This week: a tribute to a champion of Irish writing
This week there’s a tribute to Ireland’s greatest champion of Irish writing, there’s bliss to be found in an English university, or so it seems, there’s a biography of one of our major poets, there’s a self-help book for life’s emergencies and there’s a clever murder mystery set in the City of Light.
David Marcus: Editing Ireland, Various Authors, Stinging Fly, €20
Editor David Marcus, founder of Irish Writing, which eventually became New Irish Writing and co-founder of Poolbeg Press, worked with Irish writers for more than six decades and helped launch many careers over the course of his own. This anthology, published on the centenary of Marcus’s birth, is a tribute to the man from the many names in Irish literature whose careers he had a hand in. So there are pieces of non-fiction, short stories and poems from the likes of Kevin Barry, Sebastian Barry, Claire Keegan, Eoin MacNamee, Mary Morrissy, Éilis Ní Dhuibhne and many more. These writers speak of Marcus with huge affection and respect and in the introduction the reader learns about lots of other writers no longer with us now that he published over the years. A real book for the bedside table to dip in and out of, one featuring early works by writers and poets who are now household names.
The University of Bliss, Julian Stannard, Sagging Meniscus Press, €18.95
The year is 2035 and third level education is gone to the dogs. (Some might say that’s been the case for at least 10 years now, but I digress.) Gladys Nirvana, a woman who fosters strange habits to do with feet, hers and other people’s, is vice-chancellor of this particular college and is driving ahead with the practice of diminishing academic endeavour in favour of corporate values prized by captains of industry. And of course, she’s chasing the money. Lecturer Harry Blink is feeling the pinch, among other scholars on the staff, and an insurrection is organised. Whether it succeeds… well, you’ll have to find out for yourself. With many acid observations on how our hallowed halls of learning have plummeted into grimy halls of profit, and of how college deans have been persuaded to ‘fumble in the greasy till’ of questionable sponsorship and patronage, this funny, futuristic satire is one that’s not so much 2035 as 2025. It’s all gone to hell already if you ask me. Although nobody does.
John Montague: A Poet’s Life, Adrian Frazier, Lilliput, €24.95
Adrian Frazier was a friend of Montague and so, although this book has been described as ‘no holds barred’, it has been written, it seems, with loyalty as well, and considerable compassion. If Montague was a difficult man, there were reasons. Not least being sent from his home city of New York at the age of just four, to be reared by two spinster aunts on a farm in County Tyrone. That upheaval was so great for the young boy that he developed a stammer in the ensuing years. He was big in Dublin’s literary scene in the 1960s, although he travelled back and forth between America and Ireland, holding positions at various colleges on both sides of the Atlantic. He also was convinced that fellow Ulster poet Seamus Heaney had, if not engaged in direct plagiarism, certainly stole his good ideas to make poetry of his own. We can easily fall into the trap of posthumously canonising our writers, as if the greatly talented are not just as flawed as the greatly untalented. What’s likeable about this bio is that it’s about a man who happened to be a literary giant, but was still a man, glaring flaws an’ all.
Open When…, Dr Julie Smith, Michael Joseph, €25
The idea of this self-help book is that you open it when something goes wrong, for instance when it’s hard to be with other people, or when it’s hard to be with yourself, or when it’s hard to be with your feelings. Those ‘whens’ are the core of a book that has big headings with many sub-headings on going easier on ourselves and on others as we navigate the many pitfalls we encounter in our lives. If it sounds a bit touchy-feely, I can assure you it’s not. It’s sound and practical advice on what to do and, maybe even more importantly, what and how to think, at the times when the brown stuff hits the fan, which of course happens to everyone from time to time. Julie Smith is known as Britain’s ‘favourite psychologist’ and she has a combined online following of nine million. Her first book, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?, has exceeded sales of one million, so she evidently resonates with a huge number of people. If you need this book, it’s in the shops now.
The Killing Sense, Sam Blake, Corvus, €14.99
Kate Wilde hasn’t had much luck in recent years. She has finally escaped from an abusive marriage, but it’s taken its toll and she hasn’t had a holiday or any kind of break for years. So, when she discovers she’s won a trip to Paris, to stay in a luxurious apartment for a week, and learn how to make perfume, she’s thrilled. So thrilled that she probably overshares with a fellow passenger on the Eurostar, a fellow Kate thinks is quite nice, actually. While over there, she meets student Agathe, whose red-headed friend Sandrine is missing. Other red-headed woman have gone missing in Paris too. Turns out there’s a serial killer on the loose in the city and his victims are all redhaired women. Kate is a redhaired woman. With plenty of twists along the way and more than one suspect, it’s another winner from Blake.
Footnotes
For Seamus Heaney fans, the National Library is hosting an online event you might not want to miss. On Friday January 31, it’s having an Online Book Club discussion on this month’s book, Heaney’s Sweeney Astray. It’s a free event but booking is essential on nli.ie.
Ravel is being celebrated in a series of concerts in Galway Town Hall this weekend 17th to 19th and the Ardilaun Hotel is running special B&B rates for the event. See musicforgalway.ie for details and tickets.