In this excerpt from her memoir, Edna O’Brien returns to Ireland to build a house in which she hopes to avail of the “peace that passeth understanding,” only to find that even the best laid plans can go awry. Donegal It was to Donegal, in the most northwestern tip of Ireland, that in the 1990s I headed, in order to build a house. The very place names so rough and musical, the … [Read more...] about Country Girl
Literature
Colum McCann: Write What You Want to Know
Colum McCann on journeys of inspiration, his intensive research process, and his new novel. The annoying writerly adage says to write what you know. Great – if you possess a particular passion for accessing the extraordinary in the humdrum. Terrific – if your past is rich with enough adventure or incident to provide a lifetime of inspiration. But what if it isn’t? This is … [Read more...] about Colum McCann: Write What You Want to Know
Mary Lavin’s American Roots
In the male-dominated field of Irish writers, Mary Lavin was a pioneer. Daphne Wolf examines Lavin’s American roots and the influence they may have had on her work and spirit. Cleaning out old books from my parents’ house, I salvaged a yellowed paperback titled Irish Short Stories and Tales (with a price tag of 35¢). Inside were stories by James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, … [Read more...] about Mary Lavin’s American Roots
Review of Books
Recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest. Recommended: A History of Ireland in 100 Objects In late 2010, Fintan O’Toole, literary editor and long-time writer for the Irish Times, had an hour or two to kill in London. He wound up in the British Museum, where the complementary exhibition to the BBC series A History of the World in 100 Objects was on … [Read more...] about Review of Books
New Chinese Translation of Joyce Becomes Best-seller
The new translation of James Joyce’s epically complex Finnegans Wake into Chinese has become an unexpected success. The first print run of 8,000 copies sold out in just under five weeks and a second printing is on order to satisfy China’s still-increasing demand for Joyce’s book. The translation was undertaken by Dai Congrong, a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, and … [Read more...] about New Chinese Translation of Joyce Becomes Best-seller