Of Me and Others

Engraved on the wall outside the Scottish Parliament are the words “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.” Attributed to Alasdair Gray, Scotland’s national treasure, this perfectly exemplifies Gray’s humility, his awareness that his status is a shared one.
This goes some way to explain the title of Gray’s essay collection, Of Me and Others. “I thought this book would turn out to be a ragbag of interesting scraps,” he writes in the foreword, “I now think it has the unity...