The Sexual Politics of Alasdair Gray’s “Main” Novels

The aim of this article is to examine how the subject of sex figures in the writing of Alasdair Gray, and more specifically in his three major novels: Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981), 1982, Janine (1984), and Poor Things (1992). The argument is that while the theme has so far gone mostly unexplored in scholarly criticism devoted to Gray’s work, it is in fact a dominant element of his literary universe as well as his social and political thought, giving rise to his own unique brand of “sexual politics.” After framing the discussion by briefly commenting on the complexity of modern philosophical, cultural and literary discourses on sex, and the nature of Gray’s artistic vision, the article explores the novels in question, showing them to be profoundly sex-focused and revealing Gray’s own version of the sexual as a deeply political notion.