Just Duffy

Canongate Classics #15

by Robin Jenkins, Margery Palmer McCulloch (Introduction)

In writing Just Duffy, a novel set amidst the urban decay of Lanarkshire, Robin Jenkins has created a modern-day Confession of a Justified Sinner. Convinced of his own rectitude and appalled at the moral squalor around him, Duffy declares war on society. Ridiculous, yet horrifying at the same time, his campaign builds to a terrifying conclusion.

Beset with ambiguity, Duffy is a ferocious indictment of Calvinistic moral certainty, of a struggle for good which results in only evil and destruction. The deeply ironic title bears witness to the mismatch of Duffy's aspiration against his own insignificance. The themes of this novel are central to all Jenkins' work. In its stark simplicity Just Duffy lays claim to being one of his most significant and powerful novels. Its inexorable drive and power bear witness to a modern Greek tragedy played out on a Scottish stage. Introduced by Margery Palmer McCulloch.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Author of a number of landmark novels including The Cone Gatherers, The Changeling, Happy for the Child, The Thistle and the Grail and Guests of War, Jenkins is recognised as one of Scotland's greatest writers. The themes of good and evil, of innocence lost, of fraudulence, cruelty and redemption shine through his work. His novels, shot through with ambiguity, are rarely about what they seem. He published his first book, So Gaily Sings the Lark, at the age of thirty-eight, and by the time of his death in 2005, over thirty of his novels were in print.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only picked this up because it rhymed (just and lust) with a poetry books for the Fall Challenge, but I was gripped by what would happen to the various characters, even the so-called bully. There was a real depth to the mothers, the teachers, the police, everyone portayed had feelings we discovered, whether they expressed them to others or not.

I'd thoroughly recommend it

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as The Cone Gatherers.