Share
The International Anthony Burgess Foundation Podcast
Ninety-Nine Novels: Lanark by Alasdair Gray
•
In this episode, we’re exploring a parallel universe Glasgow as we talk about Alasdair Gray’s Lanark with writer and biographer Rodge Glass.
Lanark is a strange, experimental book that immediately thrusts the reader into a weird world with glimmers of familiarity. It’s a novel with two stories, that weave around each other but don’t quite come together in an obvious way. It begins with the story of a man called Lanark, whose lonely existence in the city of Unthank is eventually disturbed when his skin begins to grow dragon scales. This story is interrupted by that of Duncan Thaw, who remembers his journey to become an artist, studying at the Glasgow School of Art and struggling to get by painting murals around the city. What, if anything, is the connection between Thaw and Lanark?
Alasdair Gray was born in Riddrie, Glasgow in 1934. He began studying at the Glasgow School of Art in 1953, where he started writing Lanark. He graduated in 1957 and painted murals around Glasgow. Many of his murals have been lost, but some can still be seen around the city. Most famously, his mural at the Òran Mór theatre is the largest public artwork in Scotland. Alongside his career as an artist he wrote nine novels, five collections of short stories, and several works for the theatre. He died in 2019.
Rodge Glass is the author of seven published books across fiction, the graphic novel, the short story and nonfiction, including Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography, which won a Somerset Maugham Award for Nonfiction, and his new book Michel Faber: The Writer & his Work, published by Liverpool University Press in August 2023. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and was the Convener of the 2nd International Alasdair Gray Conference hosted in Glasgow in 2022. He works closely with the Alasdair Gray Archive on creative commissions, academic work and on building Gray's legacy internationally.
-----
BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
By Alasdair Gray:
'The Star' in Unlikely Stories, Mostly (1983)
1982, Janine (1984)
The Fall of Kelvin Walker (1985)
Poor Things (1992)
A Life in Pictures (2009)
By others:
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651)
'The Crystal Egg' in The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories by HG Wells (1897)
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (1939)
Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography by Rodge Glass (2009)
-----
LINKS
Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography by Rodge Glass (affiliate link)
Michel Faber: The Writer & His Work by Rodge Glass (affiliate link)
International Anthony Burgess Foundation
The theme music for the Ninety-Nine Novels podcast is Anthony Burgess’s Concerto for Flute, Strings and Piano in D Minor, performed by No Dice Collective.
-----
If you’ve enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and review wherever you get your podcasts.
More episodes
View all episodes
Ninety-Nine Novels: A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe
55:56|In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess's interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess's list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests.In this episode, we’re exploring the political world of Africa as depicted in A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe. Joining us is Achebe’s biographer Terri Ochiagha.A Man of the People follows Odili, a young teacher who is promised an opportunity to study in England by the extravagant politician Nanga. As Odili is granted access to Nanga’s inner world he grows disillusioned with the corruption and greed of his host and swears to challenge him in an election. But what are Odili’s motives and can he resist the corrupting nature of power?Chinua Achebe was born in 1930 in Nigeria. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, was published in 1958 and its later inclusion in the Heinemann African Writers Series brought him global recognition. He wrote four further novels, with Anthills of the Savannah being nominated for the Booker Prize in 1987. He also published short stories, essays, poetry and several books for children. He died in 2013.Terri Ochiagha is a Lecturer in Global Anglophone Literatures at the University of Edinburgh, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies at Harvard, and a Senior Member of Robinson College, University of Cambridge. Her first book, Achebe and Friends at Umuahia: The Making of a Literary Elite (2015), won the African Studies Association of the UK’s Fage and Oliver Prize. She published A Short History of Things Fall Apart in 2018 and is currently working on two major Achebe projects: his first full length biography, to be published by Princeton University Press, and an edited collection of essays, Achebe in Context, which will be published by Cambridge University Press.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEBy Chinua Achebe:Things Fall Apart (1958)Chike and the River (1966)By others:The Ambassadors by Henry James (1903)The Concubine by Elechi Amadi (1966)-----LINKSAchebe and Friends at Umuahia: The Making of a Literary Elite by Terri Ochiagha (affiliate link).A Short History of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by Terri Ochiagha (affiliate link).International Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation newsletter at SubstackBurgess Foundation affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgDonate to support the Burgess Foundation's charitable work
Ninety-Nine Novels: The Mosquito Coast with Paul Theroux
48:06|In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess's interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess's list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests.In this episode, Andrew Biswell has a wide-ranging conversation with Paul Theroux about his memories of Anthony Burgess, his new book True North, and his 1981 novel The Mosquito Coast.The Mosquito Coast follows Allie Fox, a genius inventor who believes twentieth-century America has become corrupt. He takes his family to Honduras to set up an isolated settlement in the jungle, but Allie’s utopian ideals begin to fall apart when he is faced with hostile weather, disease and bandits. Through the eyes of his son, Charlie, Allie’s attempts to create a new world begin to look a lot like madness.Paul Theroux has written many works of fiction and travel writing, including the modern classics The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, and My Secret History. His most famous novel, The Mosquito Coast, was adapted into a film starring Harrison Ford in 1986, and into a television series starring Justin Theroux in 2021. Paul won the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing 2020. His new book, True North: On the Road in Canada, is out now.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEBy Paul Theroux:The Great Railway Bazaar (1975)The Old Patagonian Express (1979)The Kingdom by the Sea (1983)My Secret History (1989)Burma Sahib (2024)By others:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884)The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James (1903)His Monkey Wife by John Collier (1930)Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess (1956-59)Inside Mr Enderby and Enderby Outside in The Complete Enderby by Anthony Burgess (1963-84)A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess (1964)ABBA ABBA by Anthony Burgess (1977)The Real Life of Anthony Burgess by Andrew Biswell (2005)Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess (1980)-----LINKSTrue North: On the Road in Canada by Paul Theroux (affiliate link)Paul Theroux onlineInternational Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation newsletter at SubstackBurgess Foundation affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgDonate to support the Burgess Foundation's charitable work
Inside Anthony Burgess: Napoleon Symphony
49:28|Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing Burgess’s inspirations, his thematic interests, his literary techniques and more.Napoleon Symphony is one of Anthony Burgess’s most experimental novels. Charting the life of Napoleon Bonaparte from Corsica to Saint Helena, the novel presents a unique vision of post-Revolutionary France and the man who fought to build a French empire through military conquest. Structured around Beethoven’s third symphony, the Eroica, the novel uses myriad voices and a combination of fantasy and reality to portray a man who is both hero and tyrant.Graham Foster and Andrew Biswell enlist to follow Burgess's Napoleon into battle.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEBy Anthony Burgess:The Malayan Trilogy (1956-59)A Clockwork Orange (1962)Nothing Like the Sun (1964)A Vision of Battlements (1965)Tremor of Intent (1966)M/F (1971)The Clockwork Testament (1974)Beard's Roman Women (1976)Moses (1976)ABBA ABBA (1977)Man of Nazareth (1979)Earthly Powers (1980)The End of the World News (1982)Kingdom of the Wicked (1985)A Dead Man in Deptford (1993)By others:In Memoriam by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1850)The Prelude by William Wordsworth (1850)War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1867)The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy (1904-8)-----LINKSInternational Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation Substack NewsletterBuy books at the Burgess Foundation's affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgSupport the Burgess Foundation's charitable work by donating
Inside Anthony Burgess: One Hand Clapping
45:45|Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing Burgess’s inspirations, his thematic interests, his literary techniques and more.At first glance, Burgess’s 1961 novel One Hand Clapping seems very different to everything else he wrote. It is narrated by Janet Shirley, a northern housewife who lives in a council house with her husband Howard. When Howard wins big money on a quiz show their lives change forever, but their newfound wealth brings corruption as well as glamour.Join Andrew Biswell and Graham Foster as they head to the northern town of Bradcaster to discuss one of Burgess's most unexpected novels.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEBy Anthony Burgess:The Malayan Trilogy (1956-59)The Right to an Answer (1960)A Clockwork Orange (1962)Inside Mr Enderby (1963)Tremor of Intent (1966)Beard's Roman Women (1976)Earthly Powers (1980)The Pianoplayers (1986)Little Wilson and Big God (1987)Byrne (1995)By others:The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (1837)Look Back in Anger by John Osborne (1956)Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe (1958)One Hand Clapping adapted by Lucia Cox (2015)-----LINKSInternational Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation Substack NewsletterBuy books at the Burgess Foundation's affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgSupport the Burgess Foundation's charitable work by donating
Inside Anthony Burgess: Tremor of Intent
47:46|Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing Burgess’s inspirations, his thematic interests, his literary techniques and more.Published in 1966, Tremor of Intent is part Cold War espionage thriller, part spoof of the worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carre, and part philosophical discussion of the nature of good and evil. It follows secret agent, Denis Hillier. After years of spying he is past his best, his body is scarred and his espionage skills have softened. He finds himself on a boat headed to Crimea to retrieve a defecting scientist, but his fellow passengers might not be all that they seem…Is it just Burgess's attempt at a James Bond novel? M (Andrew Biswell) and Q (Graham Foster) try to find answers.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEBy Anthony Burgess:The Malayan Trilogy (1956-59)One Hand Clapping (1961)A Clockwork Orange (1962)The Wanting Seed (1962)Inside Mr Enderby (1963)Nothing Like the Sun (1964)A Vision of Battlements (1965)Earthly Powers (1980)A Dead Man in Deptford (1993)By others:Waverley by Walter Scott (1814)Old Mortality by Walter Scott (1816)Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (1939)A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute (1950)Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (1953)On the Beach by Nevil Shute (1957)Slow Horses by Mick Herron (2010)-----LINKSInternational Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation Substack NewsletterBuy books at the Burgess Foundation's affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgSupport the Burgess Foundation's charitable work by donating
Inside Anthony Burgess: You've Had Your Time
39:54|Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing Burgess’s inspirations, his thematic interests, his literary techniques and more.Following on from the previous episode, Andrew Biswell and Graham Foster are back to discussing the life of Anthony Burgess with the second part of what he called his confessions. You’ve Had Your Time was published in 1990, and deals with Burgess’s career as a writer, his self-imposed exile from the country of his birth, his rebirth as an international man of letters, and his encounters with Hollywood, among other things.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:By Anthony Burgess:One Hand Clapping (1961)A Clockwork Orange (1962)The Wanting Seed (1962)Honey for the Bears (1963)The Complete Enderby (1963-84)Nothing Like the Sun (1964)M/F (1971)Napoleon Symphony (1974)Beard's Roman Women (1976)1985 (1978)Earthly Powers (1980)Kingdom of the Wicked (1985)Blooms of Dublin (1986)By others:Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (1930)-----LINKSInternational Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation Substack NewsletterBuy books at the Burgess Foundation's affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgSupport the Burgess Foundation's charitable work by donating
Inside Anthony Burgess: Little Wilson and Big God
52:27|Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing Burgess’s inspirations, his thematic interests, his literary techniques and more.In this episode, Graham Foster joins Andrew Biswell for the first of a two-part tour of Burgess’s life. In 1987, he published volume one of what he called his confessions, Little Wilson and Big God, in which he looks back on the first 42 years of his life, including his early life in Manchester, his experiences of war, and his time as a teacher in Colonial Malaya.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:By Anthony Burgess:The Malayan Trilogy (1956-59)The Eve of St Venus (1964)Beard's Roman Women (1976)Ernest Hemingway and His World (1978)Flame into Being: The Life and Work of D.H. Lawrence (1985)By others:Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (1954)Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin (1989)-----LINKS:International Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation Substack NewsletterBuy books at the Burgess Foundation's affiliate bookshop at Bookshop.orgSupport the Burgess Foundation's charitable work by donating
Inside Anthony Burgess: The Malayan Trilogy
44:32|Inside Anthony Burgess is a podcast that explores the writing of the author of A Clockwork Orange. Taking in both his fiction and non-fiction, we feature one of his books in each episode, discussing Burgess’s inspirations, his thematic interests, his literary techniques and more.This first episode starts at the beginning with The Malayan Trilogy, a sequence which contains Burgess’s first three published novels: Time for a Tiger (1956), The Enemy in the Blanket (1958), and Beds in the East (1959). To discuss these novels Andrew Biswell is joined by Ida Baizura Bahar, senior lecturer in English at Universiti Putra Malaysia.The trilogy tells the story of Victor Crabbe, a teacher in the Colonial Service, who arrives in Malaya to teach at the ‘Eton of the East’. Through Crabbe and the diverse cast of characters surrounding him, Burgess gives a unique view of the colonial experience at the end of Empire.-----BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:By Anthony Burgess:Time for a Tiger (1956)The Enemy in the Blanket (1958)Beds in the East (1959)A Clockwork Orange (1962)You can buy these books at the Burgess Foundation’s affiliate store on Bookshop.org, which helps support our charitable work.-----LINKSBeyond Malaya: Visions of Bangsa Malaysia in The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess by Ida Baizura Bahar International Anthony Burgess FoundationThe Burgess Foundation’s Substack newsletterSupport the Burgess Foundation by donating
Preserving the Anthony Burgess Audio Collection
30:38|In this episode, we are shedding some light on the conservation work currently ongoing in the Anthony Burgess archives. Andrew Biswell speaks with David Govier, an expert in the preservation of audio recordings at Manchester Central Library, who has been exploring ways in which to preserve and digitise the Burgess Foundation’s large collection of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, some of which have not been heard for 50 years.-----LINKSManchester Central Library Sound Archive BlogInternational Anthony Burgess FoundationBurgess Foundation Free Weekly NewsletterBurgess Foundation shop at Bookshop.org