The World of Books Back in the 1950s, when such a case was less common, an Irish poet was teaching a course on modern Ireland literature in a US university. He chose James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) as the text for the semester. By the time he was…
St Columbanus: Selected writings compiled by Alexander O’Hara, introduction by Fr Sean McDonagh (Veritas, €9.99 / £7.25) Columbanus and the Peoples of Post-Roman Europe edited by Alexander O’Hara (Oxford University Press, £68.00) Jonas of Bobbio and the Legacy of Columbanus: Sanctity and Community in the Seventh Century by Alexander O’Hara (Oxford University Press,…
Utopia: The History of an Idea by Gregory Claeys (Thames & Hudson, £9.99) Looking at the cover of this brief but well-informed and penetrating history of the utopian ideal, I was engaged by the cover. This shows the flying city of Laputa from a Victorian edition of Gulliver’s Travels, a book much concerned with ideas…
Moment in Time: A Legacy of Photographs. Works from the Bank of America Collection. Curated by Anne Hodge and Sarah McAuliffe National Gallery of Ireland, Rooms 6-10 | Beit Wing, until March 22, 2020 Moment in Time: A collection of Photographs (Museum of Photographic Arts, €45.00) Continuing the National Gallery’s new involvement in the arts…
Mainly About Books by the books editor Recently we reviewed Elizabeth Mac Donald’s novel A Matter of Interpretation about Michael Scot and his lifelong interaction with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1195-1250), the Norman who ruled Sicily and Southern Italy, and was one of the leading figures in the political and…
Personal Struggle: Oppression, healing and liberation by Dr Seán Ruth (Atrium / Cork University Press, €14.95) The title may, for some, carry echoes of the 1970s. But in a sense the problems identified then by theologians and social activists have not gone away. They have got worse in many respects (especially in Latin American). Worse the…
All thoughts of Christmas might seem to have been far away from a late summer day in the warm climate of Provence, but such was not the case this year for me. We were on a trip to stay with friends and relations in Toulouse. During the days we were there we were taken to…
Some of our regular reviewers select the book or books they most enjoy or were impressed by over the course of the last year… Mary Kenny Although it’s a serious and scholarly book, Religion, Landscape & Settlement in Ireland – From Patrick to Present, by Kevin Whelan (Four Courts Press, €45.00), is clear, accessible and…
Our Books Editor Peter Costello makes recommendations for you to place in someone’s Christmas stocking… Hey Grandude by Paul McCartney (Puffin Books, £12.99) This is a fun book which granddads of a certain age will enjoy reading with the grandchildren. It is odd to think of Paul McCartney himself as a grandfather – how times…
Shooting and Cutting: A survivors guide to film-making and other diseases by Stephen Bradley (Mercier Press, €14.99) Film maker Stephen Bradley is the creator of Noble, the 2014 drama about the true life story of Christina Noble, the children’s rights campaigner and charity worker in Vietnam, who founded the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. Some years ago Bradley was…