Alasdair Gray's "Lanark. A Life in Four Books". A truly postmodern work?

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1.3, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar), course: Postmodernism - Theory and Fiction, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to show how Alasdair Gray's famous first novel Lanark fits the postmodern label. Although Alasdair Gray has often been considered the postmodern Scottish writer par excellence, he does not necessarily fit that description, nor does he intend to fit it. In this paper, I will try to show how his famous "Lanark. A Life in Four Books" lives up to a postmodern label, and where it differentiates from it.

For this purpose, I will begin with an outline of the concept of postmodern, paying special attention to developments in Great Britain. This outline can by no means provide a definition and shall only serve as defining guideline, to which I will then compare the most striking aspects of "Lanark" after giving a brief overview of its structure and the progress of its development.