Contradictions (both real and apparent), oppositions, enigmas, provocations, challenges——this is the kind of material that makes a life, and is the kind of material that, in fiction, one is never quite sure of. With Pretty Ugly, Kirsty Gunn reminds us again that she is a master of just such stuff, presenting ambiguity and complication as the essence of the storyteller’s endeavour.
The sheer force of life that Gunn is able to load these stories up with is both testament to her unrivalled skill and an exercise in what she describes as ‘reading and writing ugly’, in order to pursue the deeper truths that lie at the heart of both the human imagination and human rationality.
So here we have all the strange and seemingly impossible dualities that make up real life——and pretty ugly it can be, as well as beautiful, hopeful, bleak, difficult, exhilarating. But never, ever dull.
About the author
Kirsty Gunn is the author of novels, short stories and essays which have been published in over twelve territories, widely anthologised, broadcast, turned into film and dance theatre, and are the recipient of various prizes and awards, including Scottish Book of the Year and the Edge Hill Prize for Short Stories. She is Research Professor of Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, and also teaches at Oxford and Wordpath, an online international writing programme. She lives in London and Scotland with her husband and two daughters.
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