Mavis Belfrage

by Alasdair Gray

A collection of stories that describe painful kinds of education, the title story describing how an uninhibited woman educates a prim Scottish lecturer.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, British Literature, 20th Century

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Alasdair James Gray was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, Lanark (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature. His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards.

He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals. His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections. Before Lanark, he had plays performed on radio and TV.

His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works that influenced it. His books inspired many younger Scottish writers, including Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, A.L. Kennedy, Janice Galloway, Chris Kelso and Iain Banks. He was writer-in-residence at the University of Glasgow from 1977 to 1979, and professor of Creative Writing at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities from 2001 to 2003.

Gray was a civic nationalist and a republican, and wrote supporting socialism and Scottish independence. He popularised the epigram "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" (taken from a poem by Canadian poet Dennis Leigh) which was engraved in the Canongate Wall of the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh when it opened in 2004. He lived almost all his life in Glasgow, married twice, and had one son. On his death The Guardian referred to him as "the father figure of the renaissance in Scottish literature and art".

Reviews

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of lovely, if tonically minor keyed, vignettes that all-too-accurately depict the reality of romantic love, post-bubble. Refreshingly free of much purpling, the whole collection hangs well together as reportage from, I paraphrase that Thurston asshole, the psychic heart.

(I still believe Anita Hill)

[Ian Wauchope · Rating 5 out of 5]

The six short stories are a delight to read; and the book is beautifully laid out too.
The easy flowing style allows you to concentrate on the thoughts and feelings of the characters; and those thoughts and feelings can be surprising, and a bit unsettling.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not the sprawling genius of Lanark, it's impressive in the opposite way: clear, dry, coldly quick-witted.

[Paul]

This book is one fairly long short story followed by 5 shorter ones (or Sober ones, as it says on the inside) and they are all delightfully odd. Much like the man was himself. This is Gray at his most immediate and likable. Sharp and funny, and dark at heart, it manages to be very uplifting thanks to Gray's breezy style of writing.
I don't want to go into too much detail about this book, so I won't, but I liked this a lot. A great place to introduce yourself to a wonderful writer.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each story has some very effective points, but ultimately seems unresolved. I don't completely know why I still pursue Alasdair Gray after first reading Poor Things some five or so years ago, but here I am. I guess there's enough insight, and I really appreciate his drawings at times. doesn't seem like slightly polymath-ish and self-taught working class authors like Gray come around much in the twentieth or twenty-first century.

[Zachary Ngow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of stories is composed mostly of the novella 'Mavis Belfrage' but also has shorter stories. I most enjoyed the story after it, 'A Night Off', about a schoolteacher on his 'night off'. That one was quite heartfelt. Another good one 'Money' has a very funny end. 'Mister Goodchild' is a nice story about an old man slightly estranged from his family getting on with strangers. The others, including the title story were good but didn't stand out.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

the last page of the last story hits like a sucker punch

[Simon Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Gray; beautifully and succinctly written; full of humour, insight and humanity.

[Isaac L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great artist, great novelist, but short story was not Alasdair's forte.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tremendous collection of stories drawing upon Alasdair's days as a schoolmaster. Very dour and very Scottish and very weird.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable but unresolved short stories... and intentionally down-hearted, which became a bit depressing. Do enjoy Alasdair Gray though!