NationMaster - Encyclopedia: The Wasp Factory

The Wasp Factory was the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks. It was published in 1984. Image File history File links IainBanksWaspFactory. ... Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification - by Kenneth I... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Walking on Glass was the second published novel by the Scots author Iain Banks. ... Wasp Factory Recordings are a Cheltenham-based record label. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification - by Kenneth I... Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ...

Plot introduction

Written from the first person perspective, it is a narrative told by 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame, describing his childhood and all that remains of it. Frank observes many religious rituals of his own invention. As the novel develops, his brother's escape from a mental hospital and impending return lead on to a violent ending and a twist that undermines all that Frank believed about himself. First-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one or more of the characters, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, I. The narrator is thus directly or indirectly involved in the story being told. ... Various Religious symbols, including (first row) Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Bahai, (second row) Islamic, tribal, Taoist, Shinto (third row) Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Jain, (fourth row) Ayyavazhi, Triple Goddess, Maltese cross, pre-Christian Slavonic Religion is the adherence to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual... A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

Plot summary

The eponymous Wasp Factory is a clock face salvaged from the local dump. Behind each numeral is a trap, which leads to a different ritual death for the wasp that Frank puts into the hole at the centre. He uses the death "chosen" by the wasp to divine the future. Suborder Symphyta Apocrita See text for families. ...

There are also the Sacrifice Poles, where the bodies of larger animals Frank has killed, and other sacred items, are placed. They define and 'protect' the borders of his territory.

Frank occupies himself using his religion and an array of weapons (from his catapult, to home-made flame throwers and pipe bombs) to control the island. He goes for long walks, and occasionally gets drunk with his friend in the local pub. Other than that, he and his father have almost no contact with the outside world. Simple slingshot A slingshot, also called a shanghai or a catapult (not to be confused with either the catapult siege engine or shepherds sling) is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. ... German troops use a flamethrower on the Eastern Front during the Second World War A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to throw flames or, more correctly, project an ignited stream of liquid. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A drunken man in Tampere, Finland. ... A thatched pub (The Williams Arms) at Wrafton, near Braunton, North Devon, England The Kings Arms Pub in Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. ...

After a long buildup, which comes to define the book, we meet Frank's psychopathic brother, Eric, and discover what happened to him to drive him insane. He is described all the way through as a darker and nastier version of Frank, and the reader is not disappointed. See Also: Antisocial Personality Disorder Theoretically, psychopathy is a three-faceted disorder involving interpersonal, affective and behavioral characteristics. ...

Literary significance & criticism

The novel works largely from the position of Grand Guignol, and can also be seen as a 'Bildungsroman'. Grand Guignol may be: The former Le ThÃ©Ã¢tre du Grand-Guignol of Paris, which specialized in grisly horror shows. ... A bildungsroman (IPA: /, German: novel of education or novel of formation) is a novel which traces the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character from (usually) childhood to maturity. ...

It also deals with Banks' sceptical attitudes towards organised religion. Frank is obsessive about ritual and the form of things; the Wasp Factory and the Sacrifice Poles are talismanically protective, and divinatory in intent. A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ... Talisman can refer to: An amulet sometimes believed to have mystical, and amazing powers The Talisman board game from Games Workshop Talisman - Sacred Cities, Secret Faith by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval Talisman (band) - a hard rock band. ...

The novel is also about power and its abuse. Frank's father's deception of his son (one of Banks' central themes, which appears again in The Crow Road), and the propensity of people to self-deception, are accentuated in the final chapters of the book when new facts force the reader to re-assess completely the opinions formed about the narrator. The Crow Road is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1992. ... In literature and film, an unreliable narrator (a term coined by Wayne C. Booth in his 1961 book The Rhetoric of Fiction[1]) is a literary device in which the credibility of the narrator is seriously compromised. ...

The father is the least developed character, remaining as a cypher to the reader, seen through the eyes of his son. He thus appears a shifty and evasive man.

As a first novel by an unknown author, The Wasp Factory was greeted with a mixture of acclaim (The Independent later listed it as one of its top 100 books of the 20th century[1]) and controversy, due to its gruesome depiction of violence. While this is mostly against animals, Frank also recollects killing three younger children when a child himself. The murders are described in a frank and matter-of-fact way, often with grotesque humour; what may be more disturbing than the details of the violence itself is the depth and intensity with which Frank is portrayed. The Independent is a British compact newspaper published by Tony OReillys Independent News & Media. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Violence is any act of aggression and abuse which causes or intends to cause injury, in some cases criminal, or harm to persons, and (by some definitions) animals or property. ...

Release details

Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ...

External links

Categories: 1984 novels | Novels by Iain Banks | Debut novels | Scottish novels Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ... Walking on Glass was the second published novel by the Scots author Iain Banks. ... The Bridge is a novel by Scottish author Iain Banks. ... Espedair Street is a rock and roll-based novel by Iain Banks. ... Canal Dreams is a novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1989. ... The Crow Road is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1992. ... This article is about the novel by Scottish author Ian Banks. ... Whit, or, Isis amongst the unsaved is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1995. ... Cover of an early edition of the book Spoiler warning: A Song of Stone is a novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1997. ... The Business is a 1999 novel by Iain Banks. ... Dead air is a phenomenon whereby a broadcast which normally carries audio or video unintentionally becomes silent or blank (also known as unmodulated carrier). ... Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram is a nonfiction book by Iain Banks first published in 2003. ... The Steep Approach to Garbadale is a forthcoming novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, to be published in 2007. ... Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) writes mainstream novels as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. ... Consider Phlebas is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1987. ... Cover of an early edition of the book The Player of Games is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1988. ... Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks, and the third to deal with the Culture, his fictional technological utopia. ... The State of the Art is a collection of short fiction, mainly science fiction, by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1991. ... Against a Dark Background is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1993. ... Feersum Endjinn is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks; unlike most of his science fiction, it does not feature the Culture. ... Excession is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks and the fourth published to feature The Culture. ... Cover of an early edition of the book Inversions is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1998. ... Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. ... The Algebraist, a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first appeared in print in 2004. ...