3 Articles by:
Calum Barnes is a writer and bookseller based in Edinburgh.
Poor Things is a scabrous satire of the stifling rationalism and oppressive hierarchies of class, imperialism and gender which propelled Glasgow’s rapid industrialisation in the nineteenth century. But it is also a universal story.
James Kelman’s rendering of working-class Scottish life and speech has been incredibly influential on generations of Scottish writers. The novelist’s new portrait of the writer as an old man sees him shift into ironic auto-fiction.
Douglas Stuart’s acclaimed novel Shuggie Bain paints a compelling picture of the dying days of industrial Clydeside, but its success owes much to a formal conservatism and political quietism.