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Every Short Story, 1951-2012
Seventy-three short tales from Gray's earlier books are here joined with sixteen new tales Droll & Plausible, all the original illustrations with some new, and endnotes to inform every interested reader.
933 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2012
49 people are currently reading
317 people want to read
About the author
Alasdair Gray
97 books903 followersAlasdair 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 18, 2014
I have this weird thing with Alasdair Gray. When I think of him in an abstract sense, I think he's one of the best British writers alive. But whenever I'm actually reading him, I always have this niggling sense that I'm not enjoying him as much as I think I should be.
Short-format pieces are probably not his forte, and even his biggest fan would have to confess that the quality on display in this collection is wildly variable. At their best they are fascinating and experimental. At their worst, they are shockingly, eye-gougingly, scrotum-tighteningly dull.
The best of the batch is probably his 1990 novel-in-stories, Something Leather, a deft character study in sexual awakening and Scottish class relations. But even here there are problems. Back when it was originally published, he speculated that critics might have understood it better if he'd called it something bland like ‘Glaswegians’ and cut all the dodgy BDSM. Now he makes good on that threat. The stories are indeed gathered as Glaswegians, and in place of the infamous twelfth chapter we have the following full-page notice:
This strikes me as a colossal mis-step. Poorly-disguised sexual fantasy is par for the course when it comes to fiction – almost all writers do it, and the worst it evinces from most readers is a roll of the eyes. But what is genuinely problematic, not to say irritating, is seeing a writer who's embarrassed by their poorly-disguised sexual fantasies. For god's sake don't go around apologising for what you've written, Jesus.
I think in general my favourite stories were the earlier ones, when Gray's writing was more obviously infused with fantastic elements: the best pieces here have an air of the unexpected to them, where the rules of social interaction and the laws of physics all seem dangerously fluid. Unfortunately the later ones devolve into increasingly heavy-handed and trite political fables. They're not even sophisticated enough to be fables: just conversations, really, where people stand around and talk about why socialism is good. By the end I felt like I was being clubbed to death with a pamphlet for the SNP.
What finally dragged it down from three stars to two is the shoddy presentation. This is particularly hard to swallow, since AG's books are, if nothing else, always beautiful objects. But I've never seen a book from a major publisher to have so many errors in it. And I'm not talking a few minor problems – it's the sort of quality you'd be annoyed at in a fanzine from a car-boot sale. Typos are everywhere – ‘pretned’ for ‘pretend’, ‘claves’ for ‘calves’, ‘stachel’ for ‘satchel’, ‘out’ for ‘our’, ‘form’ for ‘from’. Other words are run-on together. Sometimes lines appear to be missing, as in this paragraph:
Elsewhere, lines are printed twice:
On one occasion an entire paragraph which obviously belongs at the top of the page is mistakenly printed at the bottom of it instead. There is even a confusion between its and it's. This is unacceptable; this is illiterate. Gray obviously put a lot of work into the illustrations and layouts for this book, and it's been ruined by fourth-rate editing. I don't know what kind of cuts have been hitting Canongate, but this is not good enough and I only hope the worst of it is corrected for the paperback edition.
Short-format pieces are probably not his forte, and even his biggest fan would have to confess that the quality on display in this collection is wildly variable. At their best they are fascinating and experimental. At their worst, they are shockingly, eye-gougingly, scrotum-tighteningly dull.
The best of the batch is probably his 1990 novel-in-stories, Something Leather, a deft character study in sexual awakening and Scottish class relations. But even here there are problems. Back when it was originally published, he speculated that critics might have understood it better if he'd called it something bland like ‘Glaswegians’ and cut all the dodgy BDSM. Now he makes good on that threat. The stories are indeed gathered as Glaswegians, and in place of the infamous twelfth chapter we have the following full-page notice:
THIS REPLACES EIGHT PAGES OF SADO-MASOCHISTIC MALE FANTASY WHICH NOBODY SHOULD ENJOY.
This strikes me as a colossal mis-step. Poorly-disguised sexual fantasy is par for the course when it comes to fiction – almost all writers do it, and the worst it evinces from most readers is a roll of the eyes. But what is genuinely problematic, not to say irritating, is seeing a writer who's embarrassed by their poorly-disguised sexual fantasies. For god's sake don't go around apologising for what you've written, Jesus.
I think in general my favourite stories were the earlier ones, when Gray's writing was more obviously infused with fantastic elements: the best pieces here have an air of the unexpected to them, where the rules of social interaction and the laws of physics all seem dangerously fluid. Unfortunately the later ones devolve into increasingly heavy-handed and trite political fables. They're not even sophisticated enough to be fables: just conversations, really, where people stand around and talk about why socialism is good. By the end I felt like I was being clubbed to death with a pamphlet for the SNP.
What finally dragged it down from three stars to two is the shoddy presentation. This is particularly hard to swallow, since AG's books are, if nothing else, always beautiful objects. But I've never seen a book from a major publisher to have so many errors in it. And I'm not talking a few minor problems – it's the sort of quality you'd be annoyed at in a fanzine from a car-boot sale. Typos are everywhere – ‘pretned’ for ‘pretend’, ‘claves’ for ‘calves’, ‘stachel’ for ‘satchel’, ‘out’ for ‘our’, ‘form’ for ‘from’. Other words are run-on together. Sometimes lines appear to be missing, as in this paragraph:
She weeps at this, laughing and shaking her head at the same time. He embraces and kisses her, feeling stronger than ever, and for a moment she is almost overwhelmed.
her home after Sam leaves. Even so her mother, sitting before the television set, looks at her closely.
Elsewhere, lines are printed twice:
…straight dispersed my writings to their camerads outside for packeting up of raisins, figs, dates, almonds, caraway and other sweetmeat, while some did kindle pipes of tobacco with a great part while some did kindle pipes of tobacco with a great part thereof, and threw out all the remainder….
On one occasion an entire paragraph which obviously belongs at the top of the page is mistakenly printed at the bottom of it instead. There is even a confusion between its and it's. This is unacceptable; this is illiterate. Gray obviously put a lot of work into the illustrations and layouts for this book, and it's been ruined by fourth-rate editing. I don't know what kind of cuts have been hitting Canongate, but this is not good enough and I only hope the worst of it is corrected for the paperback edition.
January 11, 2013
Read and reviewed only for Tales Droll & Plausible, 131pp of new material. The stories range from the usual rambling nostalgia fare, i.e. ‘The Third Mister Glasgow’ and ‘Billy Semple,’ to contemporary satire, i.e. ‘Late Dinner,’ ‘Whisky and Water,’ and ‘ Gumbler’s Sheaf’ to relationship reflections, i.e. ‘Misogynist’ and ‘Maisie & Henry,’ to SF-infused oddness, i.e. ‘Goodbye Jimmy’ and ‘Voices in the Dark.’ Gray’s straightforward mannered style is present, as charming as ever, yet he remains to the end a mildly comic fantasist: no pathos or power has crept into his OAP writings, excepting perhaps the little frown that ends ‘Gumbler’s Sheaf.’ This enormous, unnecessarily bulky collection also includes a long story-by-story guide by Gray, with recycled autobiographical material from his many other books. My reviews of the other story collections are elsewhere, i.e. here: 1983, 1985, 1990, 1993, 2003. Possibly (but unlikely, mostly) Gray’s final-ever story for you, ‘Ending’:
Having beguiled with fiction until I had none left I resorted to facts, which also ran out. (p900)
Having beguiled with fiction until I had none left I resorted to facts, which also ran out. (p900)
August 6, 2016
Quality fluctuates a lot. This tome for completionists only. Would instead recommend picking up the books this book subsumes if you think their content interests you. Otherwise start with Lanark, maybe try 1982, Janine and I hear Poor Things is good also.
Short story collections this size should never exist, and they certainly shouldn't include every story an author ever wrote. You always start off with the weakest then get tired of the voice about the time the stories get good, and that's difficult to recover from. And a life's work is always such a mishmash of directions and ideas and the temptation is always to read the thing in its entirety but you rarely leave without a headache!
Short story collections this size should never exist, and they certainly shouldn't include every story an author ever wrote. You always start off with the weakest then get tired of the voice about the time the stories get good, and that's difficult to recover from. And a life's work is always such a mishmash of directions and ideas and the temptation is always to read the thing in its entirety but you rarely leave without a headache!
November 27, 2016
BRILLIANT! I'm blown away by Gray's ability to write up unique characters. Of note, there's good ole depressed economy gritty short stories, and then there's a saga set in the BDSM world. Honestly, I loved it all. This is certainly now one of my most prized books.
May 11, 2018
Yup, it's Alasdair Gray alright.
Best read over a prolonged period, or the stories might seem to be a bit redundant.
As a short story collection it's decent, as an insight into the author's work/method it's excellent, and as a demonstration of the progress of a writer from unknown to established to master-class it succeeds admirably.
But, ultimately, either you like Gray's writing or you don't.
Best read over a prolonged period, or the stories might seem to be a bit redundant.
As a short story collection it's decent, as an insight into the author's work/method it's excellent, and as a demonstration of the progress of a writer from unknown to established to master-class it succeeds admirably.
But, ultimately, either you like Gray's writing or you don't.
January 4, 2021
And, very soon, I shall be parting company from this book and thus from its author whom I think I now know better perhaps than I know most people whom I know in real life. I hope I have not humiliated him by praising this wonderful book, as I do.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its conclusions.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its conclusions.
November 10, 2021
I absolutely love Alasdair Gray. Lanark was the best novel I read in 2021! I also enjoyed his short stories a lot, some of them were brilliant, others not so much. But they were all just as strange, eccentric and unusual as one would expect. 🙂And the illustrations are great.
November 20, 2020
There’s some good stories here but the anthology is just too big to read all at once...
February 20, 2023
I liked about half of these stories.
October 31, 2024
A miracle
Read
October 3, 2025I read the 'Tales Droll and Plausible' section. I had already read the rest of the stories included in this book in Alasdair Gray's earlier collections.
May 31, 2016
Gray can be heavy-handed at times; his sense of humour is the sort you have to apply yourself to appreciate; his choice of subjects and scenarios is disputable; but when he shines, he does it so that your eyes hurt.
September 4, 2021
Perhaps you have to be Scottish to fully appreciate these stories but the illustrations are marvelous.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews