Picture of author.

Alasdair Gray (1934–2019)

Autor(a) de Lanark

41+ Works 6,033 Membros 79 Críticas 46 Favorited

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

Lanark (1981) 2,034 exemplares
Poor Things (1992) 996 exemplares
1982, Janine (1984) 448 exemplares
Unlikely Stories, Mostly (1983) 334 exemplares
The Book of Prefaces (2000) 263 exemplares
A History Maker (1994) 261 exemplares
Ten Tales Tall and True (1993) 226 exemplares
Something Leather (1990) 204 exemplares
The Fall of Kelvin Walker (1985) 171 exemplares
Old Men in Love (2007) 147 exemplares
A Life in Pictures (2010) 82 exemplares
Lean Tales (1985) — Contribuidor — 76 exemplares
Every Short Story: 1951-2012 (2012) 74 exemplares

Associated Works

Best European Fiction 2010 (2009) — Contribuidor — 166 exemplares
The Big Book of Modern Fantasy (2020) — Contribuidor — 108 exemplares
The Oxford Book of Scottish Short Stories (1995) — Contribuidor — 102 exemplares
Beacons: Stories for Our Not So Distant Future (2013) — Contribuidor — 34 exemplares
An Anthology of Scottish Fantasy Literature (1996) — Contribuidor — 14 exemplares
Starfield (1989) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Streets of Stone (1985) — Contribuidor — 6 exemplares
Wynd: 130 (2010) — Contribuidor — 1 exemplar

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

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray (336pp 1992)

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.”
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
pgmcc | 18 outras críticas | Mar 15, 2024 |
It's almost criminal that Yorgos Lanthimos read this book about child-rearing, feminism, socialism, classism, and patriarchy and made a movie only about sexuality. I loved the movie but now am so angry that he removed the full human condition from it. Bella - Victoria was an intellectual, a philosopher, a feminist, a scientist, and a political practitioner, and Lanthimos made her into only a sexual being. What a missed opportunity. I would love to see a movie based on the whole book.
 
Assinalado
Citizenjoyce | 18 outras críticas | Mar 15, 2024 |
I read this after seeing the movie and wondering if the book it was based on could be anywhere near as bizarre. I know comparisons aren't fair because books and movies are very different kinds of media but I do it anyway. The biggest difference I found was that the movie left out Bella’s own version of the story which was nowhere near as interesting as McCandless'. So, while that part did add the element of an unreliable narrator, not including it was a smart move because I thought the movie's ending wrapped things up perfectly. Another difference was that the book had less sexuality and more commentary about sexual, social, and political double standards. Since a fair amount of the social and political commentary was satire of British and Scottish conventions, most of it was lost on me. Maybe if I knew something about the regional history and culture I would have liked this more than I did. As it is, I liked the movie better.… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
wandaly | 18 outras críticas | Mar 14, 2024 |
My ILL request for "Poor Things" came without the dust jacket, so I got to enjoy this beautiful Scottish Thistle graphic embossing with an aphorism that Alasdair Gray credits to a poem by Denis Leigh. The book has frame story with four distinct parts, Lanthimos adapts the fun part. However, he does Victoria/Bella dirty because the most feminist part of the novel, the frame in which she tells her OWN story, is completely cut. She clarifies, disputes, corrects, truth-tells, shapes her own biography and political position in a far less fantastical and far more believable way, as happens to women who can't afford to live in fantasy land. Not so much fun as 150-odd pages of horny "wedding" and sex work, but there you go.… (mais)
2 vote
Assinalado
Carissa.Green | 18 outras críticas | Jan 28, 2024 |

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

Tabelas & Gráficos