Whodunits in Dubliners: What Joyce Says, And How He Means, by Peter van de Kamp (Cambridge Scholars, €92.99/£81.99; ISBN: 9781527581487.) For a generation Dr van de Kamp has led the annual Dubliners seminar at the James Joyce International Summer School in University College Dublin, a gathering that is a major event in the Joycean…
Last Saturday Irish National Opera began a nationwide tour of Massenet’s Werther. Opening in An Grianán in Letterkenny, it proceeded to Navan’s Solstice Arts Centre and then Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, where it is tonight, Thursday April 27. Werther’s next port of call is Limerick’s Lime Tree Theatre on Saturday 29, followed by Dundalk’s An…
If there are two sides in a controversy I prefer to hear a discussion between two representatives. When it’s just one at a time being interviewed the presenter may not be informed or willing enough to ask the hard questions of both sides. On The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk, Wednesday) Michael Fitzmaurice TD, Independent, and…
Frank Litton The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, by Martin Wolf (Allen Lane, £30.00/€34.50) For all its faults, democratic capitalism is worth defending. But it is in grave peril” and “Democracy [in the United States] is not yet a lost cause. But it is highly endangered”. These are not the words of a maverick seeking attention…
I’m frequently uneasy about the whole Irish-American thing, but I do realise how welcoming the USA has been to the Irish, and how well they effectively protected us during World War II. The crucial US contribution to the Irish peace process must be acknowledged also. I wasn’t that interested in following the extensive coverage of…
Finding God in the Mess: Meditations for Mindful Living, by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds (Messenger Publications, €11.95 / £10.95) This is a new edition of a book that proved a great success when it was a first issued in 2018, indeed it was awarded two media awards. Though it then had many readers,…
An elderly man, Harold Fry (Jim Broadbent), receives a letter from an old friend, Queenie, one morning to say she’s in a hospice. His immediate impulse is to write a return letter of sympathy to her but after a conversation with a girl in a garage shop whose aunt’s cancer was halted by the support…
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill-Seeker/£20.00/€15.99) The tale about the ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ of the Vatican has been often and well told, and even filmed by Hollywood in 1983, with the chief character being played by Gregory Peck. In this novel, however, Joseph O’Connor provides a fresh version of what is the very remarkable story. It…
The Irish Defence Forces 1922-2022 by Eoin Kinsella (Four Courts Press/€30.00/£27.50) Defending Ireland over the past 100 years of independence has been the task of the Irish Defence Forces but their main struggle has often been to survive the neglect and parsimony of their political masters. For a new state that came out of a brief…
By the Books Editor Into Iraq by Michael Palin (Hutchinson-Heinemann/€19.99/ £16.99) Having abandoned the Python squadron, Michael Palin has created a new strand to his life making travel documentaries. In his new book, which deals with a long-intended journey through Iraq, he admits to feeling the effects of what we can kindly call his mature years, but…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone