The Long Knives (The CRIME series, 2)

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Ma, a prescindere da ogni considerazione, I lunghi coltelli è un romanzo che mette in discussione ogni valore morale e che punta a squarciarti la pancia (e non solo...) a causa dei tuoi errori e delle tue debolezze. Irvine Welsh travalica i confini del bene e del male per raccontare - a modo suo - una storia fatta di dolore, rabbia e ingiustizia, dove i buoni diventano cattivi perché tutti sono andati troppo oltre e non si torna più indietro. Welsh said: “I was a bit wary about that at first because I thought it was kind of a layer of censorship, but actually it was very enlightening for me, very educational.” There is no archetypal person, there is certainly no archetypal trans person, no archetypal trans experience. That’s why it’s very hard to depict in literature because it’s not established enough to have archetypes. It’s a very small minority. so you have to be sensitive.”

The Long Knives (2022) is a sequel to Crime (2008) which in turn was a follow-up of sorts to Filth (1998). It works fine as a standalone novel. I think people will stop paying bills. I think if we get a really hot summer next year people will be out on the streets. We’re in the process of an ongoing revolution; it’s just happening very slowly.” Three decades. In that time Welsh’s circumstances have changed dramatically. These days he divides his time between Edinburgh, Miami, London and a place in Oxfordshire where he goes when he needs a bit of peace and quiet to write. The first book was turned into a six-part TV series starring Dougray Scott – inspiring Welsh to write a follow-up, and filming on its TV adaptation is due to begin next week.The book’s hot-button topic is likely to be its exploration of trans issues. Welsh had a trans sensitivity reader work on the manuscript. Why did he feel he needed that? You’re cut away from the rest of the world so you can concentrate on love and art, which are the only things you really want to concentrate on anyway,” he said. Oh, and he’s written a musical version of his breakthrough novel too. You’d think books aren’t good enough any more, Irvine.

In The Long Knives, Welsh explores the moment we are living in now. “I wanted to get to the idea that we’re all confused about what’s happening in the world because all the markers that identified us – capitalism, industrialisation, the division of labour, sex and gender, identity roles, all that stuff – are breaking down, all these markers have gone. So, we’re all adrift. The whole life that we had is disintegrating around us.” Eventually Welsh thought, why not? Teaming up with his music partner Steve Mac, “we smashed out these songs. We did it in two weeks basically. We did about 12 songs. They were blues and disco and jazz and country and western. We usually do acid techno.” Certain things did change. There’s certain things I just got wrong; I’m happy to be corrected. Other things [other responses] were quite affirmative. It was nice to have the motivation for what I was doing understood. The interesting thing is, the actual script is kind of darker than the book or the film. It’s the only way to go with it. It’s funnier and darker. It’s different from the book. It’s different from the film. It’s different from the original stage play.

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He told STV current affairs show Scotland Tonight at the Edinburgh International Book Festival: “We shot the first season based in part on the original book. And, he adds, working out makes it easier to move around. “We get older and we get slower and we get stiffer and our bodies slow down. But I think you just have to up your game a little bit and keep yourself active and busy. Welsh is thrilled with the result. “I think two or three of them will be iconic. They’re just f****** great songs.” You want to look decent with your clothes off,” he tells me. To do otherwise is, he suggests, “disrespectful to your lover.” Cosa succede quando un esponente politico conservatore piuttosto noto viene brutalmente assassinato attraverso l'evirazione? E quando qualche tempo prima un altro pezzo grosso stava per subire la stessa sorte? Qualcuno tende a mettere i bastoni tra le ruote a chi indaga per non scoprire altri altarini sordidi. Ha senso andare avanti? Alla fine chi ha il coltello dalla parte del manico sembra farla sempre franca, a meno che non incontri qualcuno che ha parecchio da vendicare.

He’s hoping we might see it either next year or in 2024. In the interim, Trainspotting the novel will turn 30. Does that feel like half a lifetime ago? It’s funny. Yes and no. People think in very different ways about time. I tend to live in the present. I don’t have any real concept of the future and only a shaky concept of the past. As soon as something is done I move on.” Addomesticati, rassicurati dai toni mansueti del giallo all’italiana, per il lettore italiano l’impatto con un vero noir è come uno schiaffo in faccia. Un effetto doccia fredda che si verifica puntualmente con le storie ideate da Irvine Welsh, il 64enne scozzese dagli occhi di ghiaccio, il creatore di Trainspotting, con il suo nuovo libro, I lunghi coltelli (Guanda, pp.384 €19,80) Trainspotting author Welsh said: “Real life is so grotesque and gruesome anyway. Politicians and leaders are all so grotesque and horrendous that I think, to get any attention, art has to be even more horrendous than them.” And that’s why we didn’t want to license the music from the film. We have licensed Lust for Life and Born Slippy to book-end it.”Lennox non si è mai davvero ripreso da un’aggressione che ne ha marchiato l’infanzia e i suoi incubi sono destinati a peggiorare, dovendo indagare sull’omicidio del deputato Ritchie Gulliver, brutalmente mutilato. Era un politico corrotto, razzista e pieno di nemici ma, rapidamente, i cadaveri si moltiplicano e il modus operandi non cambia, lasciando intendere la mente perversa di un serial killer. Finché, con la scomparsa di Fraser, il nipote dell’ispettore, tutto diventa dannatamente personale e i buoni propositi di Lennox per restare sulla retta via, vacillano pericolosamente. I love writing novels but I’ve never found it enough. I’ve always been involved with music. When Trainspotting took off I got right into film because the opportunity came up and now it’s TV. Is exercise itself a form of addiction, though? “Yeah, it certainly is. It’s the endorphins, the sporting high and the buzz that you get that carries you through the day. But it’s a good one. It’s a less harmful one. If you’re going to have addictions, have one that benefits you.”