IAIN GLEN
The collected works of William Boyd
As it happens, I spent lockdown discovering the wonderful novels of fellow Scotsman William Boyd.
I worked with William a couple of times. Once on a film that he had translated and finessed (for a French friend of his) called Man to Man. And once at Hampstead Theatre, in his playwriting debut ‘Longing’, based on two short stories by his literary hero Anton Chekhov. Boyd, I think, admired Chekhov for his clear-eyed and sympathetic understanding of the human condition.
I am embarrassed to say that it never crossed my mind that I hadn’t read one of his books. So, of course, I never mentioned his work as a celebrated novelist, probably because I was so wrapped up in the performance in hand. But I know he wouldn’t have minded. He was ever such a lovely man, grounded and supportive and appreciative of our work as actors.
Anyway... during the lockdown I started reading one of his books,
Any Human Heart. This was swiftly followed by Love is Blind, A Good Man In Africa, Waiting for Sunrise and The New Confessions. I intend to carry on through the rest of his novels. It can be a harsh exposure reading a single author continuously, a bit like gorging on a box set. It really tests the dramaturgy in a way that returning after time elsewhere does not.
But so far, I have to say, I have been totally enraptured by Boyd’s storytelling. Well-structured and satisfying plots, a variety of characters you want to stay with for 300–400 pages and a wonderful breadth of language without ever indulging in needless wordsmithery.
The detailed evocation of the reality he creates, in time, place and character, seem to me to be true, vivid and tactile. And his novels are an easy read. I mean that in the best possible way. Compelling and satiating. An added bonus is that the novels (especially Love Is Blind) are peppered with references that resonate that bit more for having being brought up in Scotland.
In a stellar acting career Iain Glen has appeared in (amongst others) Games of Thrones, Downton Abbey and Poirot.
“I’ve gorged on Boyd’s novels as if they were a box set