Iain Banks, James Kelman and the art of engagement: an application of Jean Paul Sartre's theories of literature and existentialism to two modern Scottish novelists

This thesis is a study of the key novels of Iain Banks and James Kelman in the light of Jean Paul Sartre’s theories of existentialism and literature as set out in his 1949 literary manifesto Literature and Existentialism. By comparing and contrasting these two contemporary Scottish writers with reference to Sartre’s ideas, valuable insights into their fiction and their Scottish literary context may be gained. Sartre’s existentialism is primarily concerned with the potential of the apparently alienated subjective individual to influence and affect wider society. His theory of literature focuses specifically on the relationship between the writer, the reader and the social context of both, so the thesis will consider not only the novels of Banks and Kelman but also the social context of their writing and the critical reaction to it. The thesis is structured as an examination of Kelman and Banks in terms of their depictions of class, politics (both economic and social), gender, religion and ideas of morality. The introduction explains the reasons for choosing Sartre’s Literature and Existentialism as the critical basis of the thesis and the context in which his theories were formed. A brief overview of existentialism precedes consideration of the specific argument that Sartre proffers in terms of the relationship between his existentialist thought and literature. As a novelist himself, as well as a politically committed intellectual and existential philosopher, Sartre believed that there was a strong connection between literature and philosophy. His ideas about literature and existentialism therefore have the authority of a novelist’s experience of writing as well as those of a philosopher and critical thinker. I subsequently explain why I have chosen Iain Banks and James Kelman as the literary focus of the thesis. Both are pre-eminently novelists who have expressed political and, in some senses, philosophical, ideas that link them implicitly to Sartre’s writings. Neit