Covid-19 has made us all change the way we watch movies. Those of us lucky enough to have computers can cope easily enough with online purchases. Others have to be more innovative; I saw a news report about a man in Fermoy recently who’s showing films on walls for his neighbours. Desperate situations require desperate…
Over the coming weeks some of our literary collaborators will give suggestions for ‘lockdown’ reading, books of all kinds to amuse and raise our spirits. This week, Des Egan on James Thurber… I have always had a soft spot for cartoons, even to the point of proposing some cartoon-plays consisting of a single sentence,…
One of the things I’ve noticed about public debate in the media is that sometimes certain views are marginalised. People are often unaware of this, or conveniently oblivious, until they find their own views suffering the same fate and then the penny drops. This is happening to a certain extent in the debates over Covid-19,…
Strong in the Face of Tribulation: The Church in Communion, A Sure Support in Time of Trial, compiled and edited by the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, gratis, by download from the website of the publishing house, in pdf format; currently available in English, Italian, Spanish and French) The scene…
Coping with Coronavirus: How to Stay Calm and Protect your Mental Health A Psychological Toolkit by Dr Brendan Kelly (Irish Academic Press, €3.99 pb; Kindle price, €0.99) Anthony Redmond I am sure I speak for a lot of people when I say that I feel as if I am living through a strange, bizarre nightmare when…
The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O’Connor’s Spiritual Journey by Lorraine V. Murray (St Benedict Press, Charlotte NC; kindle-edition, £7.46 through Amazon UK) Many people are finding the restrictions caused by Covid-19 somewhat tiresome. In these circumstances it would be difficult to recommend a more appropriate read that this biography of Flannery O’Connor. The distinguished American writer…
I am grateful for a recent email from Dr Una Hunt telling me that Charles Villiers Stanford’s opera The Veiled Prophet [of Khurassan] is now available to view on the RTÉ Player. The recording was made at last year’s Wexford Festival when David Brophy conducted its single performance. Excepting Polish baritone Simon Mechlieski as the…
I’ve never been that much of a lover of Barbara Streisand’s music or acting but I have been a long-time fan of Leonard Cohen and have fond memories of seeing him perform in Dublin’s 3 Arena. What connects them apart from music is their Jewish heritage and this was explored with Michael Comyn by historian…
Passion Play: Oberammergau 2020 by Christian Tüeckl and others (Theatre der Zeit, £30.00; ISBN-13: 978-3957492845) The village of Oberammergau lies some 45 miles south of Munich in the Tyrol. In many ways it is a remote place, but in time of war and plague, no place is truly remote, in the sense of being totally…
Douglas Hyde: A Maker of Modern Ireland by Janet Egleston Dunleavy & Gareth W. Dunleavy (University of California Press, £48.00) Douglas Hyde/Dubhlas de hÍde served as Ireland’s first president from 1938 to 1945. This was the very highest distinction which the new state and the people of Ireland could bestow. Hyde himself was a man who…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello