An article about the state of Irish fiction right now. An interesting look at the different generations, and what’s going on now (and how the Celtic Tiger, so to speak, is influencing how Irish literature is perceived).
I just read Christine Falls: A Novel
… Benjamin Black’s The Silver Swan, about which Tim Rutten in the LA Times urged: “Go directly home. If you live with others, send them away. Pour yourself a quiet drink and settle into your best chair for an authentic dose of Irish angst and wit, wondrous writing and about as undiluted an evening’s pleasure as reading can provide.”
Christine Falls was fantastic – I so recommend it. Dublin in the 1950s, a haunted vaguely alcoholic coroner named Quirke, a dead girl, the Magdalen laundries (which you never could have written about even 20 years ago in Ireland) – the sweep of the Catholic Church’s influence – and also just the feel of Dublin, pre-economic boom. An evocative gripping book. It’s got it all. Can’t wait to read the next one.
Very interesting article. I know most of the names, of course – but there are a couple of new ones I’ll have to check out.
