‘WOMEN IRRITATE HIM BUT TUNNOCK FRANTICALLY NEEDS THEM'
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THE BEST BOOKS. COMICS & EVENTS
Love and death
Claire Sawers meets Alasdair Gray at his Glasgow home and finds that he has created yet another iconic, naive and semi-tragic anti-hero
l'tcr a tentear gap xincc hix Iaxt nmel.
Scotland'x literar) geniux ;\|axdair (iray returnx
\\ilh a ncu book. a nexx anti—hero and a l‘rexh batch of hix xtriking black—andwxhite illustrationx. 'l‘ime tra\c|ling bct\\ccn chaixxance Ital}. l’ct'iclcan (it‘cecc. \ictorian lingland and modern-da} Hillhead. (Ht/11(7) Ill lore xccx (ira) back on gloriouxl} eccentric l'orm.
Sipping orange juice in hix \cht lind li\ing room. (it'gt)'x com erxation ix \er} like hix \\riting. Rambling. erudite arid enc_\clopacdicall} detailed. he t'lipx bctxxcen the highbrow and parochial. peppering hix xpcech \xith dill'erent \oicex. He morphx bet\\een xingxottg Ke|\ inxidc broguex or e\cilable \Veegie \xil‘icx. then detourx into mock-pompoux acadctnic rantx. ‘|'\c ne\er dealt \xith three xuch dixximilar charactcrx bcl'orc.‘ he xa}x. ‘Soct'atcx ix a philoxophet‘. l‘ilippo l.ippi an artixt. and Hean .lamex I’rince a (‘httrch ol~ lingland clerg} man.‘
Subtitled '.lohn 'l‘unnock'x l’oxtlutttioux Paperx‘. it'x the make—belime diar_\ ol~ a retired (ilaxgott headmaxter “iltl \xritex hixtorical no\e|.x iii hix xpare time. tliottgh hix unpublixhed \xriting ix onl_\ dixco\ered alter he‘x mttrdered b_\ a junkie girlfriend. l'nlike (ira_\'x landmark lunar/x. \\ here the main character xtrugglcx \xith e\ixtential quextionx before committing xuicide. 'l‘unnock ix a liapp}-go-lttck_\ bottin \\hoxe cloixtered lil'e \eerx dramaticall) oil the railx alter the death ol‘ the auntx \\ ho brought him up.
"l'unnock ix gix en to picking up "_\oung thingx".' .xa_\1x (ira). ‘l)expite being a headmaxter. he'x nex er bothered to find out the legal age ot‘ conxent. Since the girls he pickx up are xe\uall_\ axailable. he axxumex they km)“
26 THE LIST 5-39 J G".
their t)\\ll buxinexx bext.‘ ()l‘l'xetting the politically charged. occaxiottall_\' turgid narrati\ ex woven between 'l'unnock‘x diariex. the xlightly deviant xe.\ lite of a man in hix (itlx addx a comic element. ‘1 quite like the reader to think. "'l‘hix bloke ixn't \er}' intelligent?" I like the bit \xhere one of hix loverx .xtealx all hix thingx. lle'x not angr} becatixe he ne\er liked them an}\\a_\. and juxt pickx hinixcll tip qttite cheerlully'
l.ike Lanark. 'I'unnock ix a dedicated atttodidact \\ ho regards women ax a tempting but inconxenient dixtraction. 'The} irritate him but he it‘dllllc‘tlii} needx them. He hatex that unlexx a \xoman lmex him. he l'eelx ttxclexx.‘ The book-x hixtot'ical rexearch \\ ax carried ottt 3t) _\ear_x ago. \\ hen (Era) xx ax commixxioned to \\ rite BBC teleVixion playx on t'eligioux tt'ialx and Victorian xcandalx. ‘1 took partx l'rom bookx and pla}x l'\e \Sritten. and a pamphlet l \\ rote tor the WW general election called "\Vii) Sc‘titx Should Rule Scotland".‘
l’or Tunnock'x character. (ira) ptit axide the Iibrar} rexearch and debed into hix t‘amouxl} rich imagination. ‘You needn't beliexe thix. but I don't go around picking tip poor girlx. and accotntnodating them in m} houxe \xhile xleeping and quarrelling \\l[il them. .\l_\ \til‘e \xould think it bad mannerx.‘ And uh} name hix l‘t'otai—‘ottixt alter a teacake'.’ ’I “anch xomething that xounded Scottixh. that didn't time a Mac in it. I wanted xoinething ordinar}. but xomehtm \xell knoun. I quite liked the xound of. it. lt'x quite like Lanark actually
Old Men in Love is published by Bloomsbury on Mon 1 Oct. Alasdair Gray is at Wigtown Book Festival on Sat 29 Sep.
=i< Bruce Parry The intrepid BBC guy helps launch the book of the TV series Tribe. in which he hangs out in some pretty far-flung parts of the globe. Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow. Tue 25 Sep.
* Yann Martel The Canongate author who sprung a major surprise with his Booker win for Life of Pi drops by for a couple of events to mark the illustrated version of his extremely popular bestseller. Borders Books. Glasgow, Thu 20 Sep; Waterstone's, Edinburgh, Fri 27 Sep.
=2: Wigtown Book Festival A right proper bookish feast is laid before anyone who fancies popping down Wigtown way with the very different likes of Ian Paisley. Brian Keenan, Eoin McNamee and Liz Lochhead among those showing up. Various venues, Wigtown, Fri 28 Sep—Sun 7 Oct.
=l< Alasdair Gray The literary legend who brought us the landmark Lanark is back with some Old Men in Love. See preview, left. Bloomsbury; Wigtown Book Festival, Sat 29 Sep.
=1: Joe Matt Heady times for Mr Matt whom we raved about last issue for his tale of sad obsession in The Poor Bastard. and who is back with more in Spent. This time around, he has gone even further into confessional mode about a loser drawn comically into a world of porn. See review, page 28. Drawn 8 Quarterly.
>i: Adrian Tomine Like may of the best creative minds, Tomine uses space and silence to great effect. in Shortcomings. a tense human relationship between two peOple in the film world is given weight by the pauses and gaps which seem to highlight the sense of transition in the story. Faber.