Children
of Albion Rovers, New Scottish Writing, edited by Kevin
Williamson, 228pp, Overlook Press, 1998, $13.95
Albion Rovers are a soccer team. They are worse than the New England
Revolution. Never mind never making it to the playoffs, they play
in a league so low the playoffs may never have been heard of. The
six novellas in this book showcase writers who fifty years ago would
have had the same chance at being published as Albion Rovers have
of winning the European Cup. In the new post-Trainspotting
world, this is the rage in Scottish writing. There is no upper class,
there is hardly any middle: for truth -- if not beauty -- there
is only the working class.
Of the six Gordon Legge's "Pop Life" and Paul Reekie's
"Submission" are the strongest. The first is a meditation
on growing up and older with the same friends, and how to survive
the changes in each other and fortune. The second is a letter from
one friend at a magazine to another who has sent him a story. It
is rambling and funny and comes to an end without a conclusion.
The other stories are more commonplace: teachers and pupils attempting
sex; drinking and messing around in Edinburgh; Alan Warner's usual
well-written piece; and Irvine Welsh. I've got to admit that one
of Welsh's books was enought to convince me I don't need to read
any more so I missed out on his contribution here, his first science
fiction story.
There are better Scottish writers working in the same vein, such
as James Kelman, Iain Banks, A.L. Kennedy, Andrew Greig, but the
collection stands up as good subway reading.