tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post7891290651587379199..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Five best of Irish fictionD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-54976910410615370102009-06-24T17:51:06.819-04:002009-06-24T17:51:06.819-04:00Don't Watt and Murphy at least qualify as Iris...Don't <i>Watt</i> and <i>Murphy</i> at least qualify as Irish novels, just as <i>The Gift</i> qualifies as a Russian one? I don;'t know whether they'd make your list (though <i>Murphy</i> would probably make mine) but it seems a shame to simply rule them out.shadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04825133649641081854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-36690572173526679862009-06-01T23:02:22.423-04:002009-06-01T23:02:22.423-04:00Oops.
It should read: "...then why doesn't Joyce...Oops. <br /><br />It should read: "...then why doesn't Joyce become a Swiss one."Jonathannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-17593422182167138762009-06-01T20:18:55.143-04:002009-06-01T20:18:55.143-04:00When you write that Beckett, Shaw and Wilde "...When you write that Beckett, Shaw and Wilde "turned their backs" on Ireland, are you referring only to their subject matter, or also to their leaving the island?<br /><br />I only ask, because Joyce spent most of his adult life (after 1904) outside of Ireland. It seems then that Joyce's subject matter alone ensures his continued characterization as Irish.<br /><br />The attribution of nationality to various authors who immigrate is something I think on often. The standards are so fluid and unequally applied that I find myself often struggling to properly characterize an author. <br /><br />Joseph Conrad - Polish or English?<br />I.B. Singer - Polish or American?<br />Nabokov - Russian or American?<br />Michael Ondaatje - Sri Lankan or Canadian?<br /><br />If Nabokov becomes an American writer then why doesn't Joyce become a French one?<br /><br />Heck, Malcolm Lowry only spent six drunken years in Canada (while he revised Under the Volcano), and I've seen that book referred to often as a Canadian classic. If geography was the sole standard then some people might refer to Ulysses as a great Swiss novel.<br /><br />Ultimately, I believe it doesn't matter a whit which country claims an author as its own. The words on the page, won't change either way.<br /><br />I'd be interested, however, to read your thoughts on this topic. Yet if time is pressing, could you suggest an article or book on the subject?<br /><br />Thank-you.Jonathannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-22813702597272838452009-03-20T17:36:00.000-04:002009-03-20T17:36:00.000-04:00Brian,Nice to meet another Moore enthusiast. Truth...Brian,<BR/><BR/>Nice to meet another Moore enthusiast. Truth to tell, I could just as easily have named <I>The Temptation of Eileen Hughes</I> in this category—a Moore title that is usually overlooked, although it abundantly proves your point about writing from a woman’s point of view. It was also, I believe, Moore’s last novel of character before he began writing thrillers. <BR/><BR/>In <I>The Library at Night</I>, Alberto Manguel listed <I>Cold Heaven</I> among his “non-canonical” favorites. Patrick Kurp and I selected <I>Black Robe</I>, my own personal favorite (although for political reasons I like <I>The Statement</I> too), for inclusion in our list of Best American Fiction, 1968–1998.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-13330567320921742062009-03-20T16:06:00.000-04:002009-03-20T16:06:00.000-04:00I was pleased to see The Mangan Inheritance made t...I was pleased to see The Mangan Inheritance made the list. Not the usual choice for Moore, but then no one title dominates his oeuvre. I think his most accomplished novel was I Am Mary Dunne (though, for personal reasons, my favourite is An Answer from Limbo). I would argue (and have: http://brianbusby.blogspot.com/2009/01/brian-moores-first.html) that no male writer was his equal when it came to writing from the female viewpoint.Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.com