Lanark

Back in the 1950s, a young Alasdair Gray entered a short story in a competition. It came second. That story was part of what would become, nearly 30 years later, the most significant novel in contemporary Scottish literature. Gray went on to be a successful artist and playwright, but he kept working on the novel that would become one of the sensations of 1984.It is the story of Duncan Thaw, growing up in Glasgow, becoming an artist, dying; but the novel opens in Unthank, an afterlife where a man called Lanark learns to negotiate this dark, bleak realm. And after the middle sections that tell us about Thaw, we return to Unthank to find out more not only about this strange city but about all of the literary influences that have helped to construct this amazing story. Honestly, if you havent read it, what are you waiting for? Youve got a real treat in store.It is probably safe to say that without Lanark Iain Banks would not have written The Bridge, Irvine Welsh would not have written Maribou Stork Nightmare, or indeed most of modern Scottish literature as we know it would not exist. Lanark was that important.