Irvine Welsh – A Master of the Linked Novel
Author of Glue, Trainspotting and More Connects the Pieces to Make a Whole
A linked novel is a series of connected stories with the same characters, each standing alone, yet, when put together, tell one cohesive tale, according to author Sara Pritchard, whose first novel, Crackpots (Houghton Mifflin Co., 2003), is a linked novel telling the up-and-down, rambunctious story of Ruby Reese and her unusual family and life.
Irvine Welsh, author of Glue, Filth, Trainspotting, and its sequel Porno, among others, a novella entitled The Acid House, and collections of short stories, including Reheated Cabbage, is a master at the linked novel.
Where Pritchard jumps back and forth in time with the same narrator telling about different facets of her life in chapters that each would stand alone as a short story, Welsh moves forward chronologically with different characters speaking in each chapter.
Basic Elements of a Linked Novel
- Each chapter could be a stand-alone story.
- Chapters contain the same characters.
- The overall effect is a cohesive work that tells a complete story.
Welsh’s Trainspotting, Porno, and Glue are excellent examples of linked novels. Welsh’s unique story-telling mechanisms allow his wickedly sharp humour to slice through each chapter, leaving readers satisfied at the end, as if they had just finished dining on a fine curry, yet wanting more because the writing was so skillful.
Elements of Welsh’s Linked Novels
- Each chapter is told by a different character in the novel.
- This technique allows for different voices, which lend to the wildly humorous effect, to tell each chronological section of the story, which, in Welsh’s novels, usually involves a connected group of people.
- Characters speak in Scottish dialect, a technique that some editors say avoid to the point of death. However, historically speaking, Mark Twain, for example, told excellent stories whilst using dialect. The dialect, in fact, is part of the humour in both Twain’s and Welsh’s writing.
Examples of Different Voices in Trainspotting
The novel Trainspotting (1996, American edition, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.) begins with Mark Renton telling the story of himself and his heroin-addicted companions.
“The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the telly…He wis bringing me doon. Ah tried tae keep my attention oan the Jean-Claude Van Damme video.”
Mark Renton and Sick Boy, called so because he is always sick from heroin withdrawal as well as being a “sick” personality, will soon be trying to score some junk from their dealer, called Mother Superior.
Welsh does not mince words and his writing is indeed controversial.
In a later chapter, called “In Overdrive,” readers hear the continuing story from Sick Boy’s point of view.
“I do wish that ma…chum, the Rent Boy, would stop slavering in ma…ear. There’s a set of VPLs (visible panty lines) on the chicky in front ay us, and all my concentration is required to ensure a thorough examination can be undertaken.”
By using different first-hand voices to move the story forward, Welsh gives readers a thorough sense of each character. Sick Boy wants to be out, chasing women, whilst Mark Renton would rather be inside, watching videos.
The Result of Welsh's Varying Voices
Humour and suspense are increased, because some characters know things that other characters do not, and readers know just enough to be able to follow the action, just what Welsh wants them to know, as the story progresses.
If the story is being told from a particular character’s point of view, and this character is in the dark about something, then the reader gets to be surprised along with the character as the story progresses. This technique gets the reader actively involved in the story, rather than being a passive observer.
Welsh develops the technique of the linked novel to high art with several of his works. Even though his writing is controversial, it is at the same time warm, real, hilarious, disturbing, and yes, comforting as well, because the characters are so human that readers can identify with their triumphs and foibles, even if they have never used heroin or even visited Edinburgh.
The linked novel is the perfect venue for Welsh’s style of rough-and-tumble storytelling, taking readers on a ride they will not soon forget, and giving them characters they will remember for a lifetime.
Irvine Welsh
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