''Something Leather'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

-in-stories by Alasdair Gray which was published in 1990. Its framing narrative is the story of June's initiation into sado-masochistic activities by the female operators of a

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

clothing shop in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. The four central characters are from different

social group In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties ...

s: June works for the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

; Donalda is a dressmaker, and Senga her employer; and Harry (Harriet) is an aristocratic English artist and

dominatrix A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for inflic ...

. The novel also features a large cast of Glaswegian minor characters across a broad social spectrum, some of the segments reworked from Gray's earlier broadcast material. ''Something Leather'' concludes with a section entitled ''Critic Fuel - An Epilogue'', in which Gray describes the circumstances surrounding the book's development and offers an extended ending. He comments in the Acknowledgements that the title made reviewers treat it as "a sadomasochistic

Lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

adventure story" (these events only take place in the framing Chapters 1 and 12) and that had he called it ''Glaswegians'' they might have paid more attention to the rest of the book. Indeed, when ''Something Leather'' was collected as part of ''Every Short Story 1951-2012'' (Canongate, 2012), the collection was grouped under the title ''Glaswegians'', and some of the stronger sadomasochistic elements were dropped. Gray said that the novel was born out of an attempt to write a story about a woman (an idea he credits to

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trau ...

) since his previous books had been about "men who found life a task they never doubted until an unexpected collision opened their eyes and changed their habits." Since this happens to June in ''Something Leather'', it can be read as a female equivalent to Gray's 1984 novel ''

1982, Janine ''1982, Janine'' is a novel by the Scottish author Alasdair Gray. His second, it was published in 1984, and remains his most controversial work. Its use of pornography as a narrative device attracted much criticism, although others, including ...

''. There are many comparisons to be made between the two novels. The texts have similar multiple openings and conclusions in common with their intertext, ''

Story of O ''Story of O'' (french: Histoire d'O, link=no, ) is an erotic novel published in 1954 by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage, and published in French by Jean-Jacques Pauvert. Desclos did not reveal herself as the autho ...

''. Contrasts include Jock's lesbian fantasy in ''1982, Janine'' taking real form in ''Something Leather'', and apparently inconsequential details such as the prominence of white clothes in the former and black leathers in the latter. __NOTOC__

Reception

Critical reception

The novel received mixed reviews.

Commercial reception

Gray has referred to the book as having "

old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

badly".

References

External links

''Something Leather''
at the ''Lanark 1982'' unofficial Alasdair Gray website {{Alasdair Gray 1990 British novels BDSM literature Leather subculture Novels by Alasdair Gray Novels set in Glasgow Canongate Books books