 |
 |
I think it's you, Robin. His illustrations have got better in the latest project. they have become more etherial (I was going to say fairytale), and everyone is excited about them, and his previous illus were all his own style, he didnt let any other styles influence him. Also your ref to Lanark, its maybe that Alasdair saw himself as an artist rather than a writer. Sally Evans http://www.poetryscotland.co.uk http://groups.msn.com/desktopsallye http://www.myspace.com/poetsallyevans ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robin Hamilton" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:29 PM Subject: Re: Alasdair Gray > From: "Sally Evans" <[log in to unmask]> > >>I cant work this out - why are we talking about Alasdair under the heading >>of George Mackay Brown? > > Because there are really very few first-rate 20thC Scottish > novelists, and George Mackay Brown and Alasdair are among them. > >> Alasdair has written (and illustrated) many books, not many of which have >> been widely distributed, > > GUGH!!!! > > Penguin covers, and Canongate, and Chapman Magazine covers. > > If that's "not widely illustrated", how would you term Thomas Gray's > "decent obscurity"? > >> but he will be best remembered for his murals, the main one still in >> progress on the ceilings and walls of the church building at Byres Road >> Glasgow. >> Sally Evans > > I'm sorry Sally, and this may be me (and I also dislike Blake's > visual work) but I find it difficult to imagine anyone paying serious > attention to either the early murals or Alasdair's later illustrations, if > it weren't for Lanark. > > Is it significant that the visual artist Duncan Thaw tops himself in > _Lanark_? > > Robin > > (In this area, think of Duncan Jones. And possibly D.H.Lawrence. Visual > artists [though least so in the case of Jones] whose visual art failed to > reach the standard of their verbal art. > > Blake, I suppose, is contentious in this area. > > R) > > [OK, I confess a special interest here -- I spent seven years living in > the second story of a Denniston tennement that overlooked the playground > of Whitehill Senior Secondary, the school that Alasdair Gray / Duncan Thaw > got belted by the taws for failing to learn Latin. > > R2.] >