For the first time in Russian - one of the main British books of the 20th century, a debut novel that was written over 30 years and revealed to the world a new master of the first magnitude. “Lanark” is at the same time a novel of education and an adventurous chronicle, a mystical phantasmagoria and a book about first love; Joyce, Kafka and Edgar Poe might have achieved something similar if the three of them had sat down to write the Pinocchio script for Walt Disney - in Glasgow, armed with a case of Scotch whiskey. Here, a dropout student receives a commission to paint a cathedral, people in the afterlife are covered in crocodile skin, and government officials take an exam to slowly kill hope. Alasdair Gray is a Scot. This explains a lot.

It was high time for Scotland to give birth to a mind-blowing novel, the flesh of modernity. And here he is in front by you. Anthony Burgess' Lanark blew me away. In my opinion, this is the best Scottish novel of the twentieth century. Iain Banks' Lanark is an astonishing labor of love and unbridled imagination, an inexhaustible source of riches. Times Literary Supplement An intricate, crypto-Calvinist "Divine Comedy" that should find the widest possible readership. NewYorkTimesBookReview An incredibly inventive novel, ambitious. Malcolm Bradbury This book is more than a classic example of local, regional literature. The execution of Lanark is as grandiose as its intention: it is rare to find a novel that is entirely rooted in the setting of one particular city, and at the same time extremely accessible to the perception of all who live away from it. William Boyd Absolutely a singular achievement and the most remarkable success of Scottish prose in a long period. The book changed the entire literary landscape. This is amazing in itself. Lanark cannot be neglected by anyone involved in or interested in our culture. Scotsman As the dawn comes and goes in confusion, we find ourselves in the grip of a compelling surreal imagination. This is a kind of saga about a city where the surrounding reality is no more reliable than Salvador Dali's watch. Brian Aldiss A significant milestone in the post-war history of the Scottish novel. Combining elements of science fiction and quasi-autobiography with apocalyptic scenes, this book - insightful and bleak - is among the most widely read in the last fifty years. Magnus Lineukter [Gray] - a rare a phenomenon among contemporary British authors - a true experimenter, flouting the usual rules of English prose... endowed with a daring and rich imagination. David Lodge... a masterful recreation... of the life of a teenager in post-war Glasgow, his early friendships and first loves, the awakening of artistic talent and the death of hopes against the backdrop of sophisticated social prejudices that have to be learned as one grows up... In a broad sense, the novel is an attempt to identify difficult problems that pose a threat to modern society. He elaborately interprets the inscription "Let Glasgow Prosper" on one of Gray's engravings: Glasgow, any and everyone, will prosper if we tell the truth. NewYorkReviewofBooksGray... transforms the local - and therefore narrow - meaning of the situation, which set limits to the true talent of [other] novelists... and gives it an overall prophetic meaning. Douglas Gifford, Essays on Scottish Literature The most outstanding debut novel I have read for several years... The closest, in my opinion, to the Scottish version of James Joyce's Ulysses .EveningTimes Flexible, imaginative prose - half visionary, half realistic... A book of undeniable merit.Guardian