Scope and Contents

The book consists of Ian McCulloch prints, created from 1986 to 1997, accompanied by eight poems by Alasdair Gray. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents

This book consists of 12 critical texts about the life, art, and literary works by Gray as compiled and edited by Robert Crawford and Thom Nairn. The facing page of the title page depicts a self portrait drawing by Gray rendered in visual poet terms. Four paintings are also reproduced as plates in addition to small drawings scattered throughout the book. There is marginalia from the previous owner -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents The dust jacket depicts a naked self portrait of Gray and a muse that appears to be Morag McAlpine, his wife. The Sackners met them in Glasgow in 2004. Kirkus Reviews stated: "A most curious collection of semiautobiographical stories, from the veteran Scots author (the Whitbread-winner Poor Things, 1993; etc.) and graphic artist. The tales feature different protagonists and narrators, but the dominant one is a long-married (sometimes divorced) male approaching old age, taking stock of his (disappointing) life, and drawing resentful contrasts between vigorous youth and enfeebled age. There are terse, flimsy vignettes like "Pillow Talk," which portrays a husband trying to goad his wife into leaving him; a memory of "failures of common decency" that blighted a schoolboy's childhood ("Sinkings"); and a description of a peace march ("15 February 2003") that's only an excuse for lambasting Bush-and-Blair's Iraq policies. Several stories address the volume's themes more directly, and...

Scope and Contents

This is a play for physically disabled actors. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.