1982, Janine
Published on 16. January 2020
369 pages
978-1-84767-444-9 (ISBN)
Description
A postmodern novel of melancholy memory and erotic fantasy-"a filthy tour de force"-by the acclaimed Scottish author of
Poor Things(
The Washington Post).
1982, Janine is a searing portrait of male need and inadequacy, as explored via the lonely sexual fantasies of Jock McLeish, failed husband, lover, and businessman. Alone in a hotel room, Jock attempts again and again to escape the realities of his life through an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy featuring a woman named Janine. As various memories-from childhood to marriage to his present predicament-invade his imagination, Jock reels through this endlessly inventive black comedy of a man's mind.
An unforgettably challenging book about power and powerlessness, men and women, masters and servants, small countries and big countries, Alasdair Gray's exploration of the politics of pornography has lost none of its power to shock.
" 1982, Janine has a verbal energy, an intensity of vision that has mostly been missing from the English novel since D.H. Lawrence." - New York Times
" 1982, Janine revived my flagging impetus to continue writing myself." -Jonathan Coe, winner of the 2019 Costa Novel Award
1982, Janine is a searing portrait of male need and inadequacy, as explored via the lonely sexual fantasies of Jock McLeish, failed husband, lover, and businessman. Alone in a hotel room, Jock attempts again and again to escape the realities of his life through an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy featuring a woman named Janine. As various memories-from childhood to marriage to his present predicament-invade his imagination, Jock reels through this endlessly inventive black comedy of a man's mind.
An unforgettably challenging book about power and powerlessness, men and women, masters and servants, small countries and big countries, Alasdair Gray's exploration of the politics of pornography has lost none of its power to shock.
" 1982, Janine has a verbal energy, an intensity of vision that has mostly been missing from the English novel since D.H. Lawrence." - New York Times
" 1982, Janine revived my flagging impetus to continue writing myself." -Jonathan Coe, winner of the 2019 Costa Novel Award
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Person
Born in 1934, Alasdair Graygraduated in design and mural painting from the Glasgow School of Art. Since 1981, when Lanark was published by Canongate, he authored, designed and illustrated seven novels, several books of short stories, a collection of his stage, radio and TV plays and a book of his visual art, A Life in Pictures.In November 2019, he received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Saltire Society. He died in December 2019, aged eighty-five.
Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1: This Is A Good Room.
- 2: This Is splendid.
- 3: Damn Sontag For Laying Waste Nearly All My Sexual fantasies.
- 4: I Am Not A Bad Man, I Am A Good Man.
- 5: I Am The Eye By Which The Universe Beholds Itself And Knows It Is divine.
- 6: Bright Tuneful Piano music.
- 7: Cupid And Hugo Are My Favourite Villains.
- 8: I Am Glad i Fell Asleep Before Imagining The Orgasm Race.
- 9: Yahoohay, i Am Lucky.
- 10: To Stop A Mass Dangerously Overheating, Divide It.
- 11: This Is Very Nice.
- 12: Life Was Comfortable But Depressed In The House Where i Was Born.
- 13: Cattle Market
- Epilogue For The Discerning Critic.: 1982 Criticism Of The Foregoing Book
- About the Author
- Copyright
