Stuart Kelly - Author
Stuart Kelly was born and brought up in the Scottish Borders. He studied English at Oxford. He is the Literary Editor of Scotland on Sunday and a freelance critic and writer.
One can’t – and doesn’t want to read everything but there’s reassurance in knowing that somewhere every book is stashed away and can be accessed but Kelly overturns that theory with his revelation of the huge amount of books that have been lost to us. Fire, war, stupidity and damage have done their worst and often all that’s left is a few lines, a quotation or even just the author’s name. Stuart Kelly, in a series of short essays has amassed an amazing catalogue of lost works, putting them in context, giving us tantalising glimpses of what might have been. Like for Like ReadingThe Library at Night, Alberto ManguelSo Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance, Gabriel Zaid
In 1969, James Nelson confessed to murder, served a prison sentence, then applied to be ordained as a minster in the Scottish Church (The Kirk). The case split the church in two, and challenged the institution to consider its most basic functions, obligations and duties. Part of the problem was that James Nelson's crime was no ordinary crime. The bible has a lot to say about murder, but not about this particular variety of murder. Stuart Kelly uses the case of Nelson to write a compelling history of the church in Scotland, of biblical and literary accounts of forgiveness and sin. The Minister and The Murderer is a gripping piece of literary detective work weaving textual analysis with memoir and narrative non-fiction. This is a book of soul-searching and speculation, deep thinking and fine writing. It is a knotty, riveting and mind-expanding investigation of truth and faith.
In 1969, James Nelson confessed to murder, served a prison sentence, then applied to be ordained as a minster in the Scottish Church (The Kirk). The case split the church in two, and challenged the institution to consider its most basic functions, obligations and duties. Part of the problem was that James Nelson's crime was no ordinary crime. The bible has a lot to say about murder, but not about this particular variety of murder. Stuart Kelly uses the case of Nelson to write a compelling history of the church in Scotland, of biblical and literary accounts of forgiveness and sin. The Minister and The Murderer is a gripping piece of literary detective work weaving textual analysis with memoir and narrative non-fiction. This is a book of soul-searching and speculation, deep thinking and fine writing. It is a knotty, riveting and mind-expanding investigation of truth and faith.
His name and image are everywhere - from Bank of Scotland fivers to the bizarre monument in Edinburgh's city centre. Scott-land presumes that the reader will have only a hazy awareness of Sir Walter Scott, and, although Stuart Kelly will offer insights into Scott's works and biography, this is emphatically not a conventional literary biography, nor is it a critical study. Partly a surreptitious autobiography - Stuart Kelly was born near Abbotsford - his examination of Scott's legacy and character come to change his own thoughts on writing, reviewing, being Scottish, and being human.
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