Mma Ramotswe novels.
Citation Example Weich, David. “Red Bush Tea with Alexander McCall Smith.” Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 268, Gale, 2009, pp. 132-136. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com.db04.linccweb.org/apps/doc/H1100089933. List Example Quotations The series’ debut, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, “was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millenium by the Times Literary Supplement” (Weich 133). In an interview with David Weich, Alexander McCall Smith said that ”’I was discouraged in the past that I didn’t meet with a great deal of success…My writing didn’t fit the notions of what Scottish literature was in the eighties and nineties…very aggressive, in-your-face. People said to me, ‘Your writing is too gentle, too whimsical.’ What gave me confidence was this confirmation from readers. People seemed to want that. We have over four million in print in English now, and just yesterday we sold Bulgarian rights. Which means we’re up to twenty-nine foreign languages. That makes you feel like, Okay, I’ll say what I’ve always wanted to say…I like exploring the slightly wry and the slightly odd’” (Weich 133-4). Paraphrases Alexander McCall Smith was twenty-eight years old when his first book, a children’s book, was published. He started his career as an author writing first children’s books, then short stories, then the Mma Ramotswe novels, the success of which allowed him to resign from his position as a Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh (Weich 133). According to Alexander McCall Smith, the ideas for the novels come from the subconscious, the same region of the mind that produces dreams. He says that just as we all produce but do not direct our dreams, so too do the ideas for his books come to him almost as if he’s in a trance during the writing process (Weich 135).