Alasdair Gray (1934–2019)
Autor(a) de Lanark
About the Author
Alasdair James Gray was born on Dec. 28, 1934, in Glasgow to Amy (Fleming) and Alexander Gray. His mother worked in a clothing warehouse, his father in construction. Mr. Gray studied design and mural painting at the Glasgow College of Art. When he graduated in 1957, he was commissioned to paint mostrar mais murals around Glasgow, which he continued to create until 2014. He worked on freelance projects and also wrote plays before publishing his first novel. Whether he was creating etchings for his books or a mural to adorn the ceiling of the Glasgow arts and entertainment venue Oran Mor, Mr. Gray created an unusual niche for himself encompassing Scotland's literary and artistic spheres. While his murals can be found at subway stops and restaurants in Glasgow, some of his works are in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. In addition to writing fiction, poems and plays for the stage, television and radio Mr. Gray published an autobiography, A Life in Pictures, in 2010. It combined photos, written descriptions and lavish illustrations to reveal that much of Mr. Gray's personal life was embedded in his work. Alasdair James Gray passed away on December 29, 2019 at the age of 85. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Image credit: Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
Obras por Alasdair Gray
Associated Works
ParaSpheres: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction: Fabulist and New Wave Fabulist Stories (2006) — Contribuidor — 59 exemplares
Where Rockets Burn Through: Contemporary Science Fiction Poems from the UK (2012) — Prefácio — 10 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome canónico
- Gray, Alasdair
- Nome legal
- Gray, Alasdair James
- Data de nascimento
- 1934-12-28
- Data de falecimento
- 2019-12-29
- Sexo
- male
- Nacionalidade
- UK
- Local de nascimento
- Riddrie, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
- Local de falecimento
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK (Queen Elizabeth University Hospital)
- Locais de residência
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Educação
- Glasgow College of Art (Dipl.|1957)
- Ocupações
- artist
novelist
author - Prémios e menções honrosas
- Scottish Book of the Year Award (1982, 2011)
Saltire Society Scottish Lifetime Achievement Award (2019)
Whitbread Novel Award (1992)
Guardian Fiction Prize (1992)
Fatal error: Call to undefined function isLitsy() in /var/www/html/inc_magicDB.php on line 425- 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.
Membros
Críticas
Listas
Prémios
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 41
- Also by
- 10
- Membros
- 6,033
- Popularidade
- #4,079
- Avaliação
- 3.8
- Críticas
- 79
- ISBN
- 178
- Línguas
- 16
- Marcado como favorito
- 46
Would I read more books by this author?
Most definitely.
Would I recommend this book?
Definitely.
To whom would I recommend this book?
It would have to be people who can stand a little weirdness and who can cut their way through the superficial carnal aspects of the book to see its real purpose and meaning.
Did this book inspire me to do anything?
Yes! I am planning a day in Glasgow to visit the main sites in the story. It will make an interesting excursion and give me a photo-journal opportunity.
I acquired this book in 2011 but have only gotten around to reading it now. I bought it while I was reading and loving “Lanark”. “Poor Things” has not disappointed. My reading it now was prompted by a friend who watched the Oscar winning film. This spurred me on to read the book before I watch the film.
Having loved Lanark I was expecting some weirdness. It was not as weird as I expected, but read like an historical fiction with one piece of Science Fiction at its heart. There is so much in the book I cannot see how a screen adaptation could possibly present all the content. My suspicion is that the film deals mostly with the sexual aspects of the story rather than with the primary focus of the book which is the presentation of political viewpoints and the promotion of political philosophies focused on improving the lot of the people rather than increasing the wealth of the wealthy. Comments by friends who have seen the film and reviews of the movie appear to support my suspicions. I intend to watch the film, but in my usual approach to screen adaptations I will not be complaining about how the film does not reflect the book, but rather enjoying the movie as something different from the book, but will be interested to see what was cut out of the story and what has been added in. Given the complexity of the main character I am not surprised it was an opportunity for Emma Stone to win an Oscar. I am looking forward to seeing her performance.
There are several themes to the story with a rather steamy thread running through the earlier parts of the book which, while the film may emphasise this, is primarily a means of hooking the reader to read on and then used as a vehicle to facilitate discussion on various political movements, their core tenets, and to present their impact on the population at large. Also presented are critiques of social norms that were, and still are, abhorrent to the sensitivities of the more liberal minded. It is a strongly feminist book so people should push through the misogyny presented in the early chapters to get through to the powerful messages that follow.
If I was to sum the story up in one sentence it would be:
“This is the life story of girl who experienced life in an accelerated fashion and grew into a determined woman who worked tirelessly to improve the lot of the poor through the advancement of medical practice and women’s rights.”
If I were to ignore the true messages of the book and simply describe it based on the superficial elements I could describe it as:
“The wife of Frankenstein was a nymphomaniac.”