History Literature / TheBladeArtist

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: Davie "Tyrone" Power's criminal association is described as this. It's threatened by the rise of the more chaotic and blatantly violent younger criminal enterprise lead by Anton Miller.

* WholePlotReference: The story can be read as a homage to ''Film/GetCarter'' with a few significant differences, such as the fact that Jack Carter never had his redemption even presented as a possibility in the film.

* WholePlotReference: The story can be read as a homage to ''Film/GetCarter'' with a few significant differences, such as the fact that Jack Carter never had his redemption even as a possibility in the film.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Like the book itself, all the chapters lead with "The". The sequence of chapters named "The Delivery Boy 1-5" pertain to Franco's past with his grandfather's misdeeds and his own StartOfDarkness, and they are written in italic text. The chapters "The Dance Partner 1-6" describe the early period when he met with and lived with Melanie in italics and then her present day experiences in his absence written in normal print. The other chapters refer to significant places, people or events, e.g. "The Sister" when he meets Elspeth after his flight.

[[http://www.bigissue.com/mix/news/3275/irvine-welsh-exclusive-story-begbies-back-only-big-issue In 2013 Welsh published a short story]] in the street newspaper ''The Big Issue'' named ''He Ain't Lager'' which serves as a mini-prequel to the novel, establishing Franco's engagement to Melanie, Elspeth's suspicious lack of trust in his change of character, Joe's growing alcoholism and [[spoiler: Valerie Begbie's losing fight against cancer]]. This was itself preceded by a story called ''Elspeth's Boyfriend'', roughly contemporaneous with ''Porno'' (i.e. prior to Franco's reformation), which introduced Greg to the Begbie family and showed how they celebrate Christmas. This latter story was included in the short story collection ''Reheated Cabbage'' (2009).

* StartANewLife: Begbie has given up his violent ways and settled down with a family in America.

* WholePlotReference: The story can be read as a homage to ''Film/GetCarter'' with a few significant differences, such as the fact that Jack Carter never had his redemption even as a possibility in the film.

* ContinuityNod: As in most of Welsh's work, various characters from other books make cameo appearances or are referenced to, including: Juice Terry, Spud, Gav Temperley, Tommy, John Strang and [[spoiler: Renton]].

* [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming Idiosyncratic Chapter Naming]]: Like the book itself, all the chapters are DefiniteArticleTitle. The sequence of chapters named "The Delivery Boy 1-5" pertain to Franco's past with his grandfather's misdeeds and his own StartOfDarkness, and they are written in italic text. The chapters "The Dance Partner 1-6" describe the early period when he met with and lived with Melanie in italics and then her present day experiences in his absence written in normal print. The other chapters refer to significant places, people or events, e.g. "The Sister" when he meets Elspeth after his flight.

* [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming Idiosyncratic Chapter Naming]]: Like the book itself, all the chapters are TheTheTitle. The sequence of chapters named "The Delivery Boy 1-5" pertain to Franco's past with his grandfather's misdeeds and his own StartOfDarkness, and they are written in italic text. The chapters "The Dance Partner 1-6" describe the early period when he met with and lived with Melanie in italics and then her present day experiences in his absence written in normal print. The other chapters refer to significant places, people or events, e.g. "The Sister" when he meets Elspeth after his flight.

%%* StartANewLife:
%%* StrangerInAFamiliarLand

* ContinuityNod: As in most of Welsh's work, various characters from other books make cameo appearances or are referenced to, including: Juice Terry, Sick Boy, Spud, Gav Temperley, Tommy, John Strang and [[spoiler: Renton]].

%%[[quoteright:215:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trainspotting_9891.jpg]]

%%* CharacterDevelopment:

* MeaningfulRename: Franco changed his name to Jim Francis on marrying Melanie Francis and moving to America. While it's fairly rare for a man to take his wife's name, it also serves as a pseudo-anagram of Francis James (i.e. Jim) Begbie. When he returns to Leith, he becomes referred to in the narration and by the chsrscters as Franco Begbie again, foreshadowing his symbolic return to his dark past.

* IdiosyncraticChapterNaming: Like the book itself, all the chapters are TheTheTitle. The sequence of chapters named "The Delivery Boy 1-5" pertain to Franco's past with his grandfather's misdeeds and his own StartOfDarkness, and they are written in italic text. The chapters "The Dance Partner 1-6" describe the early period when he met with and lived with Melanie in italics and then her present day experiences in his absence written in normal print. The other chapters refer to significant places, people or events, e.g. "The Sister" when he meets Elspeth after his flight.

%%* StrangerInAFamiliarLand

%%* IdiosyncraticChapterNaming:

%* StartANewLife:
* ThematicChapterNaming: Like the title

To achieve this cushy new lifestyle, Jim had to leave Leith and his old life behind, and that he did for six long years. But he receives a phone call from his younger sister Elspeth, who tells him that his abandoned son Sean Begbie has been murdered. Determined to find the killer, Franco returns to Edinburgh and becomes reacquainted with several important figures from his past. These include his brother Joe Begbie, an alcoholic drifter, Elspeth herself, who doubts his motives and reformation (unlike her husband Greg, who sees the best in everyone), his other estranged son, Michael, his ex-girlfriend (and who he used to abuse) June, the mother of the boys, and notable figures on both sides of the law. As he investigates the crime, Begbie faces the judgemental expectations of many who expect him to conjure his old psychosis and "solve" problems that way, while also confronting his historical demons and the realities of Leith in the current day. And as Melanie learns the horrifying truth about a pair of thugs who threatened her family just before Jim left, she starts to worry about her husband's troubled past and ambiguous present...

* MeaningfulRename Franco changed his name to Jim Francis on marrying Melanie Francis and moving to America. While it's fairly rare for a man to take his wife's name, it also serves as a pseudo-anagram of Francis James (i.e. Jim) Begbie. When he returns to Leith, he becomes Franco Begbie again, foreshadowing his symbolic return to his dark past.
** Despite never marrying him, the depressed and rejected June takes the Begbie name for herself and their sons.

* LetThePastBurn: Begbie torches "The howf", an old docklands outbuilding appropriated by Grandad Jock and his friends as their HQ. It's associated with a lot of evil, being nearby to where [[spoiler: they killed Johnnie Tweed]]. It's also where Jock told Franco as a teenager to smash Joe's face in with a brick. Of course though, the burning serves a secondary purpose: to [[spoiler: burn the sliced up Larry and his murderer Anton both to death.]]

* MeaningfulNameChange: Franco changed his name to Jim Francis on marrying Melanie Francis and moving to America. While it's fairly rare for a man to take his wife's name, it also serves as a pseudo-anagram of Francis James (i.e. Jim) Begbie. When he returns to Leith, he becomes Franco Begbie again, foreshadowing his symbolic return to his dark past.

!!Provides examples of the following tropes:

''The Blade Artist'' (2016) is the eleventh novel by Creator/IrvineWelsh, and unusually focuses primarily on one member of "The Leith Mythos", the infamous Scottish hardman/psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie. Picking up in the present day many years after the events of ''Literature/{{Porno}}'', Franco has done what nobody can fathom and gone straight, via the classic ''Choose Life'' monologue (the non-snarky version) once stated by his old friend Mark Renton. But his life is better than just a drab old middle class existence; he's married Melanie, a wealthy American prison therapist who helped turn his life around during his latest stint in jail. Now going by "Jim Francis", he's become a success in his own right by sculpting head busts of famous British and American figures and then mutilating them in shocking and various ways. He views with contempt those who think he's just putting on an act or that he'll relapse. The father of two lovely little girls, and having dumped alcohol and tobacco, he's a picture of self-control and reformation, and the psycho villain days are well behind him... or are they?

To achieve this cushy new lifestyle, Jim had to leave Leith and his old life behind, and that he did for six long years. But he receives a phone call from his younger sister Elspeth, who tells him that his abandoned son Sean Begbie has been murdered. Determined to find the killer, Franco returns to Edinburgh and becomes reacquainted with several important figures from his past. These include his brother Joe Begbie, an alcoholic drifter, Elspeth herself, who doubts his motives and reformation (unlike her husband Greg, who sees the best in everyone), his other estranged son, Michael, his ex-girlfriend (and who he used to abuse) June, the mother of the boys, and notable figures on both sides of the law. As he investigates the crime, Begbie faces the judgemental expectations of many who expect him to conjure his old psychosis and "solve" problems that way, while also confronting his demons and the realities of Leith in the current day. And as Melanie learns a shocking truth about a pair of thugs who threatened her family just before Jim left, she starts to worry about her husband's troubled past and ambiguous present...

''The Blade Artist'' (2016) is the eleventh novel by Creator/IrvineWelsh, and unusually focuses on one member of "The Leith Mythos", the infamous Scottish hardman/psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie. Picking up in the present day many years after the events of ''Literature/{{Porno}}''.

[[http://www.bigissue.com/mix/news/3275/irvine-welsh-exclusive-story-begbies-back-only-big-issue In 2013 Welsh published a short story]] in the street newspaper ''The Big Issue'' named ''He Ain't Lager'' which serves as a mini-prequel to the novel, establishing Franco's engagement to Melanie, Elspeth's suspicious lack of trust in his change of character, Joe's growing alcoholism and [[spoiler: Valerie Begbie's losing fight against cancer]]. This was itself preceded by a story called ''Elspeth's Boyfriend'', roughly contemporaneous with ''Porno'', which introduced Greg to the Begbie family and showed how they celebrate Christmas. This latter story was included in the short story collection ''Reheated Cabbage''.

--> --'''Renton''' ''(the film)''

''The Blade Artist'' (2016) is the eleventh novel by Creator/IrvineWelsh, and unusually focuses on one member of "The Leith Mythos", the infamous psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie. Picking up in the present day many years after the events of ''Literature/{{Porno}}''.

In 2013 Welsh published a short story in the street newspaper ''The Big Issue'' named ''He Ain't Lager'' which serves as a mini-prequel to the novel, establishing Franco's engagement to Melanie, Elspeth's suspicious lack of trust in his change of character, Joe's growing alcoholism and [[spoiler: Valerie Begbie's losing fight against cancer]]. This was itself preceded by a story called ''Elspeth's Boyfriend'', roughly contemporaneous with ''Porno'', which introduced Greg to the Begbie family and showed how they celebrate Christmas. This latter story was included in the short story collection ''Reheated Cabbage''.