Irvine Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, Porno and Filth, among many other novels and short stories. Born in Leith, Edinburgh, in 1957, he now lives in Chicago. In his new book, The Blade Artist, Trainspotting’s most violent character, Begbie, is a successful artist living in California. When Begbie returns to Edinburgh, following the death of his estranged son, he becomes torn between his new identity and his violent past.
Why did you choose to return to the character of Begbie and how did you come to the idea of writing him as reformed?
Characters kind of gatecrash into your consciousness. The Big Issue asked me to do a Christmas story a while back and Begbie, the embodiment of Christmas hell – violent, full of hate – came to mind. I thought it’d be nice to invert everything, have Begbie be the most self-controlled guy in the room. This idea enthralled me. In The Blade Artist, his two sides battle. He’s learnt to control himself through discovering art and education, but he still has this anger, violence and sadism within him.
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