The fictions of James Kelman are most intriguing when read in terms of the frictions they reveal. This thesis defines these frictions and uses theories of exile, postcoloniality, nationalism, space and the “ordinary” in order to elucidate them. Kelman’s career has been fraught with tensions born of a troubled relationship with the British literary establishment. Kelman puts this down to the censorship and elitism he believes define that establishment, and his self-confessed refusal to conform to its expectations. This thesis considers the perception of exile that has become the vantage point from which he has written about the lives of marginalised characters and through which he deconstructs Scottish identity and the plight of the Glaswegian working classes. This thesis focuses on three of Kelman’s finest works of fiction: How Late It Was, How Late (1994), A Disaffection (1989) and The Busconductor Hines (1984), each of which was written in the period between Margaret Thatcher’s taking office in 1979 and Scotland’s successful devolution in 1997. This period has proved to be a defining one for Scotland and its latter years have been marked by the development of a newly confident sense of Scottish identity which rejects English hegemony as well traditionally parochial notions of Scottishness. This has informed, and been informed by, a new movement within Scottish literature that seeks to relaunch Scottish culture through a rejection of both past frustrations and “couthie” representations of Scotland in favour of more productive explorations of wider human concerns. This thesis makes a case for the key role Kelman has played in this shift, and challenges the widely held perception that his work does little more that mourn a past way of life and expose a relentlessly bleak present.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/279316 |
| Creators | Kirsty Brash |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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