Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel
TrainspottingTrainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...
. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life. He has also written plays, screenplays, and directed several short films.
Biography
Irvine Welsh was born in
Leith-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
, a port area to the east and now part of the Scottish capital
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. His family moved to
MuirhouseMuirhouse is a district in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is west of Granton and the housing estates of East Pilton and West Pilton, and East of Davidsons Mains...
, in Edinburgh, when he was four, where the family stayed at local housing schemes. His mother worked as a waitress. His father was a dock worker in Leith until bad health forced him to become a carpet salesman; he died when Welsh was 25. Welsh left
Ainslie Park High SchoolAinslie Park High School was a state secondary school in East Pilton, Edinburgh, Scotland, prior to its demolition.- History :Built at the end of World War II and opened as a school, the building was designed to be used as an emergency hospital, such was the fear of the nuclear bomb being used...
when he was 16 and then completed a City and Guilds course in electrical engineering. He became an apprentice TV repairman until an
electric shockElectric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
persuaded him to move on to a series of other jobs. He left Edinburgh for the London
punkPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene in 1978, where he played
guitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and sang in The Pubic Lice and Stairway 13, the latter a reference to the
Ibrox disasterThe Ibrox disaster refers to two accidents, in 1902 and 1971, which led to major loss of life at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.-First Ibrox disaster:...
. A series of arrests for petty crimes and finally a suspended sentence for trashing a North London community centre inspired Welsh to correct his ways. He worked for
Hackney London Borough CouncilHackney London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council is unusual in the United Kingdom local government system in that its executive function...
in London and studied
computingComputing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
with the support of the
Manpower Services CommissionThe Manpower Services Commission was a non-departmental public body of the Department of Employment Group in the United Kingdom created by Edward Heath's Conservative Government in 1973. The MSC had a remit to co-ordinate employment and training services in the UK through a ten-member commission...
.
In the mid 1980s he became a minor property speculator, renovating houses in the rapidly gentrifying
North LondonNorth London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. After the London property boom of the 1980s, Welsh returned to Edinburgh in late 80s, where he worked for the city council in the housing department. He went on to study for an
MBAThe Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
at
Heriot-Watt UniversityHeriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer....
, writing his thesis on creating equal opportunities for women.
Welsh has made several reading tours around the world and has been involved with his beloved
house musicHouse music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
as a DJ, promoter and producer. Like many of his characters, he supports
HibsHibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
. He met an American woman Beth Quinn, 26, when he was teaching creative writing in Chicago, and they were married in July 2005. He considers the age gap inconsequential. 'I've never felt tied to any one age ... I've never thought "I must find someone a couple of years younger than I am".' Welsh was previously married to Anne Ansty from 1984 until their divorce in 2003.
He currently lives in
Dublin,
IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. In an interview with
The Daily Mail on 7 August 2006, he described himself as "not so much middle-class as upper-class. I'm very much a gentleman of leisure. I write. I sit and look out of my window into the garden. I enjoy books. I love the density and complexity of
Jane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
and
George EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
. I listen to music; I travel. I can go off to a film festival whenever I like." He also describes himself as monogamous: "it sounds boring but it's the way I am".
Fiction
To date, Welsh has published seven novels and three collections of short stories. His first
novelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
,
TrainspottingTrainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...
, was published in 1993, and rumor has it that Welsh wrote it in the breaks while writing his thesis at Heriot-Watt University's Library, second floor. Set in the mid 1980s, it uses a series of loosely connected short stories to tell the story of a group of characters tied together by decaying friendships,
heroin addictionSubstance use disorders include substance abuse and substance dependence. In DSM-IV, the conditions are formally diagnosed as one or the other, but it has been proposed that DSM-5 combine the two into a single condition called "Substance-use disorder"....
and stabs at escape from the oppressive
boredomBoredom is an emotional state experienced when an individual is without any activity or is not interested in their surroundings. The first recorded use of the word boredom is in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, written in 1852, in which it appears six times, although the expression to be a...
and brutality of their lives in the housing schemes. It was released to shock and outrage in some circles and great acclaim in others;
Time Out called it "funny, unflinchingly abrasive, authentic and inventive", and
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
called Welsh "the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades". One critic (Welsh's personal friend
Kevin WilliamsonKevin Williamson is a writer, publisher, and activist originally from Caithness. He is a Scottish socialist and republican and was an activist for the Scottish Socialist Party , and was the architect of their radical drug policy, which includes the legalisation of cannabis and the provision by...
) went so far as to say that
Trainspotting "deserves to sell more copies than The Bible". It was adapted as a play, and a
film adaptationTrainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...
, directed by
Danny BoyleDaniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
and written by John Hodge, was released in 1996. Welsh himself appeared in the film as Mikey Forrester, a minor character. The film was a worldwide success. U.S. Senator
Bob DoleRobert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
decried its supposed moral depravity and glorification of drug use during the 1996 presidential
campaignA political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
, although he admitted that he had not actually seen the film.
The novel has since achieved a cult status, aided by the global success of the film.
Next, Welsh released
The Acid HouseThe Acid House is a 1994 book by Irvine Welsh, later made into a film. It is a collection of short stories, with each story featuring a new set of characters and scenarios.-Stories:...
, a collection of short stories from
Rebel Inc.,
New Writing Scotland and other sources. Many of the stories take place in and around the housing schemes from
Trainspotting, and employ many of the same themes; however, a touch of fantasy is apparent in stories such as
The Acid House, where the minds of a baby and a drug user swap bodies, or
The Granton Star Cause, where
GodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
transforms a man into a
flyTrue flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
as punishment for wasting his life. Welsh himself adapted three of the stories for a later
filmThe Acid House is a film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's short story collection The Acid House. Welsh himself wrote the screenplay, and appears as a minor character in the film.-Plot:...
, which he also appeared in.
Welsh's third book (and second novel),
Marabou Stork NightmaresMarabou Stork Nightmares is a novel by Irvine Welsh.The book's narrative is split into two styles: a conventional first person account of the past and a more surreal, stream of consciousness account of an otherworldly present. Like many of Welsh's novels, its tone veers from black comedy to...
, alternates between a typically grim tale of thugs and schemes in sub-working class Scotland and a hallucinatory adventure tale set in South Africa. Gradually, common themes begin to emerge between the two stories, culminating in a shocking ending.
His next book,
Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical RomanceEcstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance is a collection of three novellas by Irvine Welsh.-Lorraine Goes To Livingston:After suffering a stroke, Rebecca Navarro, a best-selling romance novelist, discovers the truth about her corrupt, pornography-loving husband...
(1996), became his most high-profile work since
Trainspotting, released in the wave of publicity surrounding the film. It consists of three unconnected
novellaA novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
s: the first,
Lorraine Goes To Livingston, is a bawdy satire of classic British
romance novelThe romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
s, the second,
Fortune's Always Hiding, is a revenge story involving
thalidomideThalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
and the third,
The Undefeated, is a sly, subtle romance between a young woman dissatisfied with the confines of her suburban life and an aging clubgoer. Most critics dismissed the first two as relatively minor affairs and focused their praise on
The Undefeated. Welsh's narration imbued both characters with surprising warmth, and the story avoided easy, pro-ecstasy conclusions. The popular alternative band
My Chemical RomanceMy Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
have stated that their bassist Mikey Way got the name for their band from the book's subtitle.
A corrupt police officer and his
tapewormThis article describes the flatworm. For the medical condition, see Tapeworm infection.Cestoda is the name given to a class of parasitic flatworms, commonly called tapeworms, of the phylum Platyhelminthes. Its members live in the digestive tract of vertebrates as adults, and often in the bodies...
served as the narrators for his third novel,
FilthFilth is a novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. A sequel, Crime, was published in 2008.-Plot summary:The plot centres on Bruce Robertson, a Scottish police officer. He is a sex-obsessed, misanthropic man driven by intense hatred...
(1998). Welsh had never avoided flawed characters, but the main character of
Filth was a brutally vicious
sociopathicAntisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
policeman.
GlueGlue is a 2001 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. Glue tells the stories of four Scottish boys over four decades, through the use of different perspectives and different voices...
(2001) was a return to the locations, themes and episodic form of
Trainspotting, telling the stories of four characters spanning several decades in their lives and the bonds that held them together.
Having revisited some of them in passing in
Glue, Welsh brought most of the
Trainspotting characters back for a sequel,
PornoPorno is a novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, and is the sequel to Trainspotting.The book describes the characters of Trainspotting ten years after the events of the earlier book, as their paths cross again, this time with the pornography business as the backdrop rather than heroin use...
, in 2002. In this book Welsh explores the impact of pornography on the individuals involved in producing it, as well as society as a whole, and the impact of aging and maturity in individuals against their will.
The Bedroom Secrets of the Master ChefsThe Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs is the sixth novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh.It has been compared with Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.-Plot summary:...
(2006), deals with a young, alcoholic civil servant who finds himself inadvertently putting a curse on his nemesis, a nerdy co-worker. In 2007, Welsh published
If You Liked School You'll Love WorkIf You Liked School You'll Love Work is a collection of short stories from novelist Irvine Welsh. It was released in the UK on 5 July 2007, and in the U.S...
, his first collection of short stories in over a decade.
At the request of the
Daily Telegraph, Welsh travelled with a group of authors and journalists to the Sudan in 2001. A book called
The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa was the result, to which Welsh contributed a novella called
Contamination, about the violence and warlords in the region. A second book,
The Weekenders: Adventures in Calcutta, was published in 2004. Welsh,
Ian RankinIan Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
, and
Alexander McCall SmithAlexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a Rhodesian-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees...
each contributed a short story for the
One City compilation published in 2005 in benefit of the One City Trust for social inclusion in Edinburgh.
Welsh's most recently published novel is entitled
Crime, whose main character is Ray Lennox (who appeared in Welsh's previous work,
Filth). Detective Inspector Ray Lennox is recovering from a mental breakdown induced by occupational stress and cocaine abuse, and a particularly horrifying child sex murder case back in Edinburgh. The story takes place in Florida.
Welsh is currently writing a prequel to
Trainspotting, to be called
SkagboysSkagboys is the title of an upcoming novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a prequel to his 1993 novel Trainspotting, and its 2002 sequel Porno. It will follow the earlier lives of characters Renton and Sick Boy as they descend into heroin addiction.Welsh on the new novel:...
.
Film and stage
As well as fiction, Irvine Welsh has written several stage plays, including
Headstate,
You'll Have Had Your Hole, and the musical
Blackpool, which featured original songs by
Vic GodardVic Godard is a British singer-songwriter formerly of the punk group Subway Sect. He is now a solo performer.-Biography:Born Vic Knapper in Mortlake c.1959, Godard was raised in Barnes....
of the
Subway SectSubway Sect were one of the original British punk bands. Their influence was limited by the very small amount of recorded material they released.-The early days:...
.
More recently he coauthored
Babylon Heights with his screen writing partner
Dean CavanaghDean Cavanagh is an award-winning artist, screenwriter, film and TV producer and music producer born in Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1966...
. The play premiered in San Francisco at the Exit Theatre and made its European premiere in
Dublin, at
The Mill Theatre Dundrum-Overview:The Mill Theatre, in Dublin, Ireland, was built during the building of the Dundrum Town Centre.-Description:At entrance level there is the box office and gallery, the 2nd floor mezzanine also has gallery space and is the main entrance to the auditorium which is housed on the two floors...
, directed by
Graham CantwellGraham Cantwell is an Irish film and television director. He is best known for directing feature film which achieved a three week domestic cinema release and was nominated for three Irish Film and Television Awards in 2009. His short film A Dublin Story was shortlisted for Academy Award Nomination...
. The plot revolves around the behind-the-scenes antics of a group of Munchkins on the set of
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
. The production included the use of oversized sets with actors of regular stature.
Cavanagh and Welsh have also collaborated on a number of screenplays.
The Meat Trade is based on the 19th century
West Port murdersThe Burke and Hare murders were serial murders perpetrated in Edinburgh, Scotland, from November 1827 to October 31, 1828. The killings were attributed to Irish immigrants William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses of their 17 victims to provide material for dissection...
. Despite the historical source material, Welsh has set the story in the familiar confines of present day Edinburgh, with Burke and Hare depicted as brothers who
steal human organsBody snatching is the secret disinterment of corpses from graveyards. A common purpose of body snatching is to sell the corpses for dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools...
to meet the demands of the global
transplantOrgan transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
market.
Wedding Belles, a film made for Channel 4 that was written by Welsh and Cavanagh, aired at the end of March 2007. The film centres around the lives of four young women, who are played by
Michelle GomezMichelle Gomez is a Scottish actress best known for her comedy roles in Green Wing and The Book Group.-Early life:Her father, originally from Montserrat, was a photographer, while her mother ran a modeling agency...
,
Shirley HendersonShirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .-Early life:...
,
Shauna MacDonaldShauna MacDonald is a Canadian television and film actress and radio announcer.-Life and career:MacDonald was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. She graduated from Dr...
, and Kathleen McDermot. Wedding Belles was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA and was subsequently sold to TV channels in Canada and Europe.
Welsh has directed several short films for bands. In 2001 he directed a 15 minute film for
GeneGene were an English alternative rock quartet that rose to prominence in the mid 1990s. Formed in 1993, they were popularly labelled as a Britpop band and often drew comparisons to The Smiths because of their Morrissey-esque lead singer, Martin Rossiter. Gene's music was influenced by The Jam, The...
's song "Is It Over" which is taken from the album
Libertine. In 2006 he directed a short film to accompany the track "
Atlantic"Atlantic" is a song performed and composed by English alternative rock band Keane and is featured on their second studio album, Under the Iron Sea as the opening track. The cover of the album is also the illustration representing the song in the inner pages of the book-shaped CD+DVD edition...
" from Keane's album
Under the Iron SeaUnder the Iron Sea is the second studio album by English rock band Keane, released in 2006. During its first week on sale in the UK, the album went to #1, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official Chart Company...
.
Welsh directed his first short dramatic film, NUTS, which he co wrote with Cavanagh. The film features
Joe McKinneyJoe McKinney is an Irish stage, screen/television actor and voice-over artist.Dublin-born McKinney trained and worked as a hairdresser for four years, before joining fringe theatre...
as a man dealing with
testicular cancerTesticular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system.In the United States, between 7,500 and 8,000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year. In the UK, approximately 2,000 men are diagnosed each year. Over his lifetime, a man's risk of...
in post
Celtic tigerCeltic Tiger is a term used to describe the economy of Ireland during a period of rapid economic growth between 1995 and 2007. The expansion underwent a dramatic reversal from 2008, with GDP contracting by 14% and unemployment levels rising to 14% by 2010...
Ireland. It was released in 2007.
Welsh co-directed 'The Right to liberty' a chapter of the documentary film
The New Ten CommandmentsThe New Ten Commandments is a feature-length documentary film which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2008.The film was produced by Nick Higgins from Lansdowne Productions and Noémie Mendelle from the Scottish Documentary Institute and has 10 film-chapter directors for each...
in 2008.
In 2009 Welsh directed the film Good Arrows (co-directed by Helen Grace). It was written by Welsh and Cavanagh. The film is about a darts player who suffers from depression which causes him to lose his skill.
Film adaptation
- Trainspotting
Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...
(1996)
- Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy based on The Undefeated from the book "Ecstasy". (2011)
- The Acid House (1998)
The Acid House is a film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's short story collection The Acid House. Welsh himself wrote the screenplay, and appears as a minor character in the film.-Plot:...
Themes
As well as
recreational drug useRecreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, Welsh's
fictionFiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
and
non-fictionNon-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
is dominated by the question of
working classWorking class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
and Scottish identity in the period spanning the 1960s to the present day. Within this, he explores the rise and fall of the council housing scheme, denial of opportunity,
sectarianismSectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
,
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
,
hooliganismHooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
, sex, suppressed
homosexualityHomosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, dance clubs, low-paid work,
freemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
,
Irish republicanismIrish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
,
sodomySodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
, class divisions,
emigrationEmigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
and, perhaps most of all, the humour,
prejudicePrejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
s and axioms of the Scots.
Style
His novels share a number of characters, giving the feel of a "shared universe" within his writing. For example, characters from
Trainspotting make cameo appearances in
The Acid House,
Marabou Stork Nightmares,
Ecstasy,
Filth, and slightly larger appearances in
Glue, whose characters then appear in
Porno.
Irvine Welsh is known for writing in his native Edinburgh
ScotsModern Scots describes the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster from 1700.Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition, whereby successive generations of speakers have adopted more and more features from...
dialect. He generally ignores the traditional conventions of literary Scots, used for example by
Allan RamsayAllan Ramsay was a Scottish poet , playwright, publisher, librarian and wig-maker.-Life and career:...
,
Robert FergussonRobert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson followed an essentially bohemian life course in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish enlightenment...
,
Robert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
,
Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, and
James OrrJames Orr was a poet or rhyming weaver from Ulster also known as the Bard of Ballycarry, who wrote in English and Ulster Scots. He was the foremost of the Ulster Weaver Poets, and was writing contemporaneously with Robert Burns...
. Instead, he transcribes dialects phonetically.
Like
Alasdair GrayAlasdair Gray is a Scottish writer and artist. His most acclaimed work is his first novel Lanark, published in 1981 and written over a period of almost 30 years...
before him, Welsh also experiments with
typographyTypography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
. A notable example is the book
Filth, where the tapeworm's
internal monologueInternal monologue, also known as inner voice, internal speech, or verbal stream of consciousness is thinking in words. It also refers to the semi-constant internal monologue one has with oneself at a conscious or semi-conscious level....
is imposed over the top of the protagonist's own internal monologue (the worm's host), visibly depicting the tapeworm's voracious appetite, much like the 'Climax of Voices' in Gray's novel
1982, Janine1982, Janine is a novel by the Scottish author Alasdair Gray. His second, it was published in 1984, and remains his most controversial work...
.
Novels
- Trainspotting
Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...
(1993)
- Marabou Stork Nightmares
Marabou Stork Nightmares is a novel by Irvine Welsh.The book's narrative is split into two styles: a conventional first person account of the past and a more surreal, stream of consciousness account of an otherworldly present. Like many of Welsh's novels, its tone veers from black comedy to...
(1995)
- Filth
Filth is a novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. A sequel, Crime, was published in 2008.-Plot summary:The plot centres on Bruce Robertson, a Scottish police officer. He is a sex-obsessed, misanthropic man driven by intense hatred...
(1998)
- Glue
Glue is a 2001 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. Glue tells the stories of four Scottish boys over four decades, through the use of different perspectives and different voices...
(2001)
- Porno
Porno is a novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, and is the sequel to Trainspotting.The book describes the characters of Trainspotting ten years after the events of the earlier book, as their paths cross again, this time with the pornography business as the backdrop rather than heroin use...
(2002)
- The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs
The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs is the sixth novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh.It has been compared with Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.-Plot summary:...
(2006)
- Crime
Crime is a 2008 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is the sequel to his earlier novel, Filth.- Plot summary:Detective Inspector Ray Lennox is recovering from a mental breakdown induced by stress and taking drugs, and a child murder case back home in Edinburgh...
(2008)
- Skagboys
Skagboys is the title of an upcoming novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a prequel to his 1993 novel Trainspotting, and its 2002 sequel Porno. It will follow the earlier lives of characters Renton and Sick Boy as they descend into heroin addiction.Welsh on the new novel:...
(2012 - upcoming)
Short story collections
- The Acid House
The Acid House is a 1994 book by Irvine Welsh, later made into a film. It is a collection of short stories, with each story featuring a new set of characters and scenarios.-Stories:...
(1994)
- Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance
Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance is a collection of three novellas by Irvine Welsh.-Lorraine Goes To Livingston:After suffering a stroke, Rebecca Navarro, a best-selling romance novelist, discovers the truth about her corrupt, pornography-loving husband...
(1996)
- If You Liked School You'll Love Work
If You Liked School You'll Love Work is a collection of short stories from novelist Irvine Welsh. It was released in the UK on 5 July 2007, and in the U.S...
(2007)
- Reheated Cabbage
Reheated Cabbage is a collection of short stories by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It was released in the United Kingdom in July 2009.The collection is made up of rare works previously published in magazines and out-of-print anthologies, including a Christmas dinner with Trainspotting's psychotic...
(2009)
Script writing
- You'll Have Had Your Hole
You’ll Have Had Your Hole is Irvine Welsh’s first play. All previous plays by the author were adaptations of his novels.-Reception:The first production of You’ll Have Had Your Hole in February 1998 by the West Yorkshire Playhouse was met with largely negative reviews...
(drama)
- Dose (half Hour BBC drama written with Dean Cavanagh)
- The Acid House
The Acid House is a film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's short story collection The Acid House. Welsh himself wrote the screenplay, and appears as a minor character in the film.-Plot:...
(screenplay)
- Wedding Belles (2007 film for Channel 4 written with Dean Cavanagh)
- Four Play This is a collection of Irvine Welsh's books that have been adapted for the stage. Trainspotting, Marabou, Filth, and Ecstasy.
- Dockers
Dockers is a British feature-length television drama produced for Channel 4 about the struggles of a small group of Liverpool dockers who were sacked and subsequently spent 2 years picketing during the Liverpool Dockers' Strike of 1995 to 1998....
(1999 one-off TV drama for Channel 4, co-written by Jimmy McGovernJimmy McGovern is a BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter from Liverpool.-Early career:McGovern started his career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside in 1982, tackling many social issues such as unemployment.-Successes:...
)
- Nuts (2007 Short film)
- Good Arrows (2009 Film)
- Bad Blood (2005 Short film) Co-written by Irvine Welsh, based on a section of Trainspotting
Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...
External links