This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Ireland. I’d never been before, and I loved it, but I knew I would before the plane even landed. It felt a little bit like going home.
I’ve often wondered why Irish literature appeals to me so deeply. There’s the focus on storytelling, of course, and the oral tradition. Many Irish writers just know how to tell a story—moving easily from beginning to middle to satisfying end—and how to use dialogue to define character and place. There’s often a focus on death and usually an unhappy or breath-catching ending. Those endings and the presence of death are braided together—that innate understanding of a narrative arc goes hand-in-hand with an eye toward the end. And, finally, the stories are both specific and timeless. The human condition is often the center of it all. As William Trevor said, “What is important is to take Irish provincialism – which is what I happen to know about because it’s what I come from – and to make it universal.”
William Trevor is my favorite writer. His short stories are simply wonderful; I have a particular fondness for the ones set in rural Ireland. (Be sure to follow along with Adam O’Fallon Price’s series up at The Millions—also on Substack—where he’s working his way through The Collected Stories.) And while his novels can feel like short stories that have gone on a bit too long, Fools of Fortune is a gem. Set against the backdrop of the early/mid 20th century in Ireland and England, this novel showed me the power of the direct address. The main characters speak to each other, right from the opening pages, and the intimacy that is created by doing this is breathtaking.
There are many other Irish writers that I love, too: Colm Tóibín, Edna O’Brien, Claire Keegan, Colin Barrett, Louise Kennedy, Anne Enright, Sally Rooney, Paul Lynch, Donal Ryan, and Caoilinn Hughes, to name a few in no particular order. I read John McGahern for the first time this summer—The Dark is a master class in POV, and I am looking forward to reading more of him: The Collected Stories and Amongst Women are in the pile, patiently waiting.
On the plane home, I read Séamas O’Reilly’s memoir, Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?, alternating between laughing out loud and sniffling into my mask. You can follow O’Reilly on Twitter; he is smart and hilarious. His thread about being on ketamine is one of the funniest things I’ve seen on Twitter:
Once home, I read John Banville’s Time Pieces, and Fintan O’Toole’s We Don’t Know Ourselves. The Banville is wonderful to read as an e-book, as it’s a joy to flip to a map and see the corner he describes, or take a closer look at a building. The photographs in his book—by Paul Joyce—are stunning. The O’Toole is a marvelous history of Ireland from 1958 to the present, and I love how he juxtaposes his personal history with the history of the country.
I’ve been watching way too much television, looking for those green landscapes, those Dublin streets. If you want to see a little Ireland in your life, be on the lookout for two new films: The Banshees of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh and An Cailín Ciúin (A Quiet Girl) by Colm Bairéad. Both films capture the beauty of Ireland and the timelessness, too. I was lucky to see McDonagh’s film in New York and to hear the writer/director talk about it with Patrick Radden Keefe. (And, sidebar, if you haven’t read Say Nothing, Keefe’s fantastic book about the Troubles, add that to your list.) The film is set in 1923 and follows two friends who live on a fictional island off the coast and what transpires when one decides he no longer wants to be friends with the other. It is beautifully shot, very funny, and incredibly sad.
I saw An Cailín Ciúin while still in Dublin, and it is also beautiful, a quiet film about a quiet girl. It is based on Claire Keegan’s story “Foster,” and it captures the heart of the story, I think. It is the Irish nomination for the Academy Awards, so I’m hopeful it will be nominated for best foreign film and then make its way to the States. In the meantime, if you haven’t read the story, put it on your list. It, too, is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
I can’t wait to go back.
See you in two weeks!
I love Irish writers and film! Thank you for the recommendations. Check out Shetland, if you like detective TV series. It's a bit more low-brow but the scenery is beautiful and Douglas Henshall is handsome. :-)