Writing about Scotland seems to offer Welsh a sort of emotional ballast. He lives in Ireland now, but “I still go there a lot and spend a lot of time over there, too. I’ve always seen myself primarily as a Scottish writer. Or not so much a Scottish writer as a Scottish person. I think you just realize that a lot of things you think are kind of so crucial to your identity and who you are, they are, to some extent, but they’re also, to another extent, the furniture. The more you travel, the more you see a common humanity amongst people. The cultural differences are maybe less significant than you gave them credit for when you were younger.”
The UK stories in If You Liked School remind us of Welsh’s talents, and of why he got so popular in the first place. That the US stories fall flat may at least attest to his willingness to write outside his proverbial comfort zone.
And as he’s busying himself with other projects — he’ll soon be making his directorial debut with The Man Who Walks, starring Billy Connolly — this much is for sure: unlike a Balvenie or a Talisker, Irvine Welsh is not mellowing with age. “I’ve always had stories that I wanted to tell,” he says. “The list could be 900. I’ll never have time to write everything I want to write. I’ve just got loads and loads of them. I enjoy writing books.”
Nick Hornby | Brookline Devotion School, 345 Harvard Street in Brookline | Thursday, October 18 | 617.739.6002
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