Alasdair Gray

Author profile

born

December 28, 1934 in Glasgow, Scotland, The United Kingdom

website

http://www.alasdairgray.co.uk

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

About this author

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Alasdair Gray trained as a painter at the local Glasgow school of art. He was 47 when he published his first novel, Lanark (1981), which combines all sorts of genres, from sci-fi to autobiography and literary criticism, into a fantastic account of the city of Unthank - a thinly disguised Glasgow.
Gray shows an interest in sex which borders on the unhealthy, as indicated by the title of his 1990 novel Something Leather, a novel that he compared to Chaucer. His other abiding interest is Scottish identity. He was a contributor to Lean Tales (1985), a work that prompted a revival of interest in Scottish writing. Gray's work always contains a satirical element.

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Books by Alasdair Gray

Average rating: 4.01 · 2,581 ratings · 253 reviews · 33 distinct works

	Lanark by Alasdair Gray, Janice Galloway (Introduction) 4.20 avg rating — 1,057 ratings — published 1981 — 19 editions	My rating:
	Poor Things 4.08 avg rating — 507 ratings — published 1992 — 8 editions	My rating:
	1982 Janine 4.04 avg rating — 196 ratings — 6 editions	My rating:
	Unlikely Stories, Mostly 4.14 avg rating — 147 ratings — published 1984 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Ends of Our Tethers: 13 Sorry Stories 3.51 avg rating — 105 ratings — published 2003 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Ten Tales Tall And True 3.73 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 1993 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Something Leather 3.64 avg rating — 89 ratings — published 1990 — 4 editions	My rating:
	A History Maker 3.47 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 1994 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Fall of Kelvin Walker 3.56 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 1985 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Old Men in Love: John Tunnock's Posthumous Papers 3.24 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 2007 — 4 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Alasdair Gray

“Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.”
― Alasdair Gray

tags: possibility , progress , work

26 people liked it

“...there were certain chapters when I stopped writing, saw the domestic situation I was in and thought, "I don't want to face this world, let's get back to the hellish one I'm imagining.”
― Alasdair Gray

tags: economics , writing

19 people liked it

“Are there many people without illness or disability who sit at home in the evening with clenched fists, continually changing the channel of a television set and wishing they had the courage to roll over the parapet of a high bridge? I bet there are millions of us.”
― Alasdair Gray

7 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
UK Book Club: Zoe's List	20	88	Jan 06, 2011 05:33am
Around the World ...: Scotland	6	32	Oct 12, 2011 05:29am
readers advisory ...: This Might Sound Weird	8	57	Oct 12, 2011 04:20pm
Unknown Books? - ...: Suggest books here!	121	128	Mar 20, 2012 09:56pm
UK Book Club: * The Times list of 50 greatest writers since 1945	31	316	May 03, 2012 06:29am

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