"The establishment, the newspapers, they try to create something called Scottish literature, but when people are actually going to write, they are not going to necessarily prescribe to that, they'll write what they feel"
About this Quote
Welsh is taking a swing at the cultural machine that wants art to behave itself. “The establishment, the newspapers” aren’t just neutral observers here; they’re brand managers. They want “Scottish literature” to read like a product line: legible themes, a recognizable tone, a tidy national vibe you can sell to tourists, prize committees, and weekend supplements. The phrase “something called” is the tell. It treats the label as a bureaucratic invention, a stamp pressed onto living work after the fact, then used to police what counts.
The real provocation is his refusal of prescription. Welsh’s fiction (especially the Trainspotting era) arrived with dialect, class anger, and chemical-stained realism that embarrassed polite gatekeepers while electrifying readers who rarely saw themselves on the page. So when he says writers “write what they feel,” it’s not a Hallmark defense of authenticity; it’s a class and power argument. Feeling here means lived experience that doesn’t ask permission from London-centric publishing norms or Edinburgh’s respectable cultural institutions. It’s also an anti-myth move: Scotland doesn’t need to perform tartan melancholy or noble grit to qualify as “Scottish.”
Subtext: national identity is often curated by people who don’t bear the costs of it. Welsh insists literature is messier than nation-branding, and that the most Scottish thing a writer can do is ignore the memo. The irony is that this defiance itself becomes a signature style the culture industry later tries to package. Welsh knows that game, and he’s still refusing to play it quietly.
The real provocation is his refusal of prescription. Welsh’s fiction (especially the Trainspotting era) arrived with dialect, class anger, and chemical-stained realism that embarrassed polite gatekeepers while electrifying readers who rarely saw themselves on the page. So when he says writers “write what they feel,” it’s not a Hallmark defense of authenticity; it’s a class and power argument. Feeling here means lived experience that doesn’t ask permission from London-centric publishing norms or Edinburgh’s respectable cultural institutions. It’s also an anti-myth move: Scotland doesn’t need to perform tartan melancholy or noble grit to qualify as “Scottish.”
Subtext: national identity is often curated by people who don’t bear the costs of it. Welsh insists literature is messier than nation-branding, and that the most Scottish thing a writer can do is ignore the memo. The irony is that this defiance itself becomes a signature style the culture industry later tries to package. Welsh knows that game, and he’s still refusing to play it quietly.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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