Ireland in Mind: An Anthology
- Book Review,
by Alice Leccese Powers (Editor)
From Booklist
Editor Powers presents three centuries of fiction, poetry, and essays on the Emerald Isle by a stellar cast of mostly Irish, English, and American writers. Travel writers Eric Newby, Jan Morris, and H. V. Morton; novelists W. M. Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, and James Joyce; playwrights Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw; memoirist Frank McCourt; and acclaimed contemporary Irish writers Thomas Flanagan, Edna O'Brien, and William Trevor all appear. The selections are presented in four sections corresponding to Ireland's historic four provinces: Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connaught. Because Powers showcases so many Irish expatriates and visitors, the predominant tone is elegiac. What is portrayed is not the stereotypical Ireland of facile travel writing but an altogether deeper and profounder place. There are many wonderful moments and sweet surprises--Paul Theroux's sublime day on Great Blasket Island, Brian Moore's pensive journey home, David A. Wilson's picaresque adventures on the open road, etc.--in what is, all in all, an irresistible collection. June Sawyers
Book Description
From Oscar Wilde to James Joyce, from Virginia Woolf to Frank McCourt: three centuries of Irish, English, and American writers in search of the real Ireland.
From the editor of the outstandingly popular Italy in Mind comes another superb collection: three centuries of fiction, poems, and essays, from both Irish expatriates and non-Irish visitors.
From the comic terror of Frank McCourt's First Communion to the raucous pagan festival Muriel Rukeyser attended in County Kerry in the 1930s; from John Betjeman's lyrical evocation of a ruined abbey in the mist to Eric Newby's hilariously disastrous bicycle trip through Ireland; from William Trevor's gentle Irish clergyman encountering the long angry reach of his country's past tragedies to Brian Moore's wistful return from a life spent in exile, this anthology offers a kaleidoscope of this mysterious, elusive country. For travelers of all kinds, for those who have long been fascinated by Ireland and those who are feeling its lure for the first time, Ireland in Mind will provide a rich and rewarding imaginative journey.
Contributors also include: Samuel Beckett, Wallace Stevens, Oliver Goldsmith, Jonathan Swift, Edna O'Brien, Paul Theroux, V.S. Pritchett, Anthony Trollope, George Bernard Shaw, T.H. White
From the Inside Flap
From Oscar Wilde to James Joyce, from Virginia Woolf to Frank McCourt: three centuries of Irish, English, and American writers in search of the real Ireland.
From the editor of the outstandingly popular Italy in Mind comes another superb collection: three centuries of fiction, poems, and essays, from both Irish expatriates and non-Irish visitors.
From the comic terror of Frank McCourt's First Communion to the raucous pagan festival Muriel Rukeyser attended in County Kerry in the 1930s; from John Betjeman's lyrical evocation of a ruined abbey in the mist to Eric Newby's hilariously disastrous bicycle trip through Ireland; from William Trevor's gentle Irish clergyman encountering the long angry reach of his country's past tragedies to Brian Moore's wistful return from a life spent in exile, this anthology offers a kaleidoscope of this mysterious, elusive country. For travelers of all kinds, for those who have long been fascinated by Ireland and those who are feeling its lure for the first time, Ireland in Mind will provide a rich and rewarding imaginative journey.
Contributors also include: Samuel Beckett, Wallace Stevens, Oliver Goldsmith, Jonathan Swift, Edna O'Brien, Paul Theroux, V.S. Pritchett, Anthony Trollope, George Bernard Shaw, T.H. White
About the Author
Alice Leccese Powers lives in Washington, D.C.
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