Old grey an autobiography frankenstein
Poor Things
This article is about the novel. For its film adaptation, see Poor Things (film).
1992 novel by Alasdair Gray
First edition | |
| Author | Alasdair Gray |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Alasdair Gray |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Press |
Publication date | 1992 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Preceded by | McGrotty and Ludmilla |
Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer is a novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, published in 1992. It won the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize the same year.
A postmodern retelling of the gothic horror novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the narrative follows the life of Bella Baxter, a surgically fabricated woman created in late Victorian Glasgow. Bella’s navigation of late 19th century society is the lens through which Gray delivers social commentary on patriarchal institutions, social equality, socioeconomic matters and sexual politics.
The novel itself is epistolary, being composed of a fictional novella entitled Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer, several extended letters, a spread of original illustrations, as well as an Introduction and Critical Notes. The bracketing Introduction and Critical Notes feature a meta-textual component, in that they simultaneously exist in the novel’s fictional canon, but are also credited to real-life author Alasdair Gray.
The novel is illustrated by Alasdair Gray, despite the text claiming the illustration were created by Scottish painter and printmaker William Strang.
Plot
The main body of the work centres on Bella Baxter, a woman whose early life and identity are the subject of some ambiguity. That ambiguity is complicated by her husband Archibald McCandless's autobiography Episodes from the Early Life of a Scottish Publi Scottish writer and artist (1934–2019) For the British tennis player, see Alastair Gray. For the South African cricketer, see Alistair Gray. Alasdair Gray Alasdair Gray in 1994 Inge Sørensen Morag McAlpine Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, Lanark (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature. His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals, including one at the Òran Mór venue and one at Hillhead subway station. His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections. Before Lanark, he had plays performed on radio and TV. His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works that influenced it. His 0:04 to 0:14: This performance is from the defunct late-night BBC2 program The Old Grey Whistle Test, a show seen as the antithesis of the hit-oriented Top of the Pops on BBC1. We are supposed to comprehend the program’s seriousness of purpose from its lack of a studio audience; what we are seeing, in theory, is the band in a vacuum, exhibiting its prowess with no outside influences. It’s a philosophical notion that implies two things: (a) whatever we hear from a band on an album isn’t truly “real,” because the artist might be overdubbing everything and fixing all the mistakes and using technological tricks, but also (b) a traditional live album is “so real” it’s undesirable, since the audience disrupts the recording and causes the band to play and behave differently than they normally would. If you’re an aesthetic fascist, one could even argue that showing this performance on TV takes away from the “realness” of the experience, especially since all the guys in the band are so clearly aware they’re being observed by a multiple cameras. This, I suppose, is why arguing about authenticity in rock ‘n’ roll is such a timeless problem — if we really get down to the bone marrow of reality, the most authentic musical performance any band could manufacture would require them to play in an empty studio and never allow anyone else to hear what they’ve created, which isn’t that different than arguin It’s Halloween…what is the most frightening story you have ever read? “I busied myself to think of a story, — a story to rival those which had excited us to this task. One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart. ……. I thought and pondered — vainly. I felt that blank incapability of invention which is the greatest misery of authorship, when dull Nothing replies to our anxious invocations. Have you thought of a story?” (Shelley, Preface) Yes. Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s masterpiece drafted when she was18 years old. Teaching Mary Shelley’s “ghost story” always elicits the most interesting responses from my students. I have taught the novel every year for the past 12 years to students in grades 10-12, in AP or unleveled curriculums, and the results are always satisfying. Note: I did not say easy. Since I am now familiar enough with the text and the pitfalls that catch most students, I know that I will need to summon an enormous amount of energy to begin teaching Frankenstein. First, there is the baggage of the pop culture monster with its green skin, bolted neck and squared boots. That baggage must be “unpacked” first. Then, there is Robert Walton’s epistolary start of the novel, coupled with Victor Frankenstein’s lengthy autobiography. References to Cornelius Agrippa, Lake Geneva, and Galvanism are more stumbling blocks. Okay, Chapter Five. On a dark and stormy night, “With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, wh Alasdair Gray
Born (1934-12-28)28 December 1934
Riddrie, Glasgow, ScotlandDied 29 December 2019(2019-12-29) (aged 85)
Shieldhall, Glasgow, ScotlandOccupation Novelist, artist, playwright, academic, teacher, poet, muralist, illustrator Nationality Scottish Alma mater Glasgow School of Art Genre Science fiction, dystopianism, surrealism, realism Literary movement Postmodern literature Years active 1951–2019 Notable works Lanark
1982, Janine
Poor Things
The Book of PrefacesSpouse Children 1 Official website
Alasdair Gray ArchiveFrankenstein’s Monster
0:00 to 0:03: This is the finest performance of Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” you will ever experience on a computer. Now, it’s possible that sentence means nothing to you, and perhaps the very idea of watching a nine-minute instrumental from 1973 strikes you as ridiculous and irrelevant and weird. If so, that’s a totally reasonable thing to think and feel, and I have no interest in persuading you otherwise.