Edna O’Brien, a giant of Irish literature, died this past July. The loss is almost too much to get your head around, at least not immediately. She was a prolific writer for 70 years. Her books (and memoir, and non-fiction, and non-fiction) have enriched generations of readers.
In almost eerily fortuitous timing, Blue Road, Sinéad O’Shea’s documentary about O’Brien has arrived. It opened at Toronto, and just played at DOC NYC as the opening film of the festival (the response was so positive they added another screening). O’Shea’s doc was just in time for this: the documentary features a lengthy interview with O’Brien herself, who was, almost quite literally, on her death bed at the time. Blue Road is a comprehensive look at this woman who lived so many different lives, and – like James Joyce observed about his own work – “couldn’t write without offending people”.
For my monthly column at Liberties, I interviewed O’Shea about her documentary, about the great, the dazzling, Edna.
DUDE! This website is so cool. I wanna make something like this!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I have a project on Dubliners and your perspective is so perfect. I love your input, and the fact you started this when you were only 14 is crazy! Keep it up!!!
Hi! thanks for the compliment but I totally did not start this site when I was 14. lol it was many many years after that. I was a full-blown adult.
start up a site – go for it! Curious about your Dubliners project.
Hi, Sheila. Recently found your site and I cannot stop reading!
Really looking forward to this documentary. Loved your article on Edna and the interview. I’ve always loved her independence, courage and honesty; both as a writer and as an individual.
Maddy
Maddy – hey! thank you! sorry for the delay. i do try to respond in a timely manner.
appreciate your thoughts on Edna. I really admire her too! fingers crossed the doc gets picked up for distribution.