
Elspeth Davie (1918–1995)
Author of The Man Who Wanted to Smell Books: Selected Short Stories
Works by Elspeth Davie
Sunday Class 1 copy
Associated Works
The Other voice : Scottish women's writing since 1808 : an anthology (1988) — Contributor — 10 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1918-03-20
- Date of death
- 1995-11-14
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Edinburgh College of Art
- Occupations
- short story writer
novelist
art teacher - Relationships
- Davie, George Elder (husband)
- Nationality
- Scotland, UK
- Birthplace
- Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
- Places of residence
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Ireland - Place of death
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- Scotland, UK
Members
Reviews
These five short stories from the Scottish writer Elspeth Davie are very hard to characterise. They leave you with a sense of unease although they are no more than vignettes about ordinary people at that point when subconscious desires or feelings quietly erupt through social convention.
The eruptions are very slight but they imply volcanic pressure just below the surface. We are being given a small glimpse of the true nature of the beast hiding under a civilised veneer. That beast never show more appears, no evils are done and no actual disruptions to the social fabric take place.
Struggling to describe these further, I would place them in a literary genre all of their own - the psychoanalytic where nothing can be formally stated. The final results, though always in fine prose, come closer to the sensibility of poetry than to that of the novel. show less
The eruptions are very slight but they imply volcanic pressure just below the surface. We are being given a small glimpse of the true nature of the beast hiding under a civilised veneer. That beast never show more appears, no evils are done and no actual disruptions to the social fabric take place.
Struggling to describe these further, I would place them in a literary genre all of their own - the psychoanalytic where nothing can be formally stated. The final results, though always in fine prose, come closer to the sensibility of poetry than to that of the novel. show less
The title story describes what it will be like when the e-book takes over the world and nearly everyone has forgotten what printed books were like to hold and feel - and smell
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Series of five unsettling tales from Scottish writer Elspeth Davie
Series of five unsettling tales from Scottish writer Elspeth Davie
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Series of five unsettling tales from Scottish writer Elspeth Davie
Series of five unsettling tales from Scottish writer Elspeth Davie
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 66
- Popularity
- #259,058
- Rating
- 3.2
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 15

