![]() ![]() A standout feature of this style is its Kafkaesque combination of genres, fantasy and realism β but always distinctly Glaswegian. ![]() Perhaps one of the things Gray was best known for was his style, which was never really replicated in Scottish literature thereafter (although it influenced many, such as Iain Banks, Irvine Welsh and Janice Galloway). Gray was a man of many great talents and a rich history and, upon his passing on 29 December 2019, a great and poignant legacy across literature as a whole. However, with the inclusion of his 1992 novel Poor Things on the English Literature syllabus, I have a revitalised excitement for the upcoming semester. Gray had been mentioned briefly in my first-year Scottish Lit lectures, and I was extremely disappointed to see him absent in the second-year curriculum. Thankfully, second-year English Literature has proved that stereotype very wrong, and even more so with the inclusion of a novel by one of my favourite, and sadly recently deceased authors, Alasdair Gray. English Lit was my theory, my classics, the books you read once for analysis and throw to the side, whilst Scottish Lit was where I went for more interesting, quirky books with distinctly Scottish themes I often found myself relating to. And, during my first year, I found myself believing that as well. Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen β you know the ones. Itβs a running stereotype that an English Literature degree is a continuation of those texts that made secondary school unbearable. ![]()
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