Lanark (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Published in his native Scotland in 1981, this has been described as a literary adventure novel, which draws inspiration from sources as wide-ranging as Joyce, Kafka, and Poe to Walt Disney's Pinnochio. Anthony Burgess praised it as one of the 99 best novels of our time.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Written under the influence of World War II, the British welfare state, the Scottish education system, Poe, Carroll, Joyce, Kafka, Pinocchio, and the Bible, this cult classic paints a surreal portrait of the modern world. "It should be widely read" (New York Times). Illustrated by the Author.

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Product Details Paperback: 576 pages Publisher: Mariner Books (May 1, 1996) Language: English ISBN-10: 0156003619 ISBN-13: 978-0156003612 Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,305,213 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in these categories: (What's this?) #4 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Gray, Alasdair #11 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Gray, Alasdair

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	43% buy the item featured on this page: Lanark (Harvest Book) 4.4 out of 5 stars (14)
	32% buy Lanark: A Life in Four Books (Canongate Classics) $16.37
	12% buy 1982, Janine (Canongate Classics) 4.3 out of 5 stars (3) $11.20
	8% buy Lanark: A Life in Four Books (Canongate Classics) 4.5 out of 5 stars (4)

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews 5 star:  (10) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The nearest thing to the Great Scottish Novel., October 24, 1997 By A Customer Dos Passos - USA; Joyce - Ulysses; Perec - Life A Users Manual...each work a sprawling, eccentric and often critical study of the lives, loves, hopes and fears of the people in their country of origin and Gray's work attempts to do the same for Scotland. Published in 1981, he had spent the previous fifteen years working on this sprawling onamasticon which encompasses several literary genres - from Short Story to Novel - and which could be described as being fantasy, science-fiction, autobiography, literary criticism and social realism: but don't let that put you off! This work also manages to be compellingly readable and deeply engaging. Set in a decaying Glasgow (Scotland) at some unspecified time in the future, the book opens on Part Three, where Lanark - the 'hero' - is dragged through a hole in a cemetery wall into a mysterious netherworld - The Institute - where people turn into dragons and nothing is quite what it seems: he rescues a woman from the process of becoming a dragon; he is injured and put into a hospital... he falls into a deep sleep, where he dreams or possibly remembers Parts One and Two. These sections are among the most poignant and beautiful passages of writing about adolescence, describing our hero's relationship with his father and his progress through the Glasgow School of Art in the late 1950s and early 60's, writing comparable with Joyce's 'Portrait of the Artist' in its aposite use of language and image. Part Four returns us to the hospital, where Lanark has woken up and we continue his quest to leave The Institute and return to Glasgow with his new-found love. It wouldn't be fair to give away more than this, but Gray builds the plot by the skillful use of structure (hence the apparently 'wrong-ordering' of the parts), character, often using characters from Scottish history in modern guise, and such post-modern devices as layout, collapsing narratives (at one point, Lanark meets Gray himself) and plagiarisms, all of which are copiously referenced and documented, though the author himself denies the 'post-modern' label. "I don't know what postmodern is," he said in a recent interview "But people always call my books postmodern." Post-modern or not, Alasdair Gray's Lanark is a work of fiction which will appeal to Scotophiles, Ex-pat. Scots, Fantasy Fans, Science-Fiction buffs and anybody who enjoys the brilliance of eccentric experimental writing. 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, but a modern classic., August 16, 1999 By A Customer This book blew my mind. Complex, challenging, but with a whole lot to say about the pain of growing up. It taught me a lot about modern Scotland (lifestyle, attitude), and I figure Gray's fragmented fantasy style must have been a big influence on younger better known Scottish writers (to me anyway) like Iain Banks, A. L. Kennedy and Andrew Crumey who are similar to Gray in some respects. I guess you could call it postmodernism but to me it's simply beautiful writing, told from the heart. This book's not for everyone, but it's a modern classic and an unforgettable journey of the imagination. 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Massively weird, December 2, 2000 By  Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    This book is a lot easier to read than you might think. Folks have compared it to Joyce's Ulysses mostly because of its complicated structure (the parts are numbered Four, Prologue, One, Two, Three, Epilogue, and the last few chapters) and detailing of a single city (Scotland's Glasgow) but the similarities really stop there, though I imagine if you dig fairly deep you can find lots of others. It's a great novel though, definitely the work of someone working from a highly personal visual, everything screams the voice of the author, from the forthright illustrations to the style of the prose in the book. Basically it's the story of Lanark a young man who lives in the strange city of Unthank. After some weird adventures there (and I mean strange . . . if you don't believe me just go read part four and tell me that it's not deeply weird) he winds up hearing the story of the person he apparently used to be . . . a Scottish lad/man named Duncan Thaw. Thaw's parts are almost like an entirely separate novel and take up a good portion of it, his youth is interesting and even though he's not the most likeable character, neither is really anyone else and there's a certain nobility to his unwavering desire to just live life as he sees fit without caring what anyone thinks. The adventures go back to Unthank then and the book gets a little slow in some parts and becomes more surreal and episodic, it's hard to figure out just what's going on in some parts. But Gray has a definite knack for description and a way of conveying complicated tangled and hard to understand emotions (mostly negative ones, it's not a very cheerful novel) in ways that lesser authors would cry for. Some of the characters are distant and cold, and Lanark isn't easy to deal with most of the time, especially toward the end when he becomes a bit ineffectual. But the Epilogue is one of the funniest sections in the book (it's got a list of all the things he plagarized to write the novel listed on the side) and I think a solid influence on the end of Grant Morrison's run on the comic book Animal Man (anyone with me on that?). In fact, I think most Scottish writers that started after this book was published were influenced in some way by it, I can read famed Scot Iain Banks in this book as well, it's a novel that has a foot firmly in the old Scotland while not being so obscure that non-Scots can't read and enjoy it. Well worth your time if you can find it or track it down, if you get past the trappings of "postmodernism" and just read it to enjoy the story, you'll find that there's a rollicking good novel in there, one that you won't be sorry you read.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars amazing This was the first novel I read by Alasdair Gray and i wasn't disappointed in the least bit. The story is incredibly imaginative, always taking a unique turn in a direction i did... Read more Published 1 month ago by J. J. Hoy 5.0 out of 5 stars Playful One of the modern great novels, though certainly a slap in the face to academia (The Institute). Alasdair Gray has read widely and with such thought that he can be so playful with... Read more Published 8 months ago by Sye Sye 3.0 out of 5 stars I did like the book cover though.... I didn't like this book. I didn't like it at all----Well, let me rephrase: I didn't like Books Three or Four in this rambling tetralogy. Read more Published on November 4, 2007 by Daniel Myers 5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark in Scottish literature Maybe more time is needed for literary audience, both Scottish and worldwide, to recognize this book as a new page in history of fiction literature. Read more Published on September 24, 2001 by Anna 5.0 out of 5 stars A legible nightmare Reading Lanark is like reading an alternately baffling and lucid nightmare, the prose taking you places you probably don't want to go, but places that you're morbidly curious... Read more Published on August 27, 2001 by ben jamin 2.0 out of 5 stars Alasdair Gray is a great writer - of short stories As a writer of prose Alasdair Gray cannot be faulted. The problems begin when he attempts to form that prose into a book. Read more Published on October 29, 2000 by Sam Green 2.0 out of 5 stars overrated and pretentious Overall, this book was an ordeal. It's structure is broken up into 4 books, and the first 3 are mildly enjoyable naratives, but the fourth, which purports to tie everything... Read more Published on July 27, 2000 by S. Clark 5.0 out of 5 stars The Interstellar Genius of Gray Lanark - what can I say? This epic is poignant, fantastical and throughly perverse in its twists, turns and general ideology. Read more Published on April 26, 2000 5.0 out of 5 stars Scotland Made Strange Twenty-five years in the making, Alasdair Gray's "Lanark" immediately announced itself as perhaps the 20th century's most significant piece of Scottish fiction... Read more Published on April 13, 2000 by Robert Hamlyn 4.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious novel that works very well. The prose is amazing and implores the reader to savor each line in fear the novel may actually end. The important aspect is Gray's ability to take very heady socialological... Read more Published on November 9, 1998 by [e-mail] Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156003619
• ISBN-13: 978-0156003612
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,305,213 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #4 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Gray, Alasdair
  #11 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Gray, Alasdair

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The nearest thing to the Great Scottish Novel., October 24, 1997

By A Customer

Dos Passos - USA; Joyce - Ulysses; Perec - Life A Users Manual...each work a sprawling, eccentric and often critical study of the lives, loves, hopes and fears of the people in their country of origin and Gray's work attempts to do the same for Scotland.

Published in 1981, he had spent the previous fifteen years working on this sprawling onamasticon which encompasses several literary genres - from Short Story to Novel - and which could be described as being fantasy, science-fiction, autobiography, literary criticism and social realism: but don't let that put you off! This work also manages to be compellingly readable and deeply engaging.

Set in a decaying Glasgow (Scotland) at some unspecified time in the future, the book opens on Part Three, where Lanark - the 'hero' - is dragged through a hole in a cemetery wall into a mysterious netherworld - The Institute - where people turn into dragons and nothing is quite what it seems: he rescues a woman from the process of becoming a dragon; he is injured and put into a hospital... he falls into a deep sleep, where he dreams or possibly remembers Parts One and Two.

These sections are among the most poignant and beautiful passages of writing about adolescence, describing our hero's relationship with his father and his progress through the Glasgow School of Art in the late 1950s and early 60's, writing comparable with Joyce's 'Portrait of the Artist' in its aposite use of language and image.

Part Four returns us to the hospital, where Lanark has woken up and we continue his quest to leave The Institute and return to Glasgow with his new-found love.

It wouldn't be fair to give away more than this, but Gray builds the plot by the skillful use of structure (hence the apparently 'wrong-ordering' of the parts), character, often using characters from Scottish history in modern guise, and such post-modern devices as layout, collapsing narratives (at one point, Lanark meets Gray himself) and plagiarisms, all of which are copiously referenced and documented, though the author himself denies the 'post-modern' label. "I don't know what postmodern is," he said in a recent interview "But people always call my books postmodern."

Post-modern or not, Alasdair Gray's Lanark is a work of fiction which will appeal to Scotophiles, Ex-pat. Scots, Fantasy Fans, Science-Fiction buffs and anybody who enjoys the brilliance of eccentric experimental writing.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, but a modern classic., August 16, 1999

By A Customer

This book blew my mind. Complex, challenging, but with a whole lot to say about the pain of growing up. It taught me a lot about modern Scotland (lifestyle, attitude), and I figure Gray's fragmented fantasy style must have been a big influence on younger better known Scottish writers (to me anyway) like Iain Banks, A. L. Kennedy and Andrew Crumey who are similar to Gray in some respects. I guess you could call it postmodernism but to me it's simply beautiful writing, told from the heart. This book's not for everyone, but it's a modern classic and an unforgettable journey of the imagination.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Massively weird, December 2, 2000

By	Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is a lot easier to read than you might think. Folks have compared it to Joyce's Ulysses mostly because of its complicated structure (the parts are numbered Four, Prologue, One, Two, Three, Epilogue, and the last few chapters) and detailing of a single city (Scotland's Glasgow) but the similarities really stop there, though I imagine if you dig fairly deep you can find lots of others. It's a great novel though, definitely the work of someone working from a highly personal visual, everything screams the voice of the author, from the forthright illustrations to the style of the prose in the book. Basically it's the story of Lanark a young man who lives in the strange city of Unthank. After some weird adventures there (and I mean strange . . . if you don't believe me just go read part four and tell me that it's not deeply weird) he winds up hearing the story of the person he apparently used to be . . . a Scottish lad/man named Duncan Thaw. Thaw's parts are almost like an entirely separate novel and take up a good portion of it, his youth is interesting and even though he's not the most likeable character, neither is really anyone else and there's a certain nobility to his unwavering desire to just live life as he sees fit without caring what anyone thinks. The adventures go back to Unthank then and the book gets a little slow in some parts and becomes more surreal and episodic, it's hard to figure out just what's going on in some parts. But Gray has a definite knack for description and a way of conveying complicated tangled and hard to understand emotions (mostly negative ones, it's not a very cheerful novel) in ways that lesser authors would cry for. Some of the characters are distant and cold, and Lanark isn't easy to deal with most of the time, especially toward the end when he becomes a bit ineffectual. But the Epilogue is one of the funniest sections in the book (it's got a list of all the things he plagarized to write the novel listed on the side) and I think a solid influence on the end of Grant Morrison's run on the comic book Animal Man (anyone with me on that?). In fact, I think most Scottish writers that started after this book was published were influenced in some way by it, I can read famed Scot Iain Banks in this book as well, it's a novel that has a foot firmly in the old Scotland while not being so obscure that non-Scots can't read and enjoy it. Well worth your time if you can find it or track it down, if you get past the trappings of "postmodernism" and just read it to enjoy the story, you'll find that there's a rollicking good novel in there, one that you won't be sorry you read.