Hate Literature

[Graham Rae]

Okay, so it ain't film-related, but take a look at a webs(h)ite of my writings at www.hateliterature.com if you dare. There's a coupla cheesy film scripts there that'll make you laugh, virgin defloration, a William S Burroughs parody, suicide, alcohol, random ramblerantings about worthless contemporary punk and rap lyricists...and even less.

Thank you for your attention during this crash on the disinformation superhighway. Move along now, nothing to see here, nothing to see...

[El Duderino Diablo]

“Reading’s fir poofs” – anonymous, literate Edinburgh taxi driver.

Though I'm sure this will cause you no small amount of disdain but I can't help but to imagine that quote in a Robert Carlyle doing Frank Begby voice.

“I hate books. They’re just full of other people’s…(sneer) ideas” – Anonymous, intelligent ex-female acquaintance tells it the way it is.

I may have dated her spiritual sister. Yikes.

[Graham Rae]

Dude, normally I would go into a rant about Irvine Welsh not representing all Scottish writing and how Trainspotting seems to be the only frame of reference many Americans have for Scotland (to our eternal joy), but the taxi driver was from Edinburgh and it's Christmas so I'm not gonna go off on you. Count yourself lucky.

Those are both real quotes from people. The young woman is now a single mother with two children. Who'd have thought that such an intelligent, temperate, articulate female would end up like that?

I'd personally never have predicted it.

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by Graham Rae
Dude, normally I would go into a rant about Irvine Welsh not representing all Scottish writing and how Trainspotting seems to be the only frame of reference many Americans have for Scotland (to our eternal joy), but the taxi driver was from Edinburgh and it's Christmas so I'm not gonna go off on you. Count yourself lucky.


Well thanks for not going off on me, Graham. I appreciate it. I had a feeling that Begby reference might inspire a little disdain. As a Canadian living on the wrong coast to personally experience the joys of Nova Scotia I'd have to say that my first frame of Scottish referrence would be my high school metal shop teacher, Mr. Redfern whose Glaswegian brogue was thick enough to drown a Peterhead fisherman and who was never impressed by what little Irish gaelic I could still remember and spout out on occasion. Not that he should've been. :shrug:
Keep up the writing, it's good stuff that you have there.

Nollaig Shona

[Graham Rae]

Gollygoshshucksgeewhizz, thanks very much for the compliment, I'm blushing here. Glad you liked what you read. And actually bothered to provide feedback. Quite rare. If you like that stuff, I'm about two-thirds of the way through a book that's way better. But that's future business.

And hey. The thick-and-fastfluidfreakyfuriousfullspeedahead Glaswegian brogue can confuse some Scottish people, never mind a poor Canadian schoolboy, so I wouldn't feel to bad about not understanding it. I come from 25 miles away from Glasgow, directly in between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and still have trouble with my Glaswegian fellow countrymen and what they're saying upon occasion. However, they're warm, wild, witty, wired, genuine people, and much easier to get on with than the snobs of Edinburgh.

Slainte!

G.

[Pete Vonder Haar]

I'll echo The Dude and say that I've enjoyed your site as well. Keep it up.

[Graham Rae]

Pete, thank you for your positive feedback. Much appreciated. And hey. I like your wee signature photo thingie. Made me chuckle in half-remembered memories of Trash Gordon. But hey. The best line in the film easily comes from Brian 'Gentle Giant With His Stereotype Huge Barking Yaps Of Laugh In Every Film' Blessed:

"Gordon's alive!"

You know it.

Cheers,
G.

[El Duderino Diablo]

Did you delete your Trainspotting thread?

Just looking for an appropriate place to mention that while pawing through a stack of unread books I found one by this James Kelman fellow, Greyhound for Breakfast. What's your take on this Kelman fellow?

[Graham Rae]

Yeah, I deleted the Trainspotting thread. Too much personal pain in it.

Kelman? Well, I have to admit...I haven't read anything of his. Many Scottish writers think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and he is constantly quoted as an influence on their work, including Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner. He often writes in dialect from a socialist perspective. A lot of the arts in Scotland are socialist; it's almost an extreme left mafia in that respect out here.

The reason I have not read any Kelman is simple: the subject matter he writes about is (literally) too close to home for me a lot of the time, ie drunks and Scottish pain and chaos. I live in amongst that stuff and frankly don't have the mental energy to run it through my head when I'm meant to be relaxing in the middle of it. The building I live in is full of hardcore drunks with one hash dealer to set them off. I want and need escapism these daze; getting old, y'see. That was one of the things I have to admit I liked in the Dawn remake (indeed in the original): this knotted, gnarled, rotted, inhuman society we all live in had been swept away permanently and evolution could now go on, for good or ill, and things could change.

So read the Kelman and let me know what you think. I'd be interested. But he's held in high critical regard over here in many artistic quarters; think he's a writer-in-residence at Glasgow University, though I may be mistaken. Very intelligent man, though, from what I understand.

But hey. Top Tip: good recent piece of Scottish fiction I recently read is called Sweet And Tender Hooligan (after the old Smiths song) by Ian Pattison. I reviewed it on www.amazon.co.uk. You want a good read, check it out. You'd like it.

G.

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by Graham Rae

The reason I have not read any Kelman is simple: the subject matter he writes about is (literally) too close to home for me a lot of the time, ie drunks and Scottish pain and chaos. I live in amongst that stuff and frankly don't have the mental energy to run it through my head when I'm meant to be relaxing in the middle of it.

I can understand that reasoning. Ten - twelve years ago I was on a Hubert Selby kick, living and working in my city's downtown eastside aka heroin/crack central, easily as bad as Edinburgh and Frankfurt at the time. So, one winter morn I'm sitting at my desk reading Requiem for a Dream. I'm at the part where it's winter, there's no drugs on the streets and human misery is the only thing in abundance. As I read on Selby's descriptions began to get to me. Next thing I know I'm in the grip of an anxiety attack. It was definitely time to put that book away for a couple of days.