• Complain

Alasdair Gray - Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012

Here you can read online Alasdair Gray - Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012 full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2015, publisher: Canongate Books, genre: Prose. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

Alasdair Gray Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012
  • Book:
    Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Canongate Books
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2015
  • Rating:
    5 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 100
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Sixty-four short tales from Grays earlier books are here joined with ten new stories, with illustrations and information to amuse curious readers.

Alasdair Gray: author's other books


Who wrote Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012 — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Alasdair Gray

Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012

UNLIKELY STORIES MOSTLY, EDINBURGH 1983

They passed through the galleries, surveyed the vaults of marble, and examined the chest in which the body of the founder is supposed to have been deposited. They sat down in one of the most spacious chambers to rest for a whille, before they attempted to return.

We have now, said Imlac, gratified our minds with an exact view of the greatest work of man, except the wall of China.

Of the wall it is very easy to assign the motive. It secured a wealthy and timorous nation from the incursions of barbarians. But for the pyramids no reason has ever been given adequate to the cost and labour of the work. It seems to have been erected only in compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys incessantly upon life, and must always be appeased by some employment. He who has built for use till use is supplied, must begin to build for vanity, and extend his plan to the utmost power of human performance that he may not be soon reduced to form another wish.

I consider this mighty structure as a monument to the insufficiency of human enjoyments. A government whose power is unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary wants, is compelled to solace the satiety of dominion by seeing thousands labouring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another.

From RASSELAS by Samuel Johnson

THE STAR

A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an aunt in - photo 1

A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an aunt in - photo 2

A star had fallen beyond the horizon in Canada perhaps He had an aunt in - photo 3

A star had fallen beyond the horizon, in Canada perhaps. (He had an aunt in Canada.) The second was nearer, just beyond the iron works, so he was not surprised when the third fell into the backyard. A flash of gold light lit the walls of the enclosing tenements and he heard a low musical chord. The light turned deep red and went out, and he knew that somewhere below a star was cooling in the night air. Turning from the window he saw that no-one else had noticed. At the table his father, thoughtfully frowning, filled in a football coupon, his mother continued ironing under the pulley with its row of underwear. He said in a small voice, Am gawn out.

His mother said, See youre no long then.

He slipped through the lobby and onto the stairhead, banging the door after him.

The stairs were cold and coldly lit at each landing by a weak electric bulb. He hurried down three flights to the black silent yard and began hunting backward and forward, combing with his fingers the lank grass round the base of the clothes-pole. He found it in the midden on a decayed cabbage leaf. It was smooth and round, the size of a glass marble, and it shone with a light which made it seem to rest on a precious bit of green and yellow velvet. He picked it up. It was warm and filled his cupped palm with a ruby glow. He put it in his pocket and went back upstairs.

That night in bed he had a closer look. He slept with his brother who was not easily wakened. Wriggling carefully far down under the sheets, he opened his palm and gazed. The star shone white and blue, making the space around him like a cave in an iceberg. He brought it close to his eye. In its depth was the pattern of a snow-flake, the grandest thing he had ever seen. He looked through the flakes crystal lattice into an ocean of glittering blue-black waves under a sky full of huge galaxies. He heard a remote lulling sound like the sound in a sea-shell, and fell asleep with the star safely clenched in his hand.

He enjoyed it for nearly two weeks, gazing at it each night below the sheets, sometimes seeing the snow-flake, sometimes a flower, jewel, moon or landscape. At first he kept it hidden during the day but soon took to carrying it about with him; the smooth rounded gentle warmth in his pocket gave comfort when he felt insulted or neglected.

At school one afternoon he decided to take a quick look. He was at the back of the classroom in a desk by himself. The teacher was among the boys at the front row and all heads were bowed over books. Quickly he brought out the star and looked. It contained an aloof eye with a cool green pupil which dimmed and trembled as if seen through water.

What have you there, Cameron?

He shuddered and shut his hand.

Marbles are for the playground, not the classroom. Youd better give it to me.

I cannae, sir.

I dont tolerate disobedience, Cameron. Give me that thing.

The boy saw the teachers face above him, the mouth opening and shutting under a clipped moustache. Suddenly he knew what to do and put the star in his mouth and swallowed. As the warmth sank toward his heart he felt relaxed and at ease. The teachers face moved into the distance. Teacher, classroom, world receded like a rocket into a warm, easy blackness leaving behind a trail of glorious stars, and he was one of them.

THE SPREAD OF IAN NICOL One day Ian Nicol a riveter by trade started to - photo 4

THE SPREAD OF IAN NICOL

One day Ian Nicol, a riveter by trade, started to split in two down the middle. The process began as a bald patch on the back of his head. For a week he kept smearing it with hair restorer, yet it grew bigger, and the surface became curiously puckered and so unpleasant to look upon that at last he went to his doctor. What is it? he asked.

I dont know, said the doctor, but it looks like a face, ha, ha! How do you feel these days?

Fine. Sometimes I get a stabbing pain in my chest and stomach but only in the morning.

Eating well?

Enough for two men.

The doctor thumped him all over with a stethoscope and said, Im going to have you X-rayed. And I may need to call in a specialist.

Over the next three weeks the bald patch grew bigger still and the suggestion - photo 5

Over the next three weeks the bald patch grew bigger still and the suggestion of a face more clearly marked on it. Ian visited his doctor and found a specialist in the consulting room, examining X-ray plates against the light. No doubt about it, Nicol, said the specialist, you are splitting in two down the middle. Ian considered this.

Thats not usual, is it? he asked. Oh, it happens more than you would suppose. Among bacteria and viruses its very common, though its certainly less frequent among riveters. I suggest you go into hospital where the process can complete itself without annoyance for your wife or embarrassment to yourself. Think it over.

Ian thought it over and went into hospital where he was put into a small ward and given a nurse to attend him, for the specialist was interested in the case. As the division proceeded more specialists were called in to see what was happening. At first Ian ate and drank with a greed that appalled those who saw it. After consuming three times his normal bulk for three days on end he fell into a coma which lasted till the split was complete. Gradually the lobes of his brain separated and a bone shutter formed between them. The face on the back of his head grew eyelashes and a jaw. What seemed at first a cancer of the heart became another heart. Convulsively the spine doubled itself. In a puzzled way the specialists charted the stages of the process and discussed the cause. A German consultant said that life was freeing itself from the vicissitudes of sexual reproduction. A psychiatrist said it was a form of schizophrenia, a psycho-analyst that it was an ordinary twinning process which had been delayed by a severe case of prenatal sibling rivalry. When the split was complete, two thin Ian Nicols lay together on the bed.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012»

Look at similar books to Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012»

Discussion, reviews of the book Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-2012 and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.