Morvern Callar
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Wikidata image Morvern Callar is a 1995 experimental existential novel by Scottish author Alan Warner. Published as his first novel, its first-person narrative—mainly written in Scots—explores the social life and cultural interests of the titular character following the sudden death of her boyfriend.
The novel was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1996,[1] and a critically-acclaimed adaptation directed by Scottish film director Lynne Ramsay was released in 2002.
Background and development
In an interview with Zoë Strachan Warner talked about how formative existentialist books such as The Stranger and Nausea were for him and how this existentialism made its way into Morvern Callar.[2]
Warner initially developed the narrative of Morvern Callar from the perspective of the titular character's boyfriend. He became frustrated with the rigidity of the perspective and reworked the novel to be from Callar's perspective, and to begin with her boyfriend's suicide; he commented that "I was very, very uncomfortable and nervous about it – I didn't think it was convincing. I thought the rhythm was very strange. I didn't think it was any good. And I didn't show it to anyone."[3]
Analysis
Morvern Callar has been analyzed as dealing with "the neoliberalization of working conditions from within" in the British Isles, using a polyphonic style of narrative depicting the overlapping yet abruptly changing lives of its characters to convey precarity; hence, "the absence of any collective organization in the novel further emphasizes the divisions that precarity creates".[4]
Reception
Complete Review called Morvern Caller "an entertaining little read". It also looked at different reviews at the time and noted the novel's polarized mixed reception, writing "Some thought Morvern was a fabulous representation of disaffected youth, others thought it simply mindless sensationalism."[5]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Association | Result | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Somerset Maugham Award | Template:Won | [6] |
| 1997 | International Dublin Literary Award | Template:Nominated | [7] |
Reviews
- Dunn, Angus, review of Morvern Callar by Alan Warner, in Bryan, Tom, Northwords, Issue 7, Ross and Cromarty District Council, 1996, p. 33, Template:Issn
References
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