Book Review: H.Gustav Klaus's James Kelman

reviewed by anna battista

The Busconductor Hines, James Kelman's first published novel, did not reach the Booker Prize shortlist. Panel Chairman Richard Cobb expressed at the time his shock about this Scottish novel, saying "There is even a novel written entirely in Glaswegian. Lacking a dictionary, I soon gave up." Anne Smith, editor of the then Edinburgh-based Literary Review wondered at the time, what was the point of reading 300 pages about the life of a busconductor in a book "where nothing much happens". A decade later Kelman won the Booker Prize for How Late It Was, How Late, dividing the Booker judges, the critics and the press, yet proving that there definitely was an audience for his books.

Gustav Klaus's biography of Kelman is a slim volume that analyses most of the novels, short stories and plays by this contemporary Scottish author, starting with the early short stories and ending with a short postscript on Kelman's latest work You Have to Be Careful in the Land of the Free.

Klaus' analysis is short, yet comprehensive, as it also mentions Kelman's essays, the use of Glaswegian and the role of realism in his novels and stories and the importance of Translated Accounts, a book deemed by many as impenetrable, though Klaus defines it as an "uncompromisingly experimental novel" in which "Kelman has come a step closer to his declared aim of stripping the narrative of any remnants of elitist subjectivity."

Featuring extensive notes to the text and an excellent bibliography, Klaus's volume might be the ultimate biography for those who want to have a full-understanding of the main themes in James Kelman's works.

{www.northcotehouse.co.uk}