Why Scots Should Rule Scotland

by Alasdair Gray

Written for the 1992 General Election, this book: examined the poor state of present-day Scotland; gave a history of the Scottish people and their relations with the rulers of England; and argued that Scotland should have a strong government elected by its own people. It is five years later and Scotland still does not have that and its state has worsened. The original chapters have been revised and largely rewritten. New chapters dealing with Scottish education, land-owning and law, and the Labour Party bring the arguments to date. Intending to persuade people who feel their vote does not much influence how their country is managed, the book emphasizes that Scottish independence does matter. Alasdair Gray is the author of "Lanark" and "Unlikely Stories Mostly".

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

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

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Clicky Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t need any convincing about the proposition put forward in the title of this one, but I was interested to read it, given that Alasdair Gray was the author. This was originally put together as a pamphlet in 1992, and then expanded into a book, prior to the 1997 General Election (I think). Rather than a focus on the ‘contemporary’ issues facing Scotland, it talks about the history, and how the country and more importantly - its people - have been subjected to the whims and demands of the elite. This actually meant that it’s retained more relevance as time has gone on, because the bits that do talk about ‘current day’ are obviously now out of date. The commentary on the not-yet formed Scottish Parliament was pretty interesting though. This will probably appeal to a slim set of people nowadays, and I just happen to be one of them.

[Gregory Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get through this but it had some great factual writings and opinions from an author I’m very fond of.
The majority of the book is a discussion between the publisher and the author and the ending brings with it a delightful final chapter which is classic and beautiful Gray as you would expect. This final chapter I could read again and again and ranks amongst my favourite parts of Gray: the first couple of chapters in Lanark and the entire novel Poor Things.

[Mya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I fail to understand the point of this book/pamphlet, or at least it wasn't what I imagined it would be, moreover I know too little about British/Scottish history to be able to see the relevance of what was written. It was entirely historical information about the relationship between the English and Scottish. I hoped the book would contain contemporary reason for the independence of Scotland and the ability of Scotland not suffering economically or otherwise from being divided.

[Iain Watson]

Independence: Why Scots Should Rule Scotland (Independence) by Alasdair Gray (1992)