Irvine Welsh
Overview
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting
Trainspotting (novel)
Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...

. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life. He has also written plays, screenplays, and directed several short films.
Irvine Welsh was born in Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

, a port area to the east and now part of the Scottish capital Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. His family moved to Muirhouse
Muirhouse
Muirhouse is a district in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is west of Granton and the housing estates of East Pilton and West Pilton, and East of Davidsons Mains...

, in Edinburgh, when he was four, where the family stayed at local housing schemes.
Quotations

That beats any meat injection ... that beats any fuckin cock in the world ... Ali gasps, completely serious. It unnerves us tae the extent that ah feel ma ain genitals through ma troosers tae see if they're still thair.

Alison, after receiving a shot of heroin from Sick Boy, narrated by Renton.

The rhetorical question, the stock-in-trade weapon ay burds and psychos.

"Relapsing: Scotland Takes Drugs in Psychic Defense" (Chapter 2, Story 1)

Life's boring and futile. We start oaf wi high hopes, then we bottle it. We realize that we're aw gaunnae die, withoot really findin oot the big answers. We develop aw they long-winded ideas which jist interpret the reality ay oor lives in different weys, withoot really extending oor body ay worthwhile knowledge, about the big things, the real things. Basically, we live a short, disappointing life; and then we die.

"Relapsing: Cock Problems" (Chapter 2, Story 4)

Funny scene, likesay, how aw the psychos seem tae ken each other, ken what ah means, likes?

"Kicking Again: Na Na and Other Nazis" (Chapter 3, Story 2)

Rents once sais, thirs nothin like a darker skin tone tae increase the vigilance ay the police n the magistrates: too right.

Spud narrating a past conversation with Renton immediately before a race-ignited brawl in a pub.

How many shots does it take before the concept ay choice becomes obsolete?

Blowing It: Courting Disaster" (Chapter 4, Story 1)

Ah wonder if anybody this side of the Atlantic has ever bought a baseball bat with playing baseball in mind.

"Blowing It: Deid Dugs" (Chapter 4, Story 3)

Still, failure, success, what is it? Whae gies a fuck. We aw live, then we die, in quite a short space ay time n aw. That's it; end ay fuckin story.

"Blowing It: House Arrest" (Chapter 4, Story 5)

 
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