My Trainspotting experience was one of the few times that I saw the film before I read the book. And it is also one of the incredibly few times that I consider both items of equal high quality.
Irvine Welsh, for my wager, is as good a writer alive today. Although his settings are fairly specific (in this book it all takes place in the Leith district of Edinburg, Scotland–I assume Leith is a district, please correct me if I am wrong), he has a keen and wide world view. Any type of person can be profound; few are, but never should one think like the Baconites v. Shakespeare. No fancy degree certifies human depth. You would think we would have moved away from such limiting prejudices, but there they still are, all over and just as specious and snobbish as ever.
The structure of the book is a series of short vignettes featuring various people, but it all weaves together brilliantly into one complete tale. The heroin world is a peculiar hell along the border of heaven place, a strange DMZ in which the highest and lowest actions of our race happen simultaneously. There is no bottom floor in that world. The glory of heroin, and the need to at least have enough in you to escape the singular monstrosity of withdrawals make it the Only Thing that Matters. Sure, it’s terrible that the baby is dead in his crib, but give me a hit before I deal with it. And everyone involved understands that way of thinking without question (the baby in the book–apparently–died from SIDS, not neglect–but that is probably not how the Law would look at it.)
And although Welsh gives you a wonderful array of solid characters and harrowing scenes, two things set him especially up on the high. He writes completely in the local idiom, yet even an American such as I am able to get with it. He has his own lilt, like Mr. Shakespeare. And he is goddam funny. His wit flies off his work like gamma rays bursting from a super novae. You cannot create a Spud or a Begbie without a sense of humour, and Mr. Welsh shows that quality with tremendous zeal–and do not get me started on “the worst toilet in Scotland.”
I’m a fairly tough person and grew up with a view from the bottom, but you can see a lot from the low and I feel that anyone should be able to share in Welsh’s wisdom, even though it is most decidedly not Disney.
Image: An old, overcrowded bookshop with higgldypiggledy shelves loaded with volumes. From Pixabay.com
literally stories 
Hi Leila
I like how you point out the view from the lower regions, that bring the most depth from an artist. It would have been a tragedy if Denis Johnson or Raymond Carver were born to wealth.
I’ve never seen the movie, but I definitely want to. The book sounds really good too,
Thanks,
CJA
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Hi CJA
Thank you! I wholeheartedly recommend the book and film. They are funny as hell yet harrowing and tragic all at once–as only the truth can be.
Thanks again!
Leila
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Leila
This is a book and a writer I know about but have never read. Since you’ve mentioned him in other contexts recently I put him on my list and this piece makes me even more excited to explore his work. There’s something about a marginal, desperate, yet hilarious scene that is much more interesting than the cartoonish world of your average billionaire villain. All those super-rich guys are, plain and simple, just so boring. (Hannah Arendt’s phrase “the banality of evil” meant something else but it applies to these clowns in another context.)
I also don’t remember the film very well because when I saw it in the theater when it first came out, I was so drunk I passed out and slept through most of it. Then again, I missed many movies in that manner back in those days.
But I’ve always been aware that Mr. Welsh is there and I’ll be checking out his work in more detail, because of you, not too far in the future.
I’ve also been exploring the work of the short story writer, Harlan Ellison, lately, in greater depth, because of you. I’d love it if you wrote a piece on him one of these days! What a writer, and what a character he is…He wrote over 1,700 short stories, articles, and essays.
Thanks!
Dale
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Hi Dale
Thank you! And I really should thank Hugh (and I will here and now), he was the one who told me about the wide variety of works by Welsh and, as usual, he nailed the topic perfectly.
I agree, there ain’t nothing duller than the cookie cutter super bad guy villain who is flooding the multiplexes anymore. Alan Richman was one of a kind brilliant in that role and we have so many poor copy cats (Gary Oldman is pretty good at it too). Tarantino excels at antiheroes and he really stays away from basic bad guys–even Jules and Vinnie from Pulp Fiction were more anti-heroes than anything. Same with Uma in Kill Bill. He’s what you get when a director loves film–many love money more.
Thanks again! And I hope it is not too bold that I suggest readers to check out your fine work today at Saragun Springs (saragunsprings.com)–you truly and elegantly rule the realm of Sunday!
Leila
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