Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography

by Rodge Glass

Glass plays Boswell to Gray's Johnson in this first (and very likely last), imaginative yet rigorous biography of Scotland's greatest living novelist.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2008

About the author

Rodge Glass is the author of the novels No Fireworks (Faber, 2005) and Hope for Newborns (Faber, 2008), as well as Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography (Bloomsbury, 2008), which received a Somerset Maugham Award in 2009. Recently, he was co-author of the graphic novel Dougie’s War: A Soldier’s Story (Freight, 2010), which was nominated for several awards. He is currently a Programme Leader in Creative Writing at Edge Hill University, and was Associate Editor at Freight Books. His novel, Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs, was published in April 2012 by the multi-award winning Tindal Street Press, then as a paperback by Serpent’s Tail, and it appeared as Voglio la testa di Ryan Giggs in April 2013 (66thand2nd, Roma). His latest book, LoveSexTravelMusik, was published by Freight Books in April 2013 and was nominated for the International Frank O’Connor Award. His fiction has been published in Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Danish and Italian.
(from http://rodgeglass.com/ )

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rodge Glass was a man who knew what he wanted. What he wanted was to be Alasdair Gray’s indentured servant for life. After a spell at Gray’s short-lived CW classes in Glasgow, he attached himself umbilically to his mentor/idol and hasn’t let go since. This, naturally, has helped him launch his career as a novelist and has embroiled him in whatever “scene” happens to be ongoing at the moment (such “scenes” usually comprise people from certain CW groups or those who fortuitously attend certain literary events, rather than an uprising of fresh unstoppable literary talent). But despite this cynical manoeuvring (which Glass admits is a nice side-effect of his devotion), Glass’s biography is a nuts-and-bolts account of the fat asthmatic Glasgow pedestrian’s life from 0-74 (Gray is 77 now), interspersed with snippets from Glass’s “diaries” which expand upon the story with additional anecdotal information and personal accounts of their professional relationship. The overall portrait is of an explosively creative talent mostly in disarray—he was never able to commit himself to one discipline entirely, and his frustration at this is shown throughout his “obscure” years—and a largely affectionate study of his career and works. Personal info is limited (at the author’s behest) to Gray’s disastrous first marriage and his happy final marriage, and no info is given about Gray’s success as a father at all. So it’s mainly a career retrospective with the odd sparkle of revealing information (among them Gray’s habit of urinating in the sink in front of students in his university office), and succeeds at unravelling some of the self-mythologizing and deception behind the man. Mostly he was broke, unhappy and unable to stop working. (And crap at sex). Nowadays he’s broke, unable to stop, but happy. (Still crap at sex). You can’t ask for more in life, especially if you’re a Scottish artist.

[Felicity · Rating 1 out of 5]

After a slowish start am now enjoying this and 'seeing' the man himself; Ciara might like this! Became annoyed with it , too much trivia, gave up

[James Fountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent authorized biography of a creative genius, who I’m delighted to say I met several times in Glasgow while I did my degree and PhD in literature. He is indeed a fascinating character and I remember meeting him in Tennant’s Bar and the Three Judges and him balancing his not exactly small frame on step ladders high up while painting one of his epic Oran Mor ceiling murals at the age of 73. I loved this books for all the brilliant detail and brutal honesty of it, really shines a strong light on this wonderful and very distinctly Glaswegian novelist and painter, often hailed as the best 20th Century Scottish novelist. A wonderful book, and a wonderful man.

[David Kintore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any Alasdair Gray fan will want to get this book - it’s full of interesting and entertaining anecdotes about the great man, as well as providing illuminating insights and commentary on Gray’s eclectic creative output encompassing art, plays, poetry, short stories and novels. I was surprised to learn that Gray once co-authored a book with Adam Tomkins, the Glasgow University professor who later went on to become a Conservative MSP in the Scottish Parliament. Gray the nationalist and Tomkins the arch-unionist make a bizarre combo.

[Fee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rodge Glass's biography of Alasdair Gray is warm and intimate and laugh out loud funny. If you're a fan of Alasdair's I urge you to read it, but only when you don't have any reading plans for the following six months because you're going to come out of it wanting to (re)read everything Alasdair's ever written.

[John Boyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, flawed and revealing biography which has made me wish to revisit some of my Alasdair Gray collection, especially Lanark.