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are the new angry young men and women. Not bad
for Scottish fiction. None of these are anywhere near
being homosexual texts, after all, “A text is not homosexual
because there are homosexual characters,
even less because two boys get married at the end:
such texts are only the transposition of traditional
heterosexual narration” (Martin, in Bergman ed.,
1993). Warner and Welsh may be cult reading, but a
Scottish Dennis Cooper has not yet appeared on the
literary scene. These texts do however go some way
towards normalising homosexuality, by acknowledging
that it has a place in mainstream texts as well as
in exclusively gay literature.
Earlier on we asked why this normalisation of homosexuality
was becoming apparent in these texts,
and concluded that it was a necessary reflection of
changed attitudes within the society which they depict
(which of course includes the readers who buy these
books). This is certainly true. There is however another
important function of this phenomenon – subversion.
In Scottish fiction it is apparent that, as Schoene says,
“heterosexual masculinity is still commonly regarded
as ‘the normative gender’ and heterosexual men are still
widely believed to be the only adequate representatives
of our species …straight masculinity is a given that has
hitherto remained undefined.” Warner blatantly rejects
this ridiculous, yet tenacious, notion by having a female
narrator in Morvern Callar, and an almost exclusively
BUY Irvine Welsh books online from and
female cast of characters, including a lesbian central
character, in The Sopranos. Welsh subverts it more
subtly. At first glance, Renton and Brian might seem
to follow the norm of heterosexual masculinity. On
closer inspection, as we have seen, this is not the case.
By giving Brian gay friends, or by allowing Renton a
homosexual encounter, Welsh is in fact undermining
this traditional notion of undefined straight masculinity.
Both authors have therefore challenged the heterosexual
male stereotype so beloved of Scottish writing.
This is part of the reason why these texts are so
important. They do not nod towards any politicised
notion of homosexuality because they have their roots
in a society where people recognise their unequivocal
right to be gay, or to not bother defining their sexuality
at all. Many Scottish authors remain rooted in a time or
place where homosexuality is somehow unacceptable.
That time is over, that place has almost disappeared,
but for the most part Scottish fiction has not caught
up. This is 1999, and, according to Andy Medhurst,
“the days of homosexuality-as-issue are drawing to a
close,” and about time too. In Scottish poetry, this is old
news, as poets such as Jackie Kay and David Kinloch
have proved. Is the prose world waiting for an Edwin
Morgan of its own to hammer home the point that it’s
okay to be gay, even in Scotland?
It’s time for Scottish fiction to get a grip. Come out of
the closet. Choose the future. �
553
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