‘Getting rid of that standard third party narrative voice’: the development of James Kelman’s early authorial style

Abstract

James Kelman’s short story ‘An Old Pub near the Angel’ appeared in his first collection of stories, An Old Pub near the Angel, And Other Stories in 1973, and was subsequently revised by the writer for inclusion in Not Not While The Giro, And Other Stories (1983). Through a close examination of these revisions, the article elaborates on Kelman’s efforts to free himself from the constraints of what he terms ‘that standard third party narrative voice’. The article analyses such aspects of the writer’s revision process as typographical and textual re-blocking as well as the reconfiguration of the relations between narrative voice, character zone and dialogic monologue. It is contended that Kelman’s rejection of the orthodox view on narrative voice has been central in his creative exploration of working-class voice.