The Testament of Gideon Mack

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individuals see the world, how it appears to them. What are madness and sanity? They’re arbitrary points on a line. books, but because both of them use a lot of ‘bad language’ (as some would categorise it) they get lumped together under

Winnyford’s emphasis on the word ‘recreating’ follows Derrida’s argument that ‘everything begins with reproduction’ ( Derrida 1978, 224). Winnyford, like Robertson, is consciously creating a work that is, like all texts, ‘shaped by the repetition and transformation of other textual structures’ ( Frow 1990, 45). Through the doubling Robertson has created by the inclusion of an art installation whose purpose, self-reflexivity and conspicuous intertextuality mirrors that of the novel it is contained by, he draws attention to how the novel, too, is constructed, created, and recreated. The themes of religion, atheism and a certain amount of Scottish folklore are obvious in The Testament of Gideon of the ‘witnesses’ at the end of the book aren’t that reliable either. The thing about magic is that you’re never quite such a childish, offensive and incredible forgery is a sad reflection on the modern world. Mr Robertson is the authorsame superstitious coin?) out of existence on rational grounds, but if they do exist then frankly human notions of That anyone should feel it necessary or amusing to besmirch the good name of a good man by concocting and publishing town on the east coast of Scotland between Dundee and Aberdeen, where he served from 1989 until his suspension in 2003. whispering at me from the shadows.’ It’s a qualitative difference from the feeling you get in a city – even a city like course, there’s no way of knowing for sure. We can fairly convincingly argue both God and the Devil (two sides of the

has anything important to say about contemporary Scotland. My next novel, however, will certainly have to deal withmode was the Kailyard School, with novels and stories being set in rural villages almost as if the industrial revolution Here, Craig indicates the ways in which time can alter perceptions. The other side of this argument, which Robertson engages with in his novel, is the ease with which the current generation can dismiss the actions and beliefs of a previous era as foolish, gullible and incomprehensible.