“I’d got back to the new pad depressed that morning,
having blown the last of the coke and started jerking off to a
newspaper picture of Hillary Clinton in a power suit running for
Senator of New York.”
So says Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson, initiating the
first in a series of many depraved sex acts in Irvine Welsh’s
latest book, “Porno,” the sequel to 1996’s
incredibly popular “Trainspotting.” Only this time,
instead of scamming in order to score heroin, Simon has his sights
set on world domination via a single, earth-shatteringly original
porno film, made right above the bar he now owns.
Welsh is currently touring the country with “Porno.”
He appears tonight at the Beverly Hills Library, courtesy of Book
Soup at 7 p.m. Tomorrow he’ll be at Skylight Books at 7:30
p.m.
Welsh has managed to reconnect all of the major characters from
“Trainspotting,” a book that became an international
phenomenon ““ spawning one feature film, two soundtracks and
numerous stage adaptations. Only now, instead of lean and hungry
25-year-olds, Welsh’s characters are hair-thinning,
waist-widening 35-year-olds. However, getter older and wider does
not make them want to slow down.
Common sense may say to read “Trainspotting” first,
but Welsh takes care of filling in back-story without boring old
readers. Each character takes turns narrating chapters, and Welsh
chronicles their intersections like he is strategically moving
pieces on a chessboard. The result is an entertaining cross between
cubism and insanity. The author’s relationship with them has
been hard to shake.
“I said I would never go back to them, but they sort of
came back to me in a way,” Welsh said. “They’ve
had all these bit-part appearances in other books, and
they’ve been trying to force their way back into my
consciousness again.”
Still, he doesn’t begrudge them for it.
“It’s kind of like your first love, really, your
first characters,” Welsh said. “It’s kind of like
having sex for the first time, (you say) “˜God I wish
I’d taken my time and done it properly.'”
Writing “Porno” has allowed Welsh that opportunity
as well as to take back his characters.
“They’d been (diffused) through the film and the
different versions of the stageplay all over the world,”
Welsh said. “It’s like they’ve kind of been taken
from me to some extent.”
Although the film version of “Trainspotting” was a
box-office success and received high critical acclaim, Welsh found
the hardest part about starting “Porno” was shaking the
imagery he got from the movie.
“I had to reread “˜Trainspotting’ again,”
Welsh said, “because I had the pictures of actors from stage
and screen as characters in my head, so I kind of had to get back
to my original view of these characters.”
“I didn’t want to write about it as some cultural
phenomenon,” Welsh added. “I just wanted to write the
sequel to the book, rather than the whole event.”
Switching subject matter from heroin to pornography was not a
large feat for Welsh.
“The reason I chose pornography is that pornography is in
a similar position to drugs in “˜Trainspotting,’
particularly in Britain; it’s underground, but it’s
just about to hit the mainstream,” Welsh said.
Welsh claims this is one of the reasons for the worldwide
reality-TV craze that relies on satisfying viewers through the
shame and degradation of its contestants.
“That’s basically pornographic material, sort of
pornography without the sex,” Welsh said.
Welsh is notorious for dropping pop-culture references in his
books. “Porno” is no exception, and includes several
references to pop-culture: Steven Seagal, Iggy Pop, David Bowie,
Bob the Builder and the film “White Christmas.” White
Christmas?
“I like to have references to every generation,”
Welsh said.
Welsh challenges his audience with this.
“It gives people a chance to think about it. Say
you’re 17 and you’re reading “˜Porno,’ and
you’ve never seen “˜White Christmas.’
That’ll make you think, “˜What is this “White
Christmas? It’s white, so is it to do with cocaine, drugs?
Who’s Bing Crosby? Who’s Danny Kaye?’ So it sets
off something.”
For more information about the readings, call Book Soup at
310-659-3110 and Skylight Books at 323-660-1175.