George Friel

July 15, 1910 (age 64)

Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

George Friel is now considered an important figure in twentieth-century Scottish literature, a reputation largely formed after his death. He made a career of teaching - an occupation he came to hate - while he became a published novelist. He lived and worked in Glasgow, where his writings are set. Friel’s first short stories appeared in various small magazines during the 1930s and the last of his five novels was published posthumously in 1975, the same year of his death. At the time, the author had three other novels that remained unpublished. In the 1990s Friel’s short stories were collected as A Friend to Humanity and three of his novels were republished as A Glasgow Trilogy. A dominant element in Friel’s work is his depiction of Glasgow as a city with a second-class reputation and a place left behind by the ambitious. Friel’s stories are often set in Glasgow’s tenement houses and schools, where vulgarity and violence prevail. His central characters are lonely, eccentric people who are struggling unsuccessfully against these elements. The author’s rendering of Glasgow has earned some of the strongest praise given him by critics, while his writing style has been a subject of criticism. Various criticisms have included the overuse of arcane language and awkward, self-conscious constructions. Friel’s first novel was The Bank of Time in which a man’s dreams of becoming a photojournalist are abandoned and he resorts to sordid work as a photographer. The youth of Glasgow arc also central to Friel’s novel Grace and Miss Partridge, as represented by one young girl. Miss Partridge is a senile elderly woman and Grace is her young neighbor in a Glasgow tenement house. The woman becomes convinced that rather than allow the innocent girl to be defiled by the inevitable sexual advances of men, she should kill her. The narration includes sections from Partridge's diary; the reader comes to know that the woman had a troubled marriage and that she is visited by her father’s ghost. One of Friel’s best-known books is Mr. Alfred M.A., which reproduces his own workplace, the Glasgow schools. The book also reflects his concern for students and his bitter dislike of certain teaching methods adopted in the name of advancement. The title character, Mr. Alfred, is a would-be poet, a loner, and a drinker. All he has to show for his writing efforts is a stack of rejection slips and his teaching career stalls when he is denied the promotion. Alfred finds his students are increasingly ignorant and crude. When he develops romantic feelings for a female student - knowing his corresponding behavior is inappropriate - another re-vengeful student reports him to school officials. Alfred is then demoted to the worst schools and his decline accelerates. He ends up reacting to a gang graffiti message with his own drunken reply; he is arrested and put in an insane asylum. An Empty House, Friel’s last novel, has a central figure named Adam Abbott who aspires to be a writer. Abbott is an unsympathetic young man. He does not pursue his writing goal energetically and resents others for not seeing his talents. In a sulk, he leaves the family home to surreptitiously move into an old mansion owned by his sister. Abbott then invites some acquaintances from the pub to join him there, and two men and two girls become his housemates. Nearly twenty-five years after his death, the publication of A Glasgow Trilogy gave readers a new chance to consider Fricl’s talents. The trilogy is constructed of The Boy Who Wanted Peace, Grace and Miss Partridge, and Mr. Alfred M.A., books that were not originally conceived as a trilogy, but which are united by their location in Glasgow.

George Friel

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Background

George Friel was born on July 15, 1910, in Glasgow, Scotland, the United Kingdom. He was the fourth of seven children.

Education

Friel was educated at St. Mungo's Academy and the University of Glasgow.

$Education period of George Friel in St. Mungo\'s Academy$

Education period of George Friel in University of Glasgow

Career

George Friel is now considered an important figure in twentieth-century Scottish literature, a reputation largely formed after his death. He made a career of teaching - an occupation he came to hate - while he became a published novelist. He lived and worked in Glasgow, where his writings are set. Friel’s first short stories appeared in various small magazines during the 1930s and the last of his five novels was published posthumously in 1975, the same year of his death. At the time, the author had three other novels that remained unpublished. In the 1990s Friel’s short stories were collected as A Friend to Humanity and three of his novels were republished as A Glasgow Trilogy.

A dominant element in Friel’s work is his depiction of Glasgow as a city with a second-class reputation and a place left behind by the ambitious. Friel’s stories are often set in Glasgow’s tenement houses and schools, where vulgarity and violence prevail. His central characters are lonely, eccentric people who are struggling unsuccessfully against these elements. The author’s rendering of Glasgow has earned some of the strongest praise given him by critics, while his writing style has been a subject of criticism. Various criticisms have included the overuse of arcane language and awkward, self-conscious constructions.

Friel’s first novel was The Bank of Time in which a man’s dreams of becoming a photojournalist are abandoned and he resorts to sordid work as a photographer.

The youth of Glasgow arc also central to Friel’s novel Grace and Miss Partridge, as represented by one young girl. Miss Partridge is a senile elderly woman and Grace is her young neighbor in a Glasgow tenement house. The woman becomes convinced that rather than allow the innocent girl to be defiled by the inevitable sexual advances of men, she should kill her. The narration includes sections from Partridge's diary; the reader comes to know that the woman had a troubled marriage and that she is visited by her father’s ghost.

One of Friel’s best-known books is Mr. Alfred M.A., which reproduces his own workplace, the Glasgow schools. The book also reflects his concern for students and his bitter dislike of certain teaching methods adopted in the name of advancement. The title character, Mr. Alfred, is a would-be poet, a loner, and a drinker. All he has to show for his writing efforts is a stack of rejection slips and his teaching career stalls when he is denied the promotion. Alfred finds his students are increasingly ignorant and crude. When he develops romantic feelings for a female student - knowing his corresponding behavior is inappropriate - another re-vengeful student reports him to school officials. Alfred is then demoted to the worst schools and his decline accelerates. He ends up reacting to a gang graffiti message with his own drunken reply; he is arrested and put in an insane asylum.

An Empty House, Friel’s last novel, has a central figure named Adam Abbott who aspires to be a writer. Abbott is an unsympathetic young man. He does not pursue his writing goal energetically and resents others for not seeing his talents. In a sulk, he leaves the family home to surreptitiously move into an old mansion owned by his sister. Abbott then invites some acquaintances from the pub to join him there, and two men and two girls become his housemates.

Nearly twenty-five years after his death, the publication of A Glasgow Trilogy gave readers a new chance to consider Fricl’s talents. The trilogy is constructed of The Boy Who Wanted Peace, Grace and Miss Partridge, and Mr. Alfred M.A., books that were not originally conceived as a trilogy, but which are united by their location in Glasgow.

Achievements

Friel's fourth novel, Mr. Alfred M.A., was included in the "100 Best Scottish Books of all Time" list. Friel remains one of the most significant Scottish writers of his century.