overcoming the artistic stalemate of the Glasgow novel.
Download or read book A History Maker written by Alasdair Gray and published by Canongate Books. This book was released on 2014-01-23 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tale of border warfare, military and erotic, set in the twenty-third century, where the women rule the kingdom and the men play war games. This is the fictional memoir of Wat Dryhope - edited, annotated and commented upon. History has come to an end, war is regulated as if it's all a game. But Wat, the History Maker himself, does not play entirely by the rules, and when a woman, Delilah Puddock, joins the fray, this 'utopian' history is further enlivened. Alasdair Gray cleverly plays with the notion and writing of history, as well as perennial modern debates on war, sexism and society - entertaining and thought-provoking, this is a delightful satire illustrated throughout by the author.
