Irvine Welsh presents Resolution: "We live in a psychoactive and divisive world of drugs and the internet"

Irvine Welsh presents Resolution: “We live in a psychoactive and divisive world of drugs and the internet”

Irvine Welsh, one of the most brilliant, discussed and controversial writers, inaugurated the Radici literary festival at the Circolo dei Lettori in Turin. The occasion is the release in bookstores of his new book ‘Resolution’, a work with which the author has explored the theme of abuse and violence, but also of the past that returns and haunts us.

What is ‘Resolution’ about?

“I wanted to talk about what happens when something very traumatic happens and you try to overcome it by implementing different strategies which can be suppression, revenge or trying to straighten out the evils of the past,” explains Welsh, “I wanted to explore what the consequences are on the individual to implement these strategies”.

What did he understand?

“I think there’s not just one way to overcome past abuse or trauma and then try to become a functioning citizen. On the one hand we must not let ourselves be blocked by pain and remain trapped, but at the same time we must also allow ourselves to experience pain and feeling bad because it is part of the human experience. It is through pain that we grow. This book is an attempt to try to explore the circumstances in which healing can be achieved.”

How can it be healed?

“I visited several groups of survivors of trauma and abuse and I realized that there are many different strategies that each one uses. The most effective ones are hypnotherapy and regression therapy in which you go back to confront and come face to face with the source of the abuse. This is the message I have learned from these years of research. I have written three books on this topic, I immersed myself for a long time in this dark and painful world.”

Radici is a festival that talks about identity, by telling the world of ‘Trainspotting’ she has told the identity of a certain Scotland of the past. How has that world changed?

“Our identity comes from a working class of an industrial world that in reality no longer exists or which has been profoundly transformed. We come from a world that no longer exists and were built to become citizens of a world that no longer exists or is in decline. Today we are all looking for an identity or a role that has profoundly changed. It is a painful journey for everyone. This is why the second book in the series dedicated to the character of Ray Lennox deals in particular with the search for identity by transgender people, but their search is no different from that of all other groups. Because we are all caught up in this identity crisis.”

How can we regain our identity?

“These divisions are fomented by the system we live in and which we never manage to undermine. The world we live in today which is psychoactive, made up of drugs and the internet, is very divisive. I believe we will need to focus on the identity we all share as human beings. We should pay our attention to this instead of the divisions. We all have our own culture from which we come and of which we feel prisoners. The thing that worries me most is the fake nostalgia for a world that never actually existed and which seems like a refuge from today’s world.”

What relationship does it have with ‘Trainspotting’?

“Trainspotting is the book that gave me a certain profile as a writer and it’s a good thing that it happened with the first book I published and not with the tenth. This allowed me to never face the difficulties that other writers face. Sometimes it gives me the feeling of being the problem child who never leaves home and who would like him to find independent accommodation at some point, but then I realize that he continues to be successful and the new generations are passionate about it and I feel to say ‘well, come on.. stay at home a little longer’”.

See the video interview on Torinotoday