Editing Morvern Callar

{{Short description|Novel by Alan Warner}}
{{about|the book|the film|Morvern Callar (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = Morvern Callar
| orig title   =
| translator   =
| image        = MorvernCallarcover.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author       = [[Alan Warner (novelist)|Alan Warner]]
| cover_artist = <!--[[Sara Morris]]-->
| country      = Scotland
| language     = Scots
| series       = 
| genre        = {{hlist|[[Experimental literature|Experimental novel]]|[[literary fiction]]}}
| publisher    = [[Vintage Press]]
| release_date = 1995
| media_type   = Paperback
| pages        = 240
| isbn = 9780099586111
| preceded_by  = 
| followed_by  = These Demented Lands
}}
'''''Morvern Callar''''' is a 1995 [[Experimental literature|experimental]] novel by Scottish author [[Alan Warner (novelist)|Alan Warner]]. Published as his first novel, its [[first-person narrative]]—mainly written in [[Scots language|Scots]]—explores the social life and cultural interests of the titular character following the sudden death of her boyfriend.

The novel was a winner of the [[Somerset Maugham Award]] in 1996,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/maugham.html| title = Somerset Maugham Award| publisher = [[UNC Asheville]]| accessdate = 2008-01-30| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929090554/http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/maugham.html| archivedate = 2007-09-29}}</ref> and a critically acclaimed [[Morvern Callar (film)|adaptation]] directed by Scottish film director [[Lynne Ramsay]] was released in 2002.

==Development==
Warner initially developed the narrative of ''Morvern Callar'' from the perspective of the titular character's boyfriend. He became frustrated with the rigidity of the perspective and reworked the novel to be from Callar's perspective, and to begin with her boyfriend's suicide; he commented that "I was very, very uncomfortable and nervous about it – I didn't think it was convincing. I thought the rhythm was very strange. I didn't think it was any good. And I didn't show it to anyone."<ref name="Barton 2014">{{cite web | last=Barton | first=Laura | title=Alan Warner: booze, books and why he's backing Scottish independence | website=[[The Guardian]] | date=August 19, 2014 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/alan-warner-booze-books-why-voting-scottish-independence | access-date=February 12, 2023}}</ref>

==Analysis==
''Morvern Callar'' has been analyzed as dealing with "the [[Neoliberalism|neoliberalization]] of working conditions from within" in the British Isles, using a polyphonic style of narrative depicting the overlapping yet abruptly changing lives of its characters to convey precarity; hence, "the absence of any collective organization in the novel further emphasizes the divisions that precarity creates".<ref name="nguyen">{{cite book
 |last=Nguyen Van 
 |first=Romain
 |editor-last1=Korte
 |editor-first1=Barbara
 |editor-last2=Regard
 |editor-first2=Frédéric
 |date=2014
 |chapter="The Last Voice of Democracy": Precarity, Community and Fiction in Alan Warner's ''Morvern Callar'' (1995)
 |title=Narrating Poverty and Precarity in Britain
 |publisher= De Gruyter
 |isbn=9783110367935}}</ref>

==Reviews==
* Dunn, Angus, review of ''Morvern Callar'' by Alan Warner, in Bryan, Tom, ''Northwords'', Issue 7, [[Ross and Cromarty]] District Council, 1996, p. 33, {{issn|0964-6876}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1995 British novels]]
[[Category:Scottish novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Alan Warner]]
[[Category:Novels set in Argyll and Bute]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:1995 debut novels]]
[[Category:Jonathan Cape books]]


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