September 24th, 2007
Two very different publications
The new issue of the excellent Dublin Review of Books is online. Unlike many similar publications, it’s completely free and you read the entire articles. Of particular interest this month are reviews of Michael Foot: A Life and A Lover of Unreason: The Life and Tragic Death of Assia Wevill about the love triangle between Wevill, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Most recommended though, is an essay by Evelyn Conlon entitled “Interpreting Irish Women Writers”. Conlon is also the editor of Cutting the Night in Two - Short Stories by Irish Women Writers and it’s an important piece of writing for various reasons, not least in the context of these discussions and a recent Guardian blog post, “Are Women Writers unimaginative - or just their publishers?”.
The Dublin Review of Books also has a blog, which could do with being regularly updated - God knows it’s a bit lonely in the world of Irish arts blogs.
While I’m on the subject of Irish women’s writing - read Anne Enright’s The Gathering. It’s so engaging, brilliantly written and breathes life into the familiar Irish themes of family, emigration and regret. It’s also making me itch to start writing again. Giles Foden reckons that if the Booker Prize was awarded for literary style, Enright (or McEwan) would win.
And in the opposite direction, if you haven’t already seen it, check out new Irish site Gubuwire, which is a mix of The Onion, Blather and Blogorrah.