Abstract (eng)
Irvine Welsh is one of the most influential and popular authors of Scottish fiction and his works have become well-known all around the world. Most of the characters in his writings come from a lower social class and are criminals, drug users, alcoholics, sociopaths, etc., frequently showing violent, immoral, questionable behaviour. Considering this, one is drawn to the conclusion that those characters can be classified as so-called anti-heroes, i.e. protagonists who lack the conventional noble qualities of traditional heroes.
It is the aim of this thesis to take a close look at three of Welsh’s works, his most famous novel Trainspotting, a collection of short stories Ecstasy and another novel Filth, and analyse and interpret the characters presented in those stories. The most relevant question discussed is whether these characters can, indeed, be labelled as “true” anti-heroes. To do that, the first step is to define the terms hero and anti-hero, consider their relevance and prevalence in literature and come up with defining criteria that such literary figures have in common. Secondly, the author and the respective works are introduced whilst taking into account relevant information concerning structure, type of narration, focalisation, etc.
The main part of the thesis is dedicated to establishing a methodology that helps to analyse Welsh’s protagonists, whereas, Manfred Pfister’s model of figure conception and characterisation (laid out in Pfister’s Das Drama: Theorie und Analyse (1977)) is used as basis for this methodology. Pfister identifies various criteria based upon which fictional characters can be characterised, such as roundness vs. flatness, mono- vs. multidimensionality, etc. Having outlaid those criteria, 10 protagonists taken from the three works previously mentioned are analysed, thereby describing their character, their actions and behaviour. In the final section, the question is answered whether they are truly anti-heroes, after all.