Post-Industrial Hangover and Laddism in Trainspotting

Authors

  • Fabiane Lazzaris Universidade Federal do Pampa
  • Lauro Iglesias Quadrado Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17851/2317-2096.25.3.49-65

Keywords:

Irvine Welsh, contemporary Scottish literature, laddism, drugs

Abstract

This article discusses the impact of the social and political scenario of the last decades of the 20th century on the Scottish literary production, having Irvine Welsh’s novel, Trainspotting (1993) as its object of analysis. It is argued that the existential void made extreme through drug abuse does not constitute the central issue of the work, which is actually the scrutinizing of the feeling of lethargy of a generation deluded by the economic model of late 20th-century post-industrial society. Drugs and the characters’ subsequent inertia in Trainspotting are represented by Welsh as elements of subversion as opposed to the model of a deeply consumerist society. Moreover, massive unemployment ends up creating new social relations among men and women, ensuing a strong wave of self-assurance through sexism, laddism.

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References

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Published

2016-04-28

How to Cite

Lazzaris, F., & Quadrado, L. I. (2016). Post-Industrial Hangover and Laddism in Trainspotting. Aletria: Revista De Estudos De Literatura, 25(3), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.17851/2317-2096.25.3.49-65