71-596: Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer is an epistolary novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray , published in 1992. It won the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize the same year. A postmodern retelling of the gothic horror novel “ Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley , the narrative follows the life of Bella Baxter,
142-405: A Frankenstein -like drama set in 19th-century Glasgow. Godwin 'God' Baxter is a scientist who implants a suicide victim with the brain of her own unborn child. It was Gray's most commercially successful work and he enjoyed writing it. The London Review of Books considered it his funniest novel, and a welcome return to form. It won a Whitbread Novel Award and a Guardian Fiction Prize . It
213-642: A 2012 essay. He frequently used the epigram "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" in his books; by 1991, the phrase had become a slogan for Scottish opposition to Thatcherism . The text was engraved in the Canongate Wall of the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh when it opened in 2004. It was referred to by SNP politicians during the 2007 Scottish Parliament election campaign, when they became
284-457: A background of the sadomasochistic sex fantasies that McLeish concocts to distract himself from his misery. Anthony Burgess , who had called Gray "the most important Scottish writer since Sir Walter Scott " on the strength of Lanark , found 1982, Janine "juvenile". The Fall of Kelvin Walker (1985) and McGrotty and Ludmilla (1990) were based on television scripts Gray had written in
355-649: A degree in Design and Mural Painting. That year he won a Bellahouston Travelling scholarship, and intended to use it to paint and see galleries in Spain. A severe asthma attack left him hospitalised in Gibraltar , and he had his money stolen. From 1958–1962 Gray worked part-time as an art teacher in Lanarkshire and Glasgow, and in 1959–1960 he studied teaching at Jordanhill College . Gray married Inge Sørensen,
426-555: A destiny", and the editor, Richard Walker, criticised the scare tactics of the "No" side and stressed that independence was normal. Gray's design, and his and the paper's support for independence, attracted widespread coverage at the time and later. The cover consists of a large thistle surrounded by Scottish saltires . Iain Macwhirter of the Herald wrote that it was "striking", and The National said Gray's image had "galvanised
497-786: A dramatisation of Lanark was performed at the Edinburgh International Festival . was adapted by David Greig and directed by Graham Eatough . (It had previously been dramatised at the festival by the TAG Theatre Company in 1995. ) In June 2015 Gray was seriously injured in a fall, leaving him confined to a wheelchair. He continued to write; the first two parts of his translation of Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy trilogy were published in 2018 and 2019. Alasdair Gray died at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on 29 December 2019,
568-619: A factory making boxes, often went hillwalking , and helped found the Scottish Youth Hostels Association . Gray's mother was Amy (née Fleming), whose parents had moved to Scotland from Lincolnshire because her father had been blacklisted in England for trade union membership. She worked in a clothing warehouse. Alasdair Gray was born in Riddrie in north-east Glasgow on 28 December 1934; his sister Mora
639-442: A foppish lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn, with whom she elopes and embarks on a hedonistic odyssey around Europe , Northern Africa , and Central Asia . This narrative is followed by Bella's refutation of its facts, suggesting that her "poor fool" of a husband has concocted a life for her from the prevailing gothic and romantic motifs of the period: it "positively stinks of all that was morbid in that most morbid of centuries". This
710-773: A freelance artist. His first mural was "Horrors of War" for the Scottish- USSR Friendship Society in Glasgow. In 1964 the BBC made a documentary film, Under the Helmet , about his career to date. Many of his murals have been lost; surviving examples include one in the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant in the West End of Glasgow , and another at Hillhead subway station . His ceiling mural (in collaboration with Robert Salmon, Nichol Wheatley and others for
781-614: A hard-won sense of the complexity of the universe…. His poetic work, especially when dealing with the relationship, or lack thereof, between the sexes, is memorable and disconcerting in the way only good poetry is." Gray was a Scottish nationalist . He started voting for the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the 1970s, as he despaired about the erosion of the welfare state which had provided his education. He believed that North Sea oil should be nationalised. He wrote three pamphlets advocating Scottish independence from
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#1732787833896852-743: A minority government for the first time. In 2001, Gray was narrowly defeated by Greg Hemphill when he stood as the candidate of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association for the post of Rector of the University of Glasgow . A longstanding supporter of the SNP and the Scottish Socialist Party , Gray voted Liberal Democrat at the 2010 general election in an effort to unseat Labour, who he regarded as "corrupted"; by
923-686: A new generation of Scottish writers, including Irvine Welsh , Alan Warner , A. L. Kennedy , Janice Galloway and Iain Banks , and has been called "one of the landmarks of 20th-century fiction", but it did not make Gray wealthy. His 2010 illustrated autobiography A Life in Pictures outlined the parts of Lanark he based on his own experiences: his mother died when he was young, he went to art school, suffered from chronic eczema and shyness, and found difficulty in relationships with women. His first short-story collection, Unlikely Stories, Mostly , won
994-497: A nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for the drama film James White (2015). He portrayed astronaut David Scott in the biographical drama film First Man (2018), and had further supporting roles in the films A Most Violent Year (2014), It Comes at Night (2017), Possessor (2020), Black Bear (2020), and Poor Things (2023). Abbott portrayed Capt. Yossarian in
1065-479: A powerful influence on the young Gray. His family lived on a council estate in Riddrie, and he attended Whitehill Secondary School , where he was made editor of the school magazine and won prizes for Art and English. When he was eleven Gray appeared on BBC children's radio reading from an adaptation of one of Aesop's Fables , and he started writing short stories as a teenager. His mother died of cancer when he
1136-490: A selection of prefaces from books ranging from Cædmon to Wilfred Owen . Gray selected the works, wrote extensive marginal notes, and translated some earlier pieces into modern English. Around 2000, Gray had to apply to the Scottish Artists' Benevolent Association for financial support, as he was struggling to survive on the income from his book sales. In 2001 Gray, Kelman and Leonard became joint professors of
1207-462: A spread of original illustrations, as well as an Introduction and Critical Notes. The bracketing Introduction and Critical Notes feature a meta-textual component, in that they simultaneously exist in the novel’s fictional canon, but are also credited to real-life author Alasdair Gray . The novel is illustrated by Alasdair Gray, despite the text claiming the illustration were created by Scottish painter and printmaker William Strang . The main body of
1278-464: A surgically fabricated woman created in late Victorian Glasgow. Bella’s navigation of late 19th century society is the lens through which Gray delivers social commentary on patriarchal institutions, social equality, socioeconomic matters and sexual politics. The novel itself is epistolary , being composed of a fictional novella entitled “ Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer” , several extended letters,
1349-493: A teen-aged nurse from Denmark, in 1961. They had a son, Andrew, in 1963, and separated in 1969. He had an eight-year relationship with Danish jeweller Bethsy Gray. He was married to Morag Nimmo McAlpine Gray from 1991 until her death in 2014. He lived in Glasgow his entire adult life. After finishing art school, Gray painted theatrical scenery for the Glasgow Pavilion and Citizens Theatre , and worked as
1420-579: A young artist growing up in Glasgow in the 1950s. The other is a dystopia , where the character Lanark visits Unthank, which is ruled by the Institute and the Council, opaque bodies which exercise absolute power. Lanark enters politics believing he can change Unthank for the better, but gets drunk and disgraces himself. Later, when he is dying, his son Sandy tells him "The world is only improved by people who do ordinary jobs and refuse to be bullied." There
1491-495: Is Gray Day, held annually on 25 February in celebration of Gray's life and works. Notes Christopher Abbott Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 10, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his work in independent films. In 2011, Abbott made his feature film debut in Martha Marcy May Marlene and his Broadway debut in the revival of the play The House of Blue Leaves . Abbott received
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#17327878338961562-475: Is a stranger because he's already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But if a city hasn't been used by an artist not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively." Gray's books are mainly set in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland. His work helped strengthen and deepen the development of the Glasgow literary scene away from gang fiction, while also resisting neoliberal gentrification. Gray's work, particularly Lanark , "put Scotland back on
1633-512: Is an epilogue four chapters before the end, with a list of the work's alleged plagiarisms , some from non-existent works. The title page of Book Four, which was used as the cover art on the paperback, was a reference to Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes . Lanark has been compared with Franz Kafka and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell for its atmosphere of bureaucratic threat, and with Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino for its fabulism . It revivified Scottish literature, inspired
1704-404: Is how Abbott got his two first acting jobs off-Broadway . The first play, Good Boys and True , opened in the spring of 2008 and was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Scott Ellis . It followed a scandal at a prep school . Abbott played the lead character's ( Brian J. Smith ) gay best friend, Justin. The second play, Mouth to Mouth , opened in the fall of 2008. The play depicted
1775-448: Is reinforced by the novel's intricate echoes of Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein . These fictitious historical documents are prefaced with an introduction by one Alasdair Gray, who presents himself as the editor of the following text, and relates the "discovery" of the papers by his real-life friends, Michael Donnelly and Elspeth King. The introduction also hosts a critique of Glasgow City Council 's treatment of its culture and heritage in
1846-524: The 2012 Sundance Film Festival , and was released theatrically in the United States on September 7, 2012. Critic Roger Ebert praised the film and Abbott's performance. Abbott gained public recognition for his role as the docile boyfriend of Marnie ( Allison Williams ), Charlie Dattolo in the HBO comedy-drama series Girls . Created by Lena Dunham , the series premiered on April 15, 2012. Abbott quit
1917-517: The 2019 election he was voting Labour as a protest against the SNP for not being radical enough. Gray designed a special front page for the Sunday Herald in May 2014 when it came out in favour of a "Yes" vote in that year's independence referendum , the first and only newspaper to do so. The newspaper described independence as "the chance to alter course, to travel roads less taken, to define
1988-615: The Cheltenham Prize for Literature in 1983. It is a selection of Gray's short fiction from 1951–1983. Gray regarded 1982, Janine , published in 1984, as his best work. Partly inspired by Hugh MacDiarmid 's A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle , the stream-of-consciousness narrative depicts Jock McLeish, a middle-aged Conservative security supervisor who is dependent on alcohol , and describes how people and sectors of society are controlled against their best interests, over
2059-655: The Hulu miniseries Catch-22 (2019) for which he earned a Golden Globe Award nomination. He also acted in the HBO series Girls (2012–2016), the USA Network series The Sinner (2017), and the Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room (2023). Abbott was born in Greenwich, Connecticut , the son of Anna ( née Servidio) and Orville Abbott. He has an older sister, Christina. Abbott's maternal grandmother Angelina
2130-915: The Scottish National Galleries and the Tate . His paintings and prints are also held in Glasgow Museums , the Victoria and Albert Museum , the National Library of Scotland and the Hunterian Museum . In 2014–2015 Dallas devised the Alasdair Gray Season, a citywide celebration of Gray's visual work to coincide with his 80th birthday. The main exhibition, Alasdair Gray: From the Personal to
2201-656: The US Dramatic Category at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014. It was met with mixed to positive reviews. Abbott also co-starred opposite Sam Rockwell and Nina Arianda in the 2014 production of Sam Shepard 's play Fool for Love at the Williamstown Theatre Festival . Abbott received positive reviews for his performance in the Daniel Aukin-directed play. In his second film of 2014, Abbott played
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2272-580: The Òran Mór venue and one at Hillhead subway station . 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
2343-405: The 'Yes' movement". The Sunday Herald' s website doubled its traffic, and the newspaper's sales rose by 31% after it supported "Yes". Despite Scotland narrowly voting against independence, Gray felt the result was more favourable than a narrow Yes win. In 2008, Gray's former student and secretary Rodge Glass published a biography of him, called Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography . Gray
2414-483: The 1960s and 1970s, and describe the adventures of Scottish protagonists in London. Something Leather (1990) explores female sexuality; Gray regretted giving it its provocative title. He called it his weakest book, and he excised the sexual fantasy material and retitled it Glaswegians when he included it in his compendium Every Short Story 1951-2012 . Poor Things (1992) discusses Scottish colonial history via
2485-472: The Creative Writing programme at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities. Gray stood down from the post in 2003, having disagreed with other staff about the direction the programme should take. "Glasgow is a magnificent city," said McAlpin. "Why do we hardly ever notice that?" "Because nobody imagines living here… think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time
2556-719: The Hunter as the film's main villain, which was reported to be the Foreigner . Principal photography began on March 20, 2022. In February 2022, it was announced that Abbott would reteam with John Michael McDonagh in Fear Is The Rider , co-starring Abbey Lee . In May 2022, he signed to star in Justin Anderson 's directorial debut Swimming Home , an adaptation of the Booker Prize -nominated novel of
2627-609: The Kelvingrove Gallery. Gray said that he found writing tiring, but that painting gave him energy. His visual art often used local or personal details to encompass international or universal truths and themes. Gray's first plays were broadcast on radio ( Quiet People ) and television ( The Fall of Kelvin Walker ) in 1968. Between 1972 and 1974 he took part in a writing group organised by Philip Hobsbaum , which included James Kelman , Tom Leonard , Liz Lochhead , Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington . In 1973, with
2698-597: The United Kingdom, noting at the beginning of Why Scots Should Rule Scotland (1992) that "by Scots I mean everyone in Scotland who is eligible to vote." In 2014 he wrote that "the UK electorate has no chance of voting for a party which will do anything to seriously tax our enlarged millionaire class that controls Westminster." Gray described English people living in Scotland as being either "settlers" or "colonists" in
2769-846: The Universal , was held at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum with over 15,000 attending. His first solo London exhibition took place in late 2017 at the Coningsby Gallery in Fitzrovia and the Leyden Gallery in Spitalfields . In 2023, Glasgow Museums acquired Grey's 1964 mural Cowcaddens Streetscape in the Fifties , which the artist described as "my best big oil painting", for display at
2840-552: The auditorium of the Òran Mór theatre and music venue on Byres Road is one of the largest works of art in Scotland and was painted over several years. It shows Adam and Eve embracing against a night sky, with modern people from Glasgow in the foreground. In 1977–1978, Gray worked for the People's Palace museum, as Glasgow's "artist recorder", funded by a scheme set up by the Labour government. He produced hundreds of drawings of
2911-474: The city, including portraits of politicians, people in the arts, members of the general public and workplaces with workers. These are now in the collection at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum . In 2003 Gray began working with gallerist Sorcha Dallas who, over the next 14 years, helped to develop interest in his visual practice, brokering sales to major collections including the Arts Council of England ,
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2982-435: The day after his 85th birthday, following a short illness. He left his body to science and there was no funeral. Nicola Sturgeon , first minister of Scotland, remembered him as "one of the brightest intellectual and creative lights Scotland has known in modern times." Tributes were also paid by Jonathan Coe , Val McDermid , Ian Rankin , Ali Smith and Irvine Welsh. The Guardian referred to him as "the father figure of
3053-743: The inaugural Saltire Society Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Scottish literature. His books are self-illustrated using strong lines and high-impact graphics, a unique and highly recognisable style influenced by his early exposure to William Blake and Aubrey Beardsley , comics, Ladybird Books , and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia , and which has been compared to that of Diego Rivera . He published three collections of poetry; like his fiction, his poems are sometimes-humorous depictions of "big themes" like love, God and language. Stuart Kelly described them as having "a dispassionate, confessional voice; technical accomplishment utilised to convey meaning rather than for its own sake and
3124-566: The limits of friendship and family, and was written by Kevin Elyot and directed by Mark Brokaw . Abbott played the sympathetic 15-year-old son of Laura ( Lisa Emery ). Abbott received positive reviews for both productions. He followed this with guest-starring roles in the comedy series Nurse Jackie and the police procedural series Law & Order: Criminal Intent . In 2010, Abbott co-starred opposite Cristin Milioti and Laila Robins in
3195-466: The literary map", and strongly influenced Scottish fiction for decades. The frequent political themes in his writing argue the importance of promoting ordinary human decency, protecting the weak from the strong, and remembering the complexity of social issues. They are treated in a playfully humorous and postmodern manner, and some stories, especially Lanark , 1982, Janine , and Something Leather , depict sexual frustration. My stories try to seduce
3266-600: The neglect of the city's social history museum, the People's Palace , and a brief mention of Glasgow's time as the European Capital of Culture in 1990, which was the subject of a more sustained satire in his novel Something Leather . Poor Things contains illustrations by Alasdair Gray, which the text claims are by the Scottish etcher and illustrator William Strang . There are also punning additions of fragments of images from Gray's Anatomy . One feature of
3337-564: The novel that has attracted comment is the page of review quotes, featuring a printed erratum strip. Some of these reviews are patently fictitious (such as those from the Skiberdeen Eagle and the Private Nose ) and others are attributed to real publications, but seem so harsh that their authenticity is called into question. A film adaptation of the book was produced with Yorgos Lanthimos directing and Tony McNamara writing
3408-576: The play That Face at the Manhattan Theatre Club . Abbott made his feature film debut in the 2011 drama thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene opposite Elizabeth Olsen . Written and directed by Sean Durkin , the film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January, and had a limited release in the United States on October 21, 2011. It was met with positive reviews. The same year, Abbott made his Broadway debut in
3479-581: The play took place at the Signature Theatre . Abbott's performance received positive reviews and the play was chosen as one of the best plays of 2015 by The New York Times . Abbott starred as the title character in the drama James White opposite Cynthia Nixon , directed by Josh Mond . The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015 and received a theatrical limited release on November 13, 2015. It
3550-548: The reader by disguising themselves as sensational entertainment, but are propaganda for democratic welfare-state Socialism and an independent Scottish parliament. My jacket designs and illustrations—especially the erotic ones—are designed with the same high purpose. Will Self has called him "a creative polymath with an integrated politico-philosophic vision" and "perhaps the greatest living [writer] in this archipelago today". Gray described himself as "a fat, spectacled, balding, increasingly old Glasgow pedestrian". In 2019 he won
3621-610: The renaissance in Scottish literature and art". His works are archived at the National Library of Scotland . Sorcha Dallas was responsible for packing and organising his items posthumously and establishing the Alasdair Gray Archive in March 2020. The Archive is a free community resource caring for Gray's studio and visual and literary materials. It commissions new works, offers access and education opportunities as well as partnering on projects and events. One such event
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#17327878338963692-463: The revival of the play The House of Blue Leaves opposite Ben Stiller and Edie Falco . Directed by David Cromer , the play opened in April 2011. Abbott played the part of the sullen, recently drafted son, Ronnie Shaughnessy, for which Abbott received positive reviews. In 2012, Abbott co-starred opposite Melanie Lynskey in the comedy-drama film Hello I Must Be Going . The film premiered at
3763-568: The same name by Deborah Levy . He has also voiced Reed, an art dealer, in the adult animated music television series Entergalactic, based on the album of the same name by American musician and actor Kid Cudi . The series premiered September 30, 2022, on Netflix . In July 2023 it was announced that Abbott would return to the stage playing Danny in the Off-Broadway revival of the John Patrick Shanley play Danny and
3834-557: The same name . In 2021, Abbott starred in John Michael McDonagh 's The Forgiven , followed by Zachary Wigon 's second feature film Sanctuary in 2022 and Yorgos Lanthimos ' Poor Things in 2023 . In 2023, he also returned to TV in the role of Stan in the Apple TV+ anthology series The Crowded Room , alongside Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried . In March 2022, he joined Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Kraven
3905-534: The script. The cast includes Emma Stone , Mark Ruffalo , Willem Dafoe , Ramy Youssef , Christopher Abbott , Kathryn Hunter , and Jerrod Carmichael . The adaptation was released in theatres on December 8, 2023. The film enjoyed rapturous acclaim, winning several prizes including the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice Film Festival as well as four Academy Awards later that year. Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019)
3976-527: The series after the show’s season-two finale, stating that the reason why he left was because he couldn't relate to the character. He returned to the series for the season 5 episode "The Panic in Central Park" . Before leaving Girls in 2013, Abbott starred in a series of short films opposite model-actress Sheila Márquez for Free People and guest-starred in an episode of the comedy-drama series Enlightened opposite Luke Wilson . After leaving
4047-754: The series' best episodes ever. In the summer of 2016, Abbott co-starred opposite Marisa Tomei in the Trip Cullman production of Tennessee Williams ' play The Rose Tattoo at the Williamstown Theatre Festival , for which Abbott received positive reviews. Abbott co-starred opposite Olivia Cooke in the American independent drama film Katie Says Goodbye , which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival . Abbott starred alongside Joel Edgerton and Riley Keough in Trey Edward Shults 's horror film It Comes at Night , which
4118-446: The series, Abbott returned to the theatre in the fall of 2013 in the play Where We're Born by Lucy Thurber at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater . The Jackson Gay-directed play featured Abbott opposite a cast that included Betty Gilpin . Abbott received positive reviews for his role as Tony. In 2014, Abbott co-starred in the drama film The Sleepwalker , co-written by his good friend Brady Corbet . It premiered in-competition in
4189-431: The support of Edwin Morgan , he received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council to allow him to continue with Lanark . From 1977 to 1979 he was writer-in-residence at the University of Glasgow . Lanark , his first novel, was published in 1981 to great acclaim, and became his best-known work. The book tells two parallel stories. One, the first written, is a Bildungsroman , a realist depiction of Duncan Thaw,
4260-475: The supporting role of Louis Servidio in J. C. Chandor 's crime drama film A Most Violent Year . Starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain , the film had its world premiere at the AFI Fest on November 6, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and received a limited release on December 31, 2014. In the fall of 2015, Abbott played Elias Schreiber-Hoffman in the Annie Baker play John opposite Georgia Engel and Lois Smith . Directed by Sam Gold ,
4331-627: The work centres on Bella Baxter, a woman whose early life and identity are the subject of some ambiguity. That ambiguity is complicated by her husband Archibald McCandless's autobiography Episodes from the Early Life of a Scottish Public Health Officer which distorts the truth about his life with Bella. He claims that she was a corpse, resurrected by McCandless's colleague, scientist Dr Godwin Baxter, who had her brain replaced with that of her unborn fetus , resulting in her having an infant's mind. While designed to be Baxter's companion, her sexual appetite causes her to pursue other men, including McCandless and
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#17327878338964402-552: 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 , including one at
4473-643: Was born in Rosà , a town in the province of Vicenza in Italy. He has described himself as being a "Euro-mutt", with distant Portuguese and Eastern European ancestry. He spent his early years in Chickahominy, a working-class, heavily Italian-American neighborhood in Greenwich, and grew up in Stamford . Abbott worked at a local video store and at his friend's wine store . He attended Norwalk Community College shortly before he began studying acting at HB Studio . He moved to New York City in 2006 to be closer to school. After moving to New York, Abbott began going to large open calls for plays while in school, which
4544-476: Was born two years later. During the Second World War, Gray was evacuated to Auchterarder in Perthshire, and Stonehouse in Lanarkshire. From 1942 until 1945 the family lived in Wetherby in Yorkshire, where his father was running a hostel for workers in ROF Thorp Arch , a munitions factory. Gray frequently visited the public library ; he enjoyed the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and comics like The Beano and The Dandy . Later, Edgar Allan Poe became
4615-494: Was broadly approving of the work. Glass sums up critics' main problems with Gray's writing as their discomfort with his politics, and with his frequent tendency to pre-empt criticism in his work. Glass's book won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2009. In 2014 Gray's autobiography Of Me & Others was released, and Kevin Cameron made a feature-length film Alasdair Gray: A Life in Progress , including interviews with Liz Lochhead and Gray's sister, Mora Rolley. In August 2015
4686-458: Was eighteen; in the same year he enrolled at Glasgow School of Art . As an art student he began what later became his first novel, Lanark , which originally carried the name Portrait of the Artist as a Young Scot . He completed the first book in 1963; it was rejected by the Curtis Brown literary agency. It was originally intended to be Gray's version of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . In 1957 Gray graduated from art school with
4757-399: 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". Gray's father, Alexander, had been wounded in the First World War. He worked for many years in
4828-422: Was later adapted into an award-winning film starring Emma Stone , directed by Yorgos Lanthimos ; the novel was adapted for the screen by Tony McNamara . A History Maker (1994) is set in a 23rd-century matriarchal society in the area around St Mary's Loch , and shows a utopia going wrong. The Book of Prefaces (2000) tells the story of the development of the English language and of humanism , using
4899-406: Was met with positive reviews and Abbott received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead . In 2016, Abbott co-starred in the comedy war film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot , opposite Tina Fey and Martin Freeman , released on March 4, 2016. Abbott also returned for an episode of Girls , in the series' fifth season. The episode was critically acclaimed and lauded as one of
4970-408: Was released on June 9, 2017. He co-starred in Jamie M. Dagg 's 2017 thriller Sweet Virginia , opposite Jon Bernthal , Imogen Poots and Rosemarie DeWitt . He also co-starred opposite Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman in the television series The Sinner , which debuted in 2017. Abbott also starred opposite Mia Wasikowska in Nicolas Pesce 's film Piercing (2018), based on the novel of
5041-436: 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 Scottish 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" (paraphrased from a poem by Canadian poet Dennis Lee ) which
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