Issue: 83 - Trocchi and MacDiarmid
“Trocchi has been the victim of more than neglect from his native land. He seems to have failed some kind of secret nationality test.” A spirited essay on the enigmatic Alexander Trocchi by Andrew Murray Scott, ‘Where Extremists Meet’, throws new light on Trocchi’s fall from grace, his demonisation by MacDiarmid and the nationalist poets and their headline-making clash at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival Writer’s Conference, calling for a reassessment of a great talent whose writing offers a unique reflection of Scottish consciousness. RLS Award winner Ian Stephen’s poem-sequence comes from his stay at the Hotel Chevillon in France; and there’s poetry from finalists of Edinburgh Council’s Poetry Day Competition. James Kelman is praised and parodied in ‘For Jimmie Kelboats’ by Michael McCormick – a refreshing look at Scottish fiction and English critics; Gerry Hassan discusses men and masculinity in an increasingly feminist world. Fiction by Margaret Elphinstone, James Robertson, David Black, Helen Lamb and others. New poetry from Sorley MacLean, Jackie Kay, Derick Thomson, Ellie McDonald, Robert Davidson … 104 pp, 1996, ISBN-10: 0-906772-69-9 / ISBN-13: 978-0-906772-69-0 £5.00