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Trainspotting: work of genius or load ay shite?
Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting offers readers a unique and insightful glance into the lives
of a group of working-class friends living in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1980s. ... Welsh’s ability to accurately portray the lives and thoughts of these characters often borders on genius, and Trainspotting’s place in literary history will only be determined by time; suffice it to say, however, that what Welsh has given us could quite possibly be regarded as a classic in the foreseeable future. ... If we take a closer look at Trainspotting, we can see that its use of an obscure Scottish dialect, its lack of a moral stance, and its overt obsession with the scatological and the abject in fact enhance the novel as a whole, or at the very least, certainly are not legitimate reasons for its removal from all UC
curricula.
Of all the reasons not to teach Trainspotting, the fact that Welsh writes in an obscure, working-class Scottish dialect certainly seems the most ludicrous, considering that its advantages are actually multiple. ...
Shakespeare’s English is so foreign to modern readers that every one of his plays has a more extensive glossary than Trainspotting, yet no one will deny that it’s still English. ... Many find it advantageous to read Trainspotting aloud, and interestingly enough, this same tactic is used by many when reading Shakespeare. Trainspotting does not promote idle reading, and quite simply, it’s interesting, different, and fun to read. ... The fact that Trainspotting neither condones or condemns drug use is one of its strengths, and I don’t see how it encourages any sort of moral relativism. ...
The last charge that has been brought against Trainspotting is perhaps the most problematic, because it’s almost purely subjectively based upon one’s definition of art and its purpose. I will not try to deny the fact that Trainspotting places a lot of emphasis on the scatological and the abject.
Approximate Word count = 1607
Approximate Pages = 6.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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