Stuart A. Paterson's story about Gillespie
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Author: John MacDougall Hay
SynopsisA book which succeeded where the likes of Scott, Stevenson & Hogg had all partially failed with me - bringing to life a Scottish fictional character whom I wished I'd invented. This is no Scottish kailyard, one-dimensional stereotype clearing the jumps, stumbling before the last then recovering to win it by a nose. Gillespie Strang is, by turns, complex, familiar, otherworldly & simple. The tale of his pursuit of power & the effects on all around him & Gillespie himself makes for difficult but enthralling reading. Published in 1914, but as relevant today as it's ever been. Politics on a pinhead & lives played under a brilliant stylus.
My Story
The novel was recommended to me when I was 21, returned to FE college & prior to Uni. The fellow who advised me to read it had also introduced me to European classics by the likes of Dostoevsky, Maupassant, Kafka, Gogol, Flaubert & Boccaccio. My experience with Scottish novelists was limited to Scott, Stevenson & McIlvanney, & the latter's 'Docherty' had made a fair impression on me, being written by a home-town author & located there. 'Gillespie' blew all of these away & made me view Scottish history in novels in a whole new way. A must-read.
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