【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 iterature to provoke moral outrage. Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts,Trainspotting, Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with antiheroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggery. Irvine Welsh is also known for writing in his native Edinburgh Scots dialect, making his prose challenging for the average reader unfamiliar with this style. Thereby the novel is characterized by a raw Scots dialect and brutal depiction of Edinburgh life. The whole novel describes the life of the Scottish young people Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and other friends, who are addicted to the liberty use of drug and sex, and reflects the Scottish youths’ confusion and perplexity towards friendship jobs, sex, heroin, drug and social identity they faced in their growth. As soon as this novel has been published, it has caused a tremendous stir. Sunday Times has once said, “Welsh writes the novel with a skill, wit and passion that amounts to genius. He is the best thing that has happened to British writing in decades of the most significant writers in Britain.” “He writes with style, imagination, wit, and force, Times Literary supplemented. Welsh writes with such vile, relentless intensity that he makes LouisFerdinand Celine, the French master of defilement, looks like Little Miss Muffet, Courtney Weaver mented. The New York Times Book Review The corrupt Edinburgh copantihero of Irvine Welsh39。s best novel since Trainspotting is an addictive personality in another sense: so appallingly powerful. His rapidfire rhythm and pungent dialect of the dialogue carry the reader relentlessly toward the literally filthy denouement. Trainspotting is set in the late 1980s, which has been called the period of the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent. At that time, post war Britain has undergone some social upheavals, which have lengthened the period of youth and made their lives distinctive and less predictable. It launched not alone the career of Irvine Welsh but arguably the youth under that time. Trainspotting is Irvine Welsh39。s best novel besides indeed my favorite novel of all time. The whole book may be around drug and violence in some people’s eyes (Renton, Sick boy and Spud are pletely immersed in drugs and Begbie is equally busy immersed in violence.) however in our eyes it naturally gives the readers a fully described picture of the life and emotion which the youth held at that moment. After avoiding conviction Renton nearly overdoses and finally gets clean by cold turkey by being imprisoned by his parents. He moves to London living a life of sobriety only to be joined by Sick Boy amp。 Begbie who is on the run after a botched jewellery raid. They have to return to Scotland for the funeral of a close friend and previously clean cut Tommy who descended into drugs where they hook up with recently released Spud and using Renton39。s savings they purchase drugs which they eventually sell to a London dealer. But with such morally bereft characters will they share the money or will one scarper with all the loot? A truly entertaining read but a word of warning, it is written in Scottish (Leith) dialect and takes a bit of getting used to but it is definitely worth the effort. During the World War II, Britain has undergone a series of great disasters in every field, the economy substantially declining, the rate of the unemployment increasing and the people’s living standard dropping dramatically. UK lost its dominant position, who dominated the European and world economy during the 19th century as the Empire on which the sun never sets. Together with the changing social conditions, the youth began to show their dissatisfactions with social systems. Correspondingly, people39。s values, beliefs and convictions have changed greatly, especially the youth. Therefore, the young groups of people are united on the basis of same age and often share mon beliefs, values and attitudes. Members of a particular group will often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style, which consists of clothing, music and so forth. Thus, various kinds of young people groups have appeared, namely Teddy boys, Beats, Mods, Rockers, Hippies, Skinheads and Punks, who employed music, drugs, and free sex as their weapons to express their dissatisfactions and discontent towards the society. Gradually, this cultural phenomenon develops into an independent culture, called youth subculture. Since the youth is influenced by liberty slogan, it is undeniable that some unstable social problems emerge, such as youth crime, drug problem, and promiscuous sex and so forth. Therefore, nowadays this topic has attracted many scholars to conduct a deep research on how to properly handle with these hard social factors. Aim of the Study Trainspotting is set in the late 1980s, which has been called the period of the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent. The whole novel vividly describes the main character Renton and some Scottish youths’ problems and confusions in the daily life, including friends, work, sex, drug problems and social identity they faced in their growth, which accords with the concept of youth subculture. Thus this thesis will use the concept of youth subculture to analyze the features of the main protagonist Renton and his friends’ actions and the reasons why they behave in those ways. Organization of the Thesis The thesis consists of five chapters. In chapter one, an introduction is given to the novelist Irvine Welsh, the novel Trainspotting itself, the writing background as well as the main characters. Chapter two is literature review, presenting the previous studies both at home and abroad and relevant critical theory. Chapter three introduces the important issue o