Yobs to Men
The Scottish Lowlands of Irvine Welsh
It might also be said that Glue’s very strength seems to signal that Welsh’s impact on contemporary literature is a done deal. This is not to say, as so many have, that early books like Trainspotting and The Acid House are his best, and the rest have been written on the power of their fumes. For all of Welsh’s ups and downs, his singular and magnificent voice remains a supernatural force, even if the milieu it describes is no longer so intriguingly off the map. If Gluereworks rather than reinvents Welsh’s well-known concerns, it only suggests that the turf he chose for his work is far rangier than it first appeared. If our interest in his inebriated, moody, corrosive world has slacked off, Glue is proof that his definitely hasn’t. So where Trainspotting heralded both an important new voice and a significant mouthpiece for a new, previously unarticulated generation, Glue is a great example of why Welsh caused such a fuss in the first place — and, on its own terms, as thrilling and ambitious a book as Welsh has written.
Dennis Cooper’s most recent book isPeriod. GLUE | By IRVINE WELSH | W.W. Norton | 470 pages | $15 paperback
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