Whiteford, Eilidh Macleod (1997) Political Histories, Politicised Spaces: Discourses of Power in the Fiction of Alasdair Gray
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Whiteford, Eilidh MacLeod (1997) Political histories, politicised spaces: discourses of power in the fiction of Alasdair Gray. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2054/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Political Histories, Politicised Soaces: Discourses of Power in the Fiction of Alasdair GLay. Eilidh MacLeod Whiteford PhD Thesis University of Glasgow Department of Scottish Literature December 1997 0 Eilidh M. Whiteford, 1997. 1 Abstract. Critical assessments of Alasdair Gray's work make frequent mention of his postmodern literary strategies and his active engagement with political issues. However, Gray himself is quick to refute claims that he is a postmodern writer, and, although his books are often described as 'political', detailed attention has yet to be paid to the kind of politics Gray espouses. By examining key ideological strands in a range of Alasdair Gray's prose writings (including texts that have attracted little critical interest) and by exploring their central, sometimes unresolved, tensions, this thesis investigates the relationship between literary and political discourses in Gray's work. Attempting to chart the range and extent of Gray's engagement with contemporary issues of political and cultural debate, the five chapters of the thesis demonstrate that Gray's literary techniques are intimately connected to his thematic and political concerns. The thesis draws on a range of critical approaches to address Gray's work, using aspects of post-structuralist, feminist, and postcolonial theories. The first chapter examines autobiographical and semi- autobiographical texts by Gray, opening discussion about his approaches to narrative construction and historiography. It argues that Gray's texts draw attention to their own narrative paradigms and underlying ideological assumptions, and suggests that Gray's destabilization of conventional Western epistemological frameworks unsettles empirical conceptions of human subjectivity and identity, challenging the terms in which personal and national identities can be secured. The discussion of Gray's self- conscious destabilization of categories of identity underlies the questions raised in subsequent chapters. The second chapter highlights Gray's treatment of the hegemonic discourses of imperialism and capitalism. Focusing on his polemical essays and short fiction, the chapter examines the role of literature in imperial processes, the complexities of Scotland's position within imperial discourses, and explores questions of cultural agency and resistance. The third chapter attempts to unite the political critique of the previous chapter with the epistemological troubling of the first, by discussing Gray's three novels set in the specific locale of Glasgow. It argues that Gray's presentations of his native city rely not only on historiographical reconstruction, but also on spatial perspectives; the emphasis he places on multiple perspectives and peripheral views is linked to his political critique of consumer capitalism. The politics of representation remain central to the fourth chapter's discussions of three key ideological 'battlegrounds' in the post-war era: gender, warfare, and electronic media. The chapter tackles Gray's ambivalence towards issues of gendered power relations with reference to two novels. Chapter Five attempts to draw together the ideological strands discussed in earlier chapters in relation to two of Gray's novellas. This final chapter identifies power--in a myriad of forms--as the central concern of Gray's work, and returns to discussion of Gray's engagement with literary discourses. It argues that by locating power in disparate sites, subverting prevailing cultural value systems, and presenting critiques of capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy, Gray's work reframes debates about relations between art and politics; by positing alternative, provisional sources of cultural authority, it offers a radical political vision. 2 Table of Contents. Abstract ............................................ I Table Contents of .................................... 2 Acknowledgments& Declarations 3 .................... Introduction: Shades Gray 5 of .......................... Mapping Critical Territory 7 ....................... Firing Canon? 14 the ............................... Power Postmodernity 24 and ....................... Writing in the Margins 34 ........................... Chapter One: Personal Stories, Histories 48 'Political ......... Personal Experience National History 50 as ........... Personal Historical Agency in Lanark 67 and ........ Unverified Reports 83 ............................. Chapter Two: Re(in)stating Nation 96 the .................. Reconstituting Scottish History 97 ................... Over Border 112 the ............................... The Emperor's New Clothes 122 ..................... Chapter Three: Cultural Cartography 143 .................. Consuming the City 144 ........................... A City in State 156 a ............................... The Anatomy City 177 of a ......................... Chapter Four: Gender Wars 199 .......................... Man Out Time of .............................. 201 Why, Why, Why Delilah? 209 ....................... Games Without Frontiers 215 .............. ........ No More Heroes 225 ............................... Girls Film on .................................. 231 Chapter Five: Telling Tales ........................... 251 Plotting Resistance ............................ 254 Lost Boys Lonely Summits 262 on ................... Grotty Goings-on .............................. 277 Towards Conclusion a ............................... 302 Appendix: An Interview with Alasdair Gray, 1994 306 ...... References and Select Bibliography 323 .................... 3 Acknowledgements. John Keats once said that a long poem is a test of invention. Had he written a thesis he might have had cause to relativise and revise that judgement. However, invention is never as lonely a task as it is sometimes made out to be. One way or another, I have had a lot of help and assistance from various people in the last four years and this is an appropriate moment to acknowledge them. First, I would like to thank Dr. Carol Anderson not only for her exemplary supervision and intellectual stimulus, but also for endless patience, cups of tea, and generous encouragement when the going got tough. Mrs. Joyce Dietz and the other staff of the Scottish Literature Department have helped to make Glasgow University a pleasant place to spend the last few years. I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Crawford and the late Stephen Boyd for their supervision during the first year of my research at St. Andrews University. Both provided me with many valuable insights in those early stages. Thanks, too, to Alasdair Gray himself, not only for allowing me to interview him, but for making a daunting prospect such an entertaining experience. His generosity while writer in residence at St. Andrews in allowing me and Monica Hodges to stage a production of The Loss of the Golden Silence at the Crawford Theatre in April 1994 for the meagre reward of a bottle of Glenlivet, was greatly appreciated, as was the fine sponsorship of the School of English, headed by Dr. Christopher MacLachlan. My parents, Kate and Douglas Whiteford, have worried about my thesis at least as much as I have. They have offered tremendous support throughout, putting up with many angst- ridden 'phone calls, embarrassing conversations with relatives about 'what Eilidh is doing now', and writing cheques whenever necessary without a murmur. It will be no small relief to them when the lang darg is over. Actually, my father is due thanks and blame for the whole project: it was he who lent me his copy of Lanark twelve years ago while on holiday on Arran. You never did book back, Dad--sorry. get your .. Lari Don, who helped proof-read, did a boring and time- consuming job with good grace and for no material reward. That's what friends are for. Any mistakes missed are, of course, my own responsibility. I'd also like to thank Heather Smyth and Teresa Pires, formerly of the University of Guelph, for being veritable walking bibliographies on all things feminist and theoretical-- thanks for the footnotes, guys. Other friends whose help and support I've valued include Jenny Henry, Douglas Hardy, Calum Smith, Gavin Anderson, and Kevin Pringle. 4 Two people, however, have had to live with this thesis at different points during the last four years, and have had to put up with me blethering endlessly about it. The thanks due to them is really immeasurable. I would like to thank Luciano Kovdcs for challenging and expanding my thinking in lots of ways, and for supplying the awesome pasta recipes that fuelled the intellectual hot-house atmosphere of the final stages. And finally, most of all, I would like to thank Sarah Nicholson for caring about my thesis almost as much as her own, for proof-reading,