CHILDISH THINGS
ROBIN JENKINS has been hailed as ‘the greatest living fiction-writer in Scotland’ (The Scotsman, 2000). Born in 1912, his first novel was published in 1951; nearly thirty works of fiction have followed, many of which have been graced with literary awards and remained in print for decades.
“If you love the novel, if you are interested in books that are human and wise, not slick and cynical, then treat yourself this year to some Robin Jenkins . . . he is simply wonderful.”
Andrew Marr, The Good Book Guide
“Robin Jenkins is approaching his 90th birthday. He has written more than 25 novels, and his latest [Childish Things] is as lively as his first – an astonishing achievement at his age . . . Jenkins happily lampoons racism, religion, avarice and celebrity in America [and] laces his themes of greed and selfishness with plenty of lascivious goings-on. For all the humour, this is also a thoughtful novel, and a wry look at ‘what a mess folk make of their lives’.”
The Times, London
“Gregor’s American adventure, in which he finds his doppelgänger in the shape of the aged former movie star, Linda Birkenberger, sets him in a comic world of Californian consumer Calvinism in which the elect are manifested by their astronomical bank balances or their perfectly sculpted busts. Jenkins pokes amiable fun at American absurdities as a means of drawing out Scottish contradictions . . . a spry comedy like Childish Things may seem slight, yet it reaches deep into the Scottish psyche.”
Times Literary Supplement
“Beautifully combines sympathy and humour.”
Sunday Post
“[There is] wisdom and humanity in this wonderful comic novel . . . Jenkins is impeccably insightful, and the comedy deliciously black.”
The Scotsman
“Robin Jenkins debunks the theory that old people don’t have fun, let alone sex, and humanises the ageing process. McLeod is a charming old duffer who is skilled at three things – women, golf and lies. When he meets a rich but vulgar American actress . . . he comes face-to-face with his own faults, failings and lies . . . Childish Things is a witty, ironic, intelligent and charming novel.”
Punch
“Jenkins is still funny, still readable, and his portrayal of old age . . . is warm, funny and perceptive.”
Big Issue
“This subtle novel addresses the issues – sex, money, religion, power – that do not change as generations come and go. But it is also a gentle satire on America and Scotland, old age and youth, Calvinism and consumerism. Jenkins’s prose still shines.”
The Times
“This book is a perfect example of my belief that there are some wonderful novels out there . . . This is a lovely book, I owe my recommendee many many pints.”
The Crack
“Like all the great masters, his skill is lightly worn, his sentences singing with what he does not say . . . in his 90th year, [he is] the great old man of Scottish letters.”
The Times
“Written by the light of sunset, this is a novel that illuminates more broadly and with more penetration than a hundred works hacked out under a more youthful glare. Robin Jenkins deals effectively with issues of class, inequality, the bourgeois socialism of the Scottish nation and the psychological origins of the misuse of untrammelled power that lie behind the Yankee empire. He does this by deploying the novelist’s traditional crafts of fine characterisation, delicate observation, a raucous sense of satire and an awareness of present-day political and social realities that will shame many a younger writer.”
Scotland on Sunday
“Jenkins looks at poor, inadequate humanity with compassion. He is a satirist with a heart . . . We are lucky to have a novelist of such balance, wisdom, humanity and wit. He is a national asset.”
Sunday Herald
First published in Great Britain
in 2001 by Canongate Books Ltd.
This edition published in 2002.
This digital edition first published by Canongate in 2011
Copyright © Robin Jenkins 2001
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library
ISBN 1 84195 228 1
eISBN 9780857863768
In memory of my mother
By the Same Author
So Gaily Sings the Lark (Glasgow, Maclellan, 1951)
Happy for the Child (London, Lehmann, 1953)
The Thistle and the Grail (London, Macdonald, 1954; Polygon 1994)
The Cone-Gatherers
(London, Macdonald, 1955; New York, Taplinger, 1981)
Guests of War (London, Macdonald, 1956)
The Missionaries (London, Macdonald, 1957)
The Changeling
(London, Macdonald, 1958; Edinburgh, Canongate Classic, 1989)
Love is a Fervent Fire (London, Macdonald, 1959)
Some Kind of Grace (London, Macdonald, 1960)
Dust on the Paw
(London, Macdonald, and New York, Putnam, 1961)
The Tiger of Gold (London, Macdonald, 1962)
A Love of Innocence (London, Cape, 1963)
The Sardana Dancers (London, Cape, 1964)
A Very Scotch Affair (London, Gollancz, 1968)
The Holy Tree (London, Gollancz, 1969)
The Expatriates (London, Gollancz, 1971)
A Toast to the Lord (London, Gollancz, 1972)
A Far Cry from Bowmore and Other Stories (London, Gollancz, 1973)
A Figure of Fun (London, Gollancz, 1974)
A Would-Be Saint
(London, Gollancz, 1978; New York, Taplinger, 1980)
Fergus Lamont
(Edinburgh, Canongate, and New York, Taplinger, 1979; Canongate Classic, 1990)
The Awakening of George Darroch (Edinburgh, Harris, 1985)
Just Duffy (Edinburgh, Canongate, 1988; Canongate Classic, 1995)
Poverty Castle (Nairn, Balnain, 1991)
Willie Hogg (Edinburgh, Polygon, 1993)
Leila (Edinburgh, Polygon, 1995)
Lunderston Tales (Edinburgh, Polygon, 1996)
Matthew and Sheila (Edinburgh, Polygon, 1998)
Poor Angus (Edinburgh, Canongate, 2000)
Contents