RESULTS

A wide-ranging volume of essays from the Booker Prize-winning author, dealing with matters literary, artistic, political and philosophical. Outlined are some of the influences that led Kelman to create literary art, from music to Russian writers, from the steel industry to the Kurds in Turkey.

These twenty first-person narratives portray ordinary people in a language that makes glory of their lives. The narrators are men and boys who come face to face with uncomfortable truths, whether musing on mortality, encountering betrayals, or struggling to understand women and work. Selected for World Book Day 2003 - Scotland.

A collection of short stories which takes the reader from the pub to the Labour Exchange, from the snooker tables to the greyhound track. James Kelman won the 1994 Booker Prize for How Late it Was, How Late.

The novel is set in an unnamed territory or country that appears to be under military rule. It is narrative in the first person, but the narrators remain anonymous, as do most of the other characters. The language used is an atypical English form, but akin to the basic translation that might appear within a department of an overseas 'foreign office'. Perhaps someone transcribed first-hand accounts of certain incidents, events and states of mind, as narrated by participants in the struggle and then passed on the transcriptions for translation; or perhaps the accounts were simply translated first hand into English and edited later. In either case the results were dispatched to a more senior civil servant who later handed them over to an appropriate state agency.

Management Teaching use: The text is about written communication and this is a topic, which is increasingly important in modern organisations. The lack of detailed information and the cryptic way the text is written will lead students into a discussion on how much internal and external communication depends upon mutual understanding, not only on issues but even upon the language used. This text would be particularly useful when discussing issues on corporate affairs and public relations in general. The lack of transparency in the language used illustrate the lack of care that many organisations take in issuing information to their own employees and to the outside world.