The Magic Flute
Synopsis
The story of four boys growing up in Glasgow before the days of flower power had penetrated the harsh realities of inner-city life. It portrays the idealism and bigotry of the era between the assassinations of Kennedy and Lennon.
Year of Publication
Review
The poet Norman McCaig may have coined the term Zen Calvinism, but it the Glaswegian born Spence who exemplifies it. This story of four young men's interconnected lives takes in the counterculture of psychedelia and spirituality and the establishment of the army and the twisted orthodoxies of sectarianism, in limpid, graceful language. Spence has a startling capacity for empathy, seen to aching effect here. -- Stuart Kelly
