Kevin Barry talks to Julia Brodsky about his prize- winning novel Beatlebone, set in “the haunted, sea-obsessed world” of Ireland’s Atlantic coast, and the “terrifying” prospect of writing a book about one of the 20th century’s greatest pop culture icons. The University of London established the Goldsmiths Prize in 2013 to acknowledge fiction that pushed the boundaries of the … [Read more...] about Long and Winding Road: An Interview with Kevin Barry
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The Little Red Chairs:
A Novel by Edna O’Brien
A Novel by Edna O’Brien
Edna O’Brien’s acclaimed new novel, her first in a decade, is reviewed.
Celts have always believed in an invisible spirit world running parallel to our visible world, a mystical universe that has given Irish storytellers a rich folklore of the supernatural. From this tradition comes the oft-told story (undoubtedly a cautionary tale for impressionable girls) of a handsome … [Read more...] about
A Novel by Edna O’Brien
Shane O’Neill Was “The Grand Disturber” of Elizabethan Ireland
Brian Mallon’s epic novel chronicling the life of Shane O’Neill, the 16th century Irish chieftain, is reviewed by Fionnula Flanagan. ℘℘℘ Here is the great dark cloak of Irish Elizabethan history spread out before us. Its threads are spun from loyalty, intrigue, betrayal, lust, terror, thievery, and extraordinary courage, ferocity in battle, savagery in revenge, and passion in … [Read more...] about Shane O’Neill Was “The Grand Disturber” of Elizabethan Ireland
Time to Say Goodbye to the Irish National Anthem?
Historian Christine Kinealy wonders if the Irish national anthem is still relevant today. ℘℘℘ Soldiers are we, whose lives are pledged to Ireland, Some have come from a land beyond the wave, Sworn to be free … Ninety years ago, as the newly created Free State was coming to terms with ten years of turmoil, which included war, civil war and partition, it simultaneously was trying … [Read more...] about Time to Say Goodbye to the Irish National Anthem?
A Strike Against The Empire
Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute has produced a documentary on the Easter Rising that promises to stir a global debate on the historic event that led to Ireland’s independence. Historian Thomas Bartlett remembers how Ireland commemorated the Easter Rising’s 50th anniversary, in a full-throated, pro-rebel fashion in 1966: “Not so much commemorated, as celebrated,” he … [Read more...] about A Strike Against The Empire