Author; Born December 31, 1935; Died May 11, 2008. JEFF Torrington, who has died aged 72, published only two books in his lifetime yet is one of contemporary Scotland's best-loved writers. It is striking the affection with which he is regarded, testament to the tremendous exuberance of his work. It derives from a confidence that reveals something of the best of us. Maybe we respond to that in his work.

Author;
Born December 31, 1935;
Died May 11, 2008.

JEFF Torrington, who has died aged 72, published only two books in his lifetime yet is one of contemporary Scotland's best-loved writers. It is striking the affection with which he is regarded, testament to the tremendous exuberance of his work. It derives from a confidence that reveals something of the best of us. Maybe we respond to that in his work.

He was a literary man whose preoccupations were formal, and he was never afraid to laugh. Better to say that he dared to laugh. There is a wholeness and maturity about Jeff and his writing that I do not see as typical. He accepted responsibility and created in that fashion. He was of a kind to whom young people respond. His novel Swing Hammer Swing! has had an influence on such as Duncan McLean, Alan Warner, James Ferguson, Irvine Welsh and others, not only in Scotland. In 2007, a Baltimore-based magazine judged the "Scottish masterpiece" to contain "one of the funniest sex-scenes ever written". It was wonderful seeing people in different parts of the world responding to his work.

It is 30 years since we met. In January 1979, I began as writer-in-residence to Renfrew District. Jeff came to a writers' group I started at Paisley Central Library. He had tried different writers' groups over the years. I was wary of him. I was 33. Jeff was 10 years older. Not only did he know as much, he knew more; and while he was less prejudiced he was at least as opinionated. I was working on a variety of projects and soon we were talking literature in a way I was only used to doing with Alasdair Gray and Tom Leonard.

We saw common ground in the formal problems we faced. In an interview with Deborah Orr The Guardian, 1993 Jeff said: "One reason why I took so long to write Swing Hammer Swing! is that I wrote four or five different versions. I didn't have a voice to begin with. Third person was a liberation, but it didn't feel right. I wrote a version in American usage as well. The Scots so readily became fans of American culture that it sometimes seems like ours is body-bagged ready for dumping. I went back to first person, because that's how I felt comfortable."

There were the writers we both loved, especially Kafka, Chekhov and Camus, and the ones each of us enjoyed that the other could not read, even literally - he read French writers in their own language.

He never hid in these writers' groups and was generous with his time, generous with his criticism. He prepared his comments on people's stories and poetry, working his way through line by line. In those groups there can be demanding individuals. Jeff would be amused rather than annoyed. But we had fun, too.

He had published some early short stories in the old Argossy tradition. He called them "scorpions", "scorpion tales", because they had a sting in the tail. Yes, he enjoyed puns, and the more stupit the better. He also wrote poetry and revue. His novels then in progress were Swing Hammer Swing! and Go Down Laughing which he never finished. He also worked on the linked collection The Devil's Carousel.

He missed a couple of the Monday meetings at Paisley Central Library, later confiding he had appointments at the Southern General Hospital. Then he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. He was in his 40s. It must have been a massive blow. Then he fought back, strengthened by the support of his wife, Margaret, his greatest champion.

After that diagnosis, he undertook another rewrite of Swing Hammer Swing!. It was a magnificent, courageous achievement. Then he completed The Devil's Carousel. It was a mark of the man that he continued the struggle over such a long period.

Nor did that sense of fun desert him. He used a typewriter for most of those difficult years, and finding the right keys was problematic. He went through a lot of Tipp-Ex. He said to me once: "I'm the first writer who ever needed a pair of dungarees."

Swing Hammer Swing! was an immediate success, not only lifting the prize for the Whitbread first novel but its Book of the Year Award, in the face of strong competition, including Poor Things, a fine novel written by Alasdair Gray.

The launch of The Devil's Carousel was held in Brendan McLaughlin's Clutha Bar. Jeff was no longer able to perform readings in public but he and Margaret were there. It was a special night, with readings from his work by writer friends, of whom he had many. He was held in great esteem.

A couple of years ago Margaret started reading sections to him of his unfinished novel, Go Down Laughing. They still made him smile, still made Margaret smile; and me, on the couple of occasions I read to him. He deserved a peaceful end, and it was. His family were by his side throughout the previous day; sons Jeff and Andrew, daughter Ruth, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Jeff and Margaret. Heroes, the two of them.