''Old Men In Love'' is a book by

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and ...

, published by Bloomsbury in 2007. The book purports to be a found manuscript by John Tunnock, which Gray merely edits - from the author's earlier ''

Poor Things ''Poor Things'' is a novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, published in 1992. It won the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize the same year. The novel was called "a magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book" by the '' London ...

'', the writing presented as Tunnock's likewise recycles earlier material by Gray. Tunnock's unfinished trilogy of novels, based on the lives of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, Fra Lippo Lippi and

Henry James Prince The Agapemonites or Community of The Son of Man was a Christianity, Christian Religious denomination, religious group or sect that existed in England from 1846 to 1956. It was named from the el, italic=yes, agapemone meaning "abode of love". Th ...

, are re-workings of earlier stage and television drama by Gray. In the afterword to the novel the literary critic Sidney Workman (a fictitious alter-ego of Gray used in his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

''), points out the novel's themes. ''Old Men In Love'' was met with an ambiguous critical reception, praised for its striking design and criticised for its lack of substance and derivation from earlier material. Writing in the ''Observer'',

James Purdon James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

commented that "In form as well as subject matter, this is probably the most twitchily onanistic fiction since ''

Portnoy's Complaint ''Portnoy's Complaint'' is a 1969 American novel by Philip Roth. Its success turned Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation us ...

''".

References

External links

* BBC Collective interviews Alasdair Gray on ''Old Men In Love'', October 2007 *
Complete article
Novels by Alasdair Gray 2007 British novels Bloomsbury Publishing books {{2000s-sf-novel-stub