Alasdair Gray's Novels

One thing Alasdair Gray can never be called is boring. Looking over his work, he has done his utmost to never write the same book twice (except for the 2 Why Scots Should Rule Scotland books). His short work contains much of great interest, but it is through his novels, especially the big 3 of Lanark, 1982 Janine and Poor Things, that you understand exactly what makes him tick. This is because although, as I said earlier, the books could hardly be more different, they also contain profound similarities. Each involves duality - Lanark/Thaw, McLeish before and after the overdose, McCandless and Bella (and also their two versions of the 'same' events). They all involve the lead character battling against the worst of himself and although he usually doesn't win the war (because life, the biggest tale of all, always ends with death), he at least gets a view of what might be possible, and the novels written as novels, rather than adapted from plays, all end optimistically, although perhaps with profound darkness on the eastern horizon.