On Tuesday, October 1st, Janet S. set off the new 2024 – 2025 session on “Irish Writers” with her excellent presentation on Colm Toíbín.
For her presentation, Janet read an impressive number of Toíbín’s works. A versatile writer, he has published novels, short stories, essays, articles, critiques, plays and poetry. His works enter the souls and feelings of the Irish people.
Toíbín’s writings appear deceptively simple. Janet played part of a video in which the author explains his process and how much effort it takes. As he describes it, he begins from a memory that moves into the rhythm. A sentence comes to him like a melody. Janet found reading his works a pleasure.
Toíbín’s writings often reflect his experiences as a child and depicts the intricacies of family relationships. Some titles provide clues: Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know: Fathers of Wilde, Yeats and Joyce and New Ways to Kill Your Mother. His first book was a travel book, Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border. Themes in his books are taken from his own life and culture, such as living in exile, homosexuality, living abroad, and living with loss. Janet read two poems from Vinegar Hill.
Brooklyn (2009) was his first commercial success and remains his most popular novel. Toíbín retells the story of Agamemnon in The House of Names and imagines the life of Mary after Jesus’s crucifixion in The Testament of Mary. The author scrutinizes other writers carefully, in his fictional biographies such as Henry James in The Master and Thomas Mann in The Magician. Long Island (2024) is a long-awaited sequel to Brooklyn.
Janet has never found a review that didn’t rave, calling him “gifted” and “a master.” She believes him to be one of the top authors of our time.
Cecilia K. will present on her selected Irish writer, Seamus Heaney, on Tuesday, October 8th.
Posted by Janet H. and Mooréa G.