Fiction
Dead Iraqis: Selected Short Stories of Ellis Sharp ~ Cuba on the Edge: Short Stories from the Island ~ Four Tales ~ The Spirit Machine and other new short stories from Cameroon ~ Daughters of Eve and other new short stories from Nigeria

Four Tales
John Herdman

Year of Publication: 2000

The four tales at long last brought into print again here are the most substantial fruit of John Herdman's mature work of the late 1960s and early 1970s. While they represent both the development and variety of his style and themes, they also exhibit constancies of preoccupation. Herdman's concerns for questions of the will and self-assertion, with individuals acting in defiance of society, for the investigation of personal hubris and the description of identity crisis, are mediated by influences which range from Kafka to Beckett, Bunyan to Joyce, Nietzsche to Stevenson, Rilke to Hogg. In his critical introduction, specially commissioned for this volume, Macdonald Daly argues that the key to understanding Herdman's work is to recognise also the colossal and ubiquitous presence of Dostoyevsky. This makes Herdman that rare creature - one whose writing of Scotland and the Scottish is refracted through the lens of the European tradition.


You can see the front and end papers of this book, comprising Macdonald Daly's introduction, contents, and bibliographical information on the author (PDF, 170Kb).

John Herdman has written numerous short stories, novellas and novels, among the best of which are Imelda (Polygon, 1993) and Ghost Writing (Black Ace Books, 1996).

"A Truth Lover" is written as though it had been very well translated from the nineteenth-century Russian ... Herdman and his book are much too good to be localised. P. J. Kavanagh
Herdman's psychological ingenuity remains extraordinary ... there are numerous moments when, transferred to Scotland, there sound something like Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground". The Glasgow Herald
Both delightful and remarkable ... Herdman uses language like a virtuoso. Isobel Murray
There is a seriousness at the heart of it, a wide philosophical background, and an acute psycholoigical verity. Catherine Lockerbie
I find "A Truth Lover" the most impressive debut by a Scottish novelist for years. Douglas Eadie
Both brilliant and very moving indeed ... If there is to be any vigorous tradition of novel writing in Scotland then it is this kind of book which will open up that prospect. Archie Hind
Comedy brilliantly essayed ... a potent portrayer of the grotesque ... a kind of exploration of the Scottish soul ... An unforgettable piece of writing. Cuthbert Graham
Both brilliant and very moving indeed ... If there is to be any vigorous tradition of novel writing in Scotland then it is this kind of book which will open up that prospect. Archie Hind
I find "A Truth Lover" the most impressive debut by a Scottish novelist for years. Douglas Eadie

RETAIL DETAIL
ISBN 1-902878-45-0
(Paperback, 160 pages)
£6.99
(posted free by air to anywhere in the world)