Lanark, a modern vision of hell, is set in the disintegrating cities of Unthank and Glasgow and tells the interwoven stories of Lanark and Duncan Thaw. A work of extraordinary imagination and wide range, its playful narrative techniques convey a profound message, both personal and political, about humankind's inability to love, and yet our compulsion to go on trying. Widely recognised as a modern classic, Alasdair Gray's magnum opus was first published in 1981 and immediately established him as one of Britain's leading writers. Comparisons have been made to Dante, Blake, Joyce, Orwell, Kafka, Huxley and Lewis Carroll. This timely new edition should cement his reputation as one of our greatest living writers.
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The Elite Café was entered by a staircase from the foyer of a cinema.CHAPTER 1, The Elite
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(Picador, 1 January 1991, paperback, 576 pages, gift from a friend)
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My battered old copy of Lanark was a gift from a friend I no longer speak to. I still remember reading this book and falling in love with Lanark and Ducan and wondering what the hell I was reading even as it wove a spell on my heart. I've read The Divine Comedy so it's influence is clear in this book. I enjoyed Duncan's sections the most as they are not as strange and surreal as the sections set in Unthank. It takes a while for you to realise Lanark and Duncan are the same person. I love the weirdness of it all. I'd recommend this.
