7 New Irish Interest Books
Read Ireland - The Web's Specialist Irish Bookstore
Frank O'Connor: A Life by Jim McKeon
(Hardback; 15.99 IRP / 24.00 USD)
Hailed as one of the greatest short-story writers of all time, Frank
O'Connor was also a poet, lecturer, linguist, playwright, broadcaster,
critic and self-taught genius. His success is all the more remarkable
given that he was born and brought up in the slums of Cork, his childhood
characterised by poverty and sickness and his teenage years involved in the
volunteer movement. After the War of Independence, he became Cork's first
country librarian and it was then that his literary career truly began: as
a librarian he was years ahead of his time, introducing poetry readings and
musical gatherings. Eventually, though, he felt Cork could no longer
satisfy his thirst for literature and so, in 1928, he went to Dublin.
There he became great friends with W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and the
acclaimed George Russell among others. After the unprecedented success of
his first book, Guests of the Nation (still in print and available)
O'Connor was unstoppable. As well as writing plays, short stories and
poetry, he continued his library work and took on the role of managing
director of the Abbey Theatre at the age of only thirty-three. He
continued to write, even when illness and exhaustion forced him to give up
everything else. Much of what he wrote was banned due to the draconian
Irish censorship laws, and finally he decided to broaden his horizons and
go to America; there his success was huge but short-lived: illness forced
his return to Ireland for good, and he died here in 1966. Today, more than
three decades later, O'Connor's works are as popular as ever; this
biography, described by the great writer's widow as 'a masterpiece', is a
timely portrait of an author who made such an impact on the literary world
– and the man behind the books.
Zulu: An Irish-American's Quest to Discover Her Roots by Joan Mathieu
(Paperback; 8.99 IRP / 13.50 USD)
For generations, Ireland has been deeply marked by emigration. By spending
time in one small town in central Ireland – Roscrea, County Tipperary – New
Yorker Joan Mathieu hoped to discover why people still leave and to examine
the effect of their departure on those who remain behind. One emigrant was
Mathieu's grandmother Sarah who left Roscrea for New York City in 1912 at
the height of Irish emigration and this book is thus both a personal
exploration and a more general portrait of a community defined by absences.
From her superstitious old relatives and those who have never been further
than Dublin to her young friends who work at the local ribbon factory and
the school's rebellious Catholic teachers, the author gives a vivid sense
of life in this town of 4000 people and 40 pubs. She also talks to modern
Irish immigrants in New York and discovers that the whole process of
emigration has changed as many people no longer leave Ireland for good.
These new emigrants do not establish roots in their adopted country and are
often faced with a good deal of antagonism from the established
Irish-American community. With lyrical intensity, humour and a wonderfully
exact attention to the Irish landscape and speech, the author has created a
fascinating portrait of the Irish people and the nature of emigration.
The Unappeasable Host: Studies in Irish Identities by Robert Tracy
(Paperback; 15.95 IRP / 23.50 USD)
This book explores some of the tensions created when Anglo-Irish writers –
Protestant in religion, of non-Irish ancestry – reflected upon their
preferred subject matter, Ireland and their unhyphenated Catholic
contemporaries. These tensions involve the writers' sense of anxiety about
losing their distinctive identity. Anglo-Irish writers founded modern
Irish literature in English, identifying themselves with their native
country and its people. Yet they often felt themselves surrounded and
watched by an 'Unappeasable Host,' a population that resented them
The author discusses Irish writers who in England were considered Irish, in
Ireland English – including Maria Edgeworth and Lady Morgan, the Banim
brothers, Roger O'Connor, Sheridan le Fanu, W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge,
Elizabeth Bowen – together with James Joyce, who, although neither of
English ancestry nor Protestant, similarly focuses on individually
separated or excluded from the Irish life around them.
Mercier Companion to Irish Literature by Sean McMahon and Jo O'Donoghue
(Paperback; 9.99 IRP / 15.00 USD)
This book offers concise, readable and up-to-date information on Ireland
literature under three broad headings. It includes all the significant
writers in Irish and English, from Adamnan the 7th century author of the
life of Colmcille, to contemporary poets and novelists such as Seamus
Heaney, Deirdre Madden, Colm Toibin and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill; major works of
literature, chosen for their quality and fame or for their seminal
influence on Irish writers, such as Synge's Playboy of the Western World,
Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Heaney's North, Flann O'Brien's At
Swim-Two-Birds, and Eric Cross's Tailor and Antsy; and places, institutions
and events that shaped Ireland's authors and literary heritage or features
in some of the greatest Irish works of literature, such as the Gaelic
League, Coole Park, the Abbey Theatre, the Irish Folklore Commission, the
Blasket Islands and the 1916 Uprising. This book is a convenient work of
reference, a lively travelling companion and an absorbing bedside book.
Celtic Heritage Saints by Marian Kenny
(Paperback; 4.99 IRP / 7.50 USD)
This book celebrates a unique age in the Celtic Church. The influence of
great Celtic centres of learning such as Clonmacnoise, Lismore, Whitby and
Bangor, the Light of the World, still fascinates us today. Thousands of
pilgrims and tourists come to visit these sites and venerate their founders
every year. The monk illuminating manuscripts in his scriptorium still
holds our imagination. This period of learning and holiness flourished
against the backdrop of the Dark Ages in Europe. This book for teenagers
introduces them to scholars, adventurous sailors, saints who get their
heads chopped off, friends and enemies of kings.
Lenihan: His Life and Loyalties by James Downey
(paperback, 9.99 IRP / 15.00 USD)
In this major biography of one the most endearing and enduring
personalities in Irish politics, the author looks behind the legend of
Brian Lenihan. To the true man, with his extraordinary magnanimity, his
loyalty to leader, party and country, and the inner shyness which concealed
the breadth of his political knowledge and acumen. From his early days
touring Europe after World War Two to the trauma of his 1990 Presidential
bid, this book reassesses Lenihan's role in the political events of his
times and reveals a man who sacrificed himself for the good of the Fianna
Fail party.
Reading Paul Muldoon by Clair Wills
(Paperback; 12.50 IRP / 18.50 USD)
Paul Muldoon is one of the most exciting and accomplished poets writing in
English. In this book, the author takes the measure of Muldoon's poetic
gifts. She offers close readings of many of his major poems, while also
assessing the general features of his unmistakable style, and his relation
to significant predecessors such as Robert Frost and Seamus Heaney. Her
book also highlights the major themes in Muldoon's poetry, such as
autobiography and the question of origins, sexuality, Irish myth and
legend, history and political violence in Northern Ireland, and the
dynamics of cross-cultural encounters. She tracks the Muldoon's poetic
development, exploring key concerns of each of his books. Concluding with
an evaluation of his latest collection, Hay, her study will be an essential
reference point for discussions of this important poet.
--
books reviewed by Gregory Carr for
Read Ireland - the Irish Internet Bookstore
greg...@readireland.ie
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