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The strangers' house : writing Northern Ireland / Alexander Poots.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Twelve, 2023Edition: First editionDescription: xxiii, 223 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781538701577
  • 153870157X
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Summary: "Northern Ireland is one hundred years old. Northern Ireland does not exist. Both of these statements are true. It just depends on who you ask. How do you write about a place like this? THE STRANGERS' HOUSE asks this question of the region's greatest writers, living and dead. What have they made of Northern Ireland - and what has Northern Ireland made of them? Northern Ireland is roughly the same size as the State of Connecticut, yet has produced an extraordinary number of celebrated poets and novelists. Louis MacNeice, too clever to be happy, formed by his childhood on the shores of Belfast Lough; son of a Protestant clergyman "banned for ever from the candles of the Irish poor". C. S. Lewis, who discovered Narnia in the rolling drumlins and black rock of County Down. Anna Burns, chronicler of North Belfast and winner of the Booker Prize. And Seamus Heaney, the man of wry precision, the poet with the gift of surprise. As well as household names, Poots also examines writers who may be less familiar to an American readership. These include the dark and bawdy novels of Ian Cochrane, a celebrated raconteur obsessed with Columbo, and Forrest Reid, a man who saw Arcadia in the Irish countryside, and who was, perhaps, the North's first queer author. Reading the work of these writers together produces a testament to over one hundred years of literary endeavor and human struggle. THE STRANGERS' HOUSE is the story of how men and women have written about a home divided, and used their work to move, in the words of Seamus Heaney, "like a double agent among the big concepts.""-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 820.9941 P824 Available 33111011045255
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 820.9941 P824 Available 33111010975262
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 820.9941 P824 Available 33111009466513
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A penetrating study and celebration of Northern Irish literature-- telling the region's story through the extraordinary novels and poetry produced by decades of conflict.



Northern Ireland is one hundred years old. Northern Ireland does not exist. Both of these statements are true. It just depends on who you ask. How do you write about a place like this? THE STRANGERS' HOUSE asks this question of the region's greatest writers, living and dead. What have they made of Northern Ireland - and what has Northern Ireland made of them?



Northern Ireland is roughly the same size as the State of Connecticut, yet has produced an extraordinary number of celebrated poets and novelists. Louis MacNeice , too clever to be happy, formed by his childhood on the shores of Belfast Lough. C. S. Lewis, who discovered Narnia in the rolling drumlins and black rock of County Down. Anna Burns , chronicler of North Belfast and winner of the Booker Prize. And Seamus Heaney , the man of wry precision, the poet with the gift of surprise.



As well as household names, Poots also examines writers who may be less familiar to an American readership. These include the dark and bawdy novels of Ian Cochrane, a celebrated raconteur obsessed with Columbo , and Forrest Reid, a man who saw Arcadia in the Irish countryside, and who was, perhaps, the North's first queer author. Reading the work of these writers together produces a testament to over one hundred years of literary endeavor and human struggle. THE STRANGERS' HOUSE is the story of how men and women have written about a home divided, and used their work to move, in the words of Seamus Heaney, "like a double agent among the big concepts."



Authors and works discussed...

C. S. Lewis - Surprised by Joy

Seamus Heaney - North

Anna Burns - Milkman

Louis MacNeice - Autumn Journal

Forrest Reid - Brian Westby

Derek Mahon - A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford

Michael Longley - Kindertotenlieder

Medbh McGuckian - Drawing Ballerinas

Patrick Kavanagh - The Green Fool

Ian Cochrane - F for Ferg

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-220) and index.

"Northern Ireland is one hundred years old. Northern Ireland does not exist. Both of these statements are true. It just depends on who you ask. How do you write about a place like this? THE STRANGERS' HOUSE asks this question of the region's greatest writers, living and dead. What have they made of Northern Ireland - and what has Northern Ireland made of them? Northern Ireland is roughly the same size as the State of Connecticut, yet has produced an extraordinary number of celebrated poets and novelists. Louis MacNeice, too clever to be happy, formed by his childhood on the shores of Belfast Lough; son of a Protestant clergyman "banned for ever from the candles of the Irish poor". C. S. Lewis, who discovered Narnia in the rolling drumlins and black rock of County Down. Anna Burns, chronicler of North Belfast and winner of the Booker Prize. And Seamus Heaney, the man of wry precision, the poet with the gift of surprise. As well as household names, Poots also examines writers who may be less familiar to an American readership. These include the dark and bawdy novels of Ian Cochrane, a celebrated raconteur obsessed with Columbo, and Forrest Reid, a man who saw Arcadia in the Irish countryside, and who was, perhaps, the North's first queer author. Reading the work of these writers together produces a testament to over one hundred years of literary endeavor and human struggle. THE STRANGERS' HOUSE is the story of how men and women have written about a home divided, and used their work to move, in the words of Seamus Heaney, "like a double agent among the big concepts.""-- Provided by publisher.

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