From the Rive Gauche to the New Scottish Cinema: Alexander Trocchi, David Mackenzie, and Young Adam

Abstract

In addition to generating new work across a range of art forms, the Scottish cultural revival of the 1980s and 1990s prompted the reappraisal of previously overlooked or undervalued contributions to the national canon. One notable beneficiary was the controversial writer Alexander Trocchi, whose debut novel Young Adam, originally published in Paris in 1954, was reissued in 1996. Seven years later, this brooding existential tale of a rootless drifter working as a bargee in Scotland's heavily industrialized central belt during the 1950s was adapted for the big screen by David Mackenzie. Featuring a cast led by Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, the production remains one of the most interesting, yet critically neglected, works of the new Scottish cinema.