When I was in college, back in the days when the earth’s crust was still warm, we saw Emily Brontë as the preserve of intellectuals. Charlotte, her sister, was for the middle-of-the-roaders. How we knew it all then. Wuthering Heights (15A) has been filmed over forty times. The latest version has Margot Robbie and Jacob…
Uncertain Passage, by Paddy Bushe (Dedalus Press, €12.50pb / €20 hb) Paddy Bushe’s latest book, Uncertain Passage, is a triumph. His poems, like the blackbird in his eponymous haiku, are “So ordinary / Yet still incomparably / The sweetest of all.” Like the goldfinch of another haiku, his wise words illuminate us. A poet…
Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, why so many became Catholic in the 20th Century, by Melanie McDonagh (Yale University Press, £25.00 / €28.99) Melanie McDonagh is an Arklow woman, educated at Cambridge after school in Ireland, who has had a stellar career in London journalism. Among other accomplishments as a columnist, she has carved…
The Testament of Ann Lee (R) is a visceral, high-voltage musical directed by Mona Fastvold. It stars Amanda Seyfried as the eponymous 18th century founder of the woman-led ‘Shaker’ religious cult. The daughter of Mancunian Quakers, Lee came from a poverty-stricken background. When she was 22 she joined a sect run by ‘Mother’ Jane Wardley,…
Confluences of Law and History. Irish Legal History Society Discourses and Other Papers, 2011-21, ed. by Niamh Howlin & Felix M. Larkin (Four Courts Press, €55.00 / £50.00) Usually, edited collections of historical essays are thematic and derive from papers presented at a conference. However, the papers presented in this edited collection received their original…
So, Lent has begun again and many of us fall into familiar patterns – hopefully we will celebrate Easter as better people, closer to God. Divine Sparks with Aine Lawlor (RTÉ Radio 1, Friday) delved into past and present Lenten practices. Aine Lawlor believed things hadn’t changed much over the years in that respect, especially…
Baz Luhrmann directed an electrifying biopic of Elvis Presley, Elvis, in 2022. While researching it, he discovered a treasure trove of previously unseen footage of Elvis in concert. He couldn’t use this, obviously, since another person (Austin Butler) was playing Elvis in the film. All we saw of the ‘real’ Elvis was a few minutes…
Sometimes you get unexpected good stuff in unlikely places – always a positive experience! Abuse survivor David Ryan’s visit with Pope Leo received lots of coverage and what I heard was hugely positive. Initially, it was in the news programmes, but then on the Claire Byrne Show (Newstalk, Tuesday) the presenter got off to a…
Take a Priest Like You: A Long Journey Home, by Michael Barrington (MJB Imprints, £15. 82 through Amazon) Today author Michael Barrington lives with his French wife in a small town in California up in the hills east of San Francisco. This is quite a contrast to the Britain he was born and bred in,…
The Irish Annals, by Daniel P. Mc Carthy (Four Courts Press, €35.00 / £31.50) This is a new paperback edition at a cheaper price of a volume that will be, for many engaged in the task of deciphering what we think we know about early Christian and medieval Ireland, an essential vade mecum. The author…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello