Born in 1934, Alasdair Gray graduated in design and mural painting
from Glasgow School of Art. Since 1981, when Lanark was published
by Canongate, he has written, designed and illustrated seven
novels, several books of short stories, a collection of his stage,
radio and TV plays and a book of his visual art, A Life in
Pictures.
In his own words, 'Alasdair Gray is a fat, spectacled, balding, old
Glaswegian pedestrian who has mainly lived by writing and designing
books, most of them fiction.'
Lucid, lyrical, imaginative . . . Purgatory is a finely produced
book, decorated with an exuberant cover by the author
* * Times Literary Supplement * *
An ancient masterpiece glistens again as his lyricism takes flight,
while keeping one foot balanced on solid ground . . . Gray turns
Dante's language into clear English, sometimes with a playful comic
turn . . . Remarkable
* * i * *
Rich in vivid imagery . . . Dante's voice, even when rendered into
English-language prose, resonates across the centuries,
occasionally addressing the reader directly in a thrilling breaking
of the fourth wall. Some cantos even end in a cliffhanger, making
Purgatory surprisingly readable and engaging; this is no stuffy old
classic
* * Herald * *
This slim but handsome volume sees Glasgow author Gray complete
part two of his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy . . . If
you've ever wanted to try the classic, but have been daunted, now
is your chance
* * Sunday Post * *
PRAISE FOR HELL: Alasdair Gray has cast a spell over Dante's Hell,
creating (and decorating) a verse translation that is modern,
lyrical, yet faithful to the original
* * New Statesman, Best Books of 2018 * *
Powerfully conveys the appalling nature of a vision which has
terrified and enthralled Western men and women down the
centuries
* * Times Literary Supplement * *
No other translator has made the narratives so clear or strong, and
the distinctive power of the work lies in the clarity of the
storytelling . . . This Hell is a magnificent feat of reimagining
of one of the greatest of all human creations
* * Herald * *
Slick, easy to read . . . Gray is rather good at catching the
colloquial nature of the poem . . . An excellent primer to Dante .
. . In terms of verve, vim and vigour Gray has succeeded here. It
is, if such a thing can be, an "easy" Dante, and one that does
capture the comedy as well as the pathos and anguish of the
poem
* * Scotsman * *
PRAISE FOR ALASDAIR GRAY: A necessary genius
*ALI SMITH*
The best Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott
*ANTHONY BURGESS*
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