Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray - Canongate Canons Paperback, Introduction by William Boyd, Scottish Literary Fiction Classic

Details: Condition: New Format: Paperback ISBN: 9781782117148 Publisher: Canongate (Canons) Age Range: Adult Overview Lanark: A Life in Four Books is Alasdair Gray's landmark 1981 novel, reissued here in the Canongate Canons series with an introduction by William Boyd. Widely regarded as one of the most important Scottish novels of the twentieth century, it weaves together the surreal, dreamlike city of Unthank with the realist Glasgow of Duncan Thaw, telling two interlocking stories across four books presented out of chronological order. This new paperback edition brings Gray's daring, genre-blending masterpiece to a new generation of readers. About the Book First published in 1981 after nearly three decades in the making, Lanark immediately established Alasdair Gray as one of Britain's most original literary voices. The novel is structured in four books rather than a conventional linear sequence, split between the fantastical, decaying city of Unthank — where the amnesiac Lanark searches for meaning in a place literally rotting from a mysterious illness — and the grounded, autobiographical story of Duncan Thaw, a young artist growing up in post-war Glasgow. Gray moves fluidly between science fiction, social realism, satire and black comedy, using bureaucratic nightmares and a shape-shifting Glasgow to explore art, illness, love, and the failures of institutions and individuals alike. The prose is by turns playful and devastating, and the book is illustrated throughout with Gray's own distinctive artwork. Iain Banks called it the best in Scottish literature of the century, and it helped spark a renaissance in Scottish fiction that influenced generations of writers. This Canons edition includes a new introduction by acclaimed novelist William Boyd, offering fresh context for readers approaching it for the first time or returning to it anew. Landmark Scottish novel considered a modern classic of world literature Includes a specially commissioned introduction by Willi