Kelman, James (1946-…), is a Scottish author known for his novels and short stories about the bleak lives of working-class characters in Glasgow. Critics have praised Kelman for his skill at capturing the sights and sounds of Glasgow and for his rich use of Scottish working-class dialect. However, reviewers have also criticized his extensive use of profanity. Kelman won the Booker Prize for his novel How Late It Was, How Late (1994). The Booker Prize is the United Kingdom’s highest literary award.
The central character in How Late It Was, How Late is Sammy, an unemployed petty thief in Glasgow. He wakes up in a park after a two-day drinking spree, is arrested and brutally assaulted by the police, and wakes up again in a cell, blind. He is pushed out into the rain-soaked streets of Glasgow and spends the rest of the novel stumbling around in a world where authority is always against him. Much of the story is told through the thoughts in Sammy’s head.
Kelman’s first novel was The Busconductor Hines (1984), a study of a bus conductor who hates his job. He is bored with his life and dreams, rather hopelessly, of a better life in the future. Kelman’s next novel, A Chancer (1985), portrays the aimless adventures of a young Glasgow man. A Disaffection (1989) covers a week in the life of Patrick Doyle, a Glasgow schoolteacher. Doyle is a restless daydreamer, bored and lonely. The novel, like Kelman’s other work, is noted for its ability to capture the atmosphere of Glasgow and the anger and frustration of its characters.
Kelman has written several collections of short stories that many critics rate as highly as his novels. The collections include An Old Pub near the Angel (1973), Short Tales from the Nightshift (1978), Not Not While the Giro and Other Stories (1983), Greyhound for Breakfast (1987), and The Burn (1991). Kelman has also written radio and stage plays. His cultural and political essays were collected in Some Recent Attacks (1992).
Kelman was born in Glasgow. He left school at the age of 15 and moved briefly with his family to the United States. He eventually settled in Glasgow.
