the times | Monday November 9 2020 1GT 9
arts
ALAMYsolution too. People want to see the
bad guys locked up; the couple fall in
love, marry and walk off into the
sunset; the bogeyman put to death
with a stake through his heart. The
temptation is for authors to write
into these marketing holes, which is
very conservative and self-censoring
in itself. These resolutions don’t exist
in real life.In the documentary, I try to edit
Filth to be more PC, but it makes no
sense. If you want to explore issues
like racism and misogyny, you want a
racist misogynistic character — not a
liberal. If you’re racist or misogynistic,
you’re condemning yourself to a shit
life. That’s what I wanted to show in
the book, and you can only do that byI wanted to write
something that
would absolutely
repulse me
I’ve never thought of myself as a
prize kind of guy. Even at school I was
never one to win prizes. If they had
given me the Booker prize, it would
have felt insincere. How could these
people possibly like what I’m writing
about: skinheads, junkies, Edinburgh?
When they cancelled me, it felt like a
sincere and visceral reaction. That’s
what you want. You want them to say:
“F***! I hate this. This person is
f***ing ruining my life forcing me to
read this.” I’ve got much more mileage
out of not winning the Booker prize
than if I had won it. You can always
use these things to your advantage.
Art doesn’t really exist as art
nowadays. It exists in a marketplace.
As creatives we are part of the
entertainment industry, and we’ve
been limited by the whole structure.
Being an artist has been hijacked by
people who don’t have any insight. All
they’re interested in is control. The
subversive tools of art have been taken
up by fascists for reactionary reasons.
Writers, for example, used to just
write fiction or nonfiction. Now you
go into a bookshop and it’s romance,
crime, thriller... It’s all about a
into a stage play in a theatre in
Glasgow. The horrendous rape scene,
which is essential to get into mind of
that character, goes on for a couple of
pages in the book — you just skim
through it. But when you see it on
stage, it’s eight minutes. I was like,
“F***. I can’t look at this. How could I
have written this?” It was so shocking
and visceral, but I wrote it as a book
not a stage play.
The interesting thing is that
television, which should be the most
conservative genre, is the most radical
and experimental. It’s where the most
interesting storytelling is taking place.
Some of the early HBO stuff like
The Wire and Six Feet Under really
changed the way that television ismade. If you’re looking for something
that is a bit out there, you’re probably
more likely to find it on TV than in the
cinema or a novel.
One of the reasons we’ve become so
sensitive and so angry about things
comes down to a deeper kind of
existential crisis. Everything’s in flux
and changing so much. We have all
these old antiquated systems to
protect privilege and wealth and we
don’t really have anything that’s fit for
purpose in a modern democracy.
You’ve got contention and cancel-
culture wars all taking place within
this context of massive economic
change, and people aren’t really sure
what’s going on. Hopefully we’ll get
back to good old-fashioned anarchy
again soon.
What the documentary reinforces
for me is that things are rarely about
truth and lies. To try to kind of get
a definitive picture is almost
impossible. All you can do is flag
up as many competing truths as you
can — they all make sense in people’s
different perspectives depending
on background, socialisation and
economic status.
It also reaffirms your belief in
humanity. People get all shouty
and binary on social media, but in
real life, people are generally acting
in good faith.
As told to Jade Cuttle
Offended by Irvine Welsh is on
Sky Arts on November 17 at 10pmhaving a character who’s bought into
this horrible mindset.
I do get offended by the usual things
like sexism, racism, classism — and
inept self-serving politicians who are
wasting time for us all, and who don’t
do anything for the common good. It’s
just a big ego trip. You watch the
American election, and think to
yourself, what the f*** are these old
bastards doing? Like, who cares?
We’ve been made to care. How do
they get into that position, where the
leader is going to be some brain-fried
senile guy in his seventies?
It shouldn’t be like that. But I’ve got
to a point in life where there’s not a lot
that genuinely offends me. As an
author you’re always looking beyond
what people say, to the motivation
underpinning their behaviour. Why
are they lashing out? Why are they so
unhappy in themselves? That’s how I
connect with people — not through
reacting to their abuse. If people take
the piss out of your accent, for
example, you can always tell the
difference between banter and a
hostile, snidey attitude.
One time I wanted to write
something that would absolutely
repulse me, so I tried to write from a
paedophile’s point of view. I thought,
“I’ve got to authenticate this,” so I
went to a sex abusers group and tried
to find some kind of empathy. They
were being counselled by professionals
trying to stop them from reoffending,
and I realised that most had been
abused themselves. They were
incredibly arrogant and entitled, and
felt that since this is something that
has happened to them, they’ve got
rights to do it to someone else.
I couldn’t relate or find empathy, so
I changed the emphasis. I went to sex
abuse survivors groups and they were
much more interesting. The sex
abusers were already dead, and trying
to pass on their death to others
whereas the survivors were moving
into the light all the time, clinging on
to it and looking for life — looking for
a way out from all the negativity that
had been placed on to them, whereas
the abusers were just wallowing in it.
You can’t really offend yourself by
writing a novel though because you
move into a very abstract and
detached mode. I have offended
myself when something’s been adapted
for screen or stage. If you’re reading a
novel, you can put it down. But in the
cinema or theatre you’re bombarded,
things are thrown into your face
whether you like it or not.
I remember when my novel
Marabou Stork Nightmares was turnedI do get offended
by the usual
things: sexism,
racism, classism
Above right: Ewan
McGregor, Jonny Lee
Miller and Kevin
McKidd in the film
of Trainspotting