The Tain, from the Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailnge Translated by Thomas Kinsella and decorated by Louis Le Brocquy Dolmen Edition IX (Dolmen Press, 1969) When this landmark in Irish culture appeared back in September 1969, I was living in London. I still recall the delighted pleasure with which I bought the original Dolmen Press…
Frank Litton Catholic Discordance: Neoconservatism vs the Field Hospital Church of Pope Francis by Massimo Borghesi (Liturgical Press Academic, US$29.95/£23.99) Two women shout across the street in angry argument from their tenement rooms. The doctor, poet and wit, Oliver St John Gogarty turns to his companion: “those women will never agree.” “How do you know?.”…
Devotion: A Memoir by Mickey Harte as told to Brendan Coffey (Harper-Collins Ireland , €24.99/£21.99) Owing to his role as manager of the Tyrone senior football team, the face of Mickey Harte is one of the most recognisable in the country. This book leaves one in no doubt about the truly remarkable character of the…
Channelling the Inner Fire:Ignatian Spirituality in 15 points by Brendan McManus SJ (Messenger Publications, €4.95/£4.50) The Ignatian Guide to Forgiveness: Ten steps to healing by Marina Berzins McCoy (Messenger Publications, €12.99) These are two further publications relating to the celebration around the world this year of the 500th anniversary of his wound at the battle…
French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s recital at the National Concert Hall (NCH) on Tuesday (March 29) may well fit the axiom “a little of what you fancy does you good” as he devotes his programme to fancies or fantasias from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Fantasias While the programme is built around four of Mozart’s…
I’m not a great fan of most Irish comedians. I find many of them loud, crude and unfunny, but I do realise these are subjective matters…to a point. I wouldn’t be rushing to one of his gigs, but I was impressed by the host on the Tommy Tiernan Show (RTÉ One, Saturday) when he interviewed…
Irish lives in America Edited by Liz Evers and Niav Gallagher (Royal Irish Academy, €19.95/£18/$25) On this day every year Irish thoughts turn without fail to our relatives and friends in the United States. In reciprocation, President Joe Biden has this year issued a special proclamation from the White House declaring March 2022 as Irish-American…
Young Gainsborough: Rediscovered Landscape Drawings Curated by Ann Hodge Runs to 12 June 2022; Print Gallery, National Gallery of Ireland | free admission (This exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust, the York Museums Trust, the National Gallery of Ireland and Nottingham Castle.) Thomas Gainsborough was hugely productive of drawings, so…
The Hollywood Academy likes to ‘big up’ a given film each year. People are saying Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog is going to sweep the boards this year. Will Smith is expected to win best actor for King Richard but let’s remember what happened to Chadwick Boseman last year. He was unbeatable and…
Seán Ryan ‘And Finally…’: A Journalist’s Life in 250 Stories Paddy Murray (Liffey Press, €14.95) The late Paddy Murray (who died last month) spent 46 years at the coalface of Dublin journalism, producing from a rich vein of Irish life the golden ore of stories which earned him the ‘Young Journalist of the Year’ award in 1975…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone