"These nocturnes are rooted in the same parts of Ireland as I am. They took shape where I was born and grew up. Inevitably, they derive much of their tone and colour from the places, people and events that constitute my background. To the extent that writing has a voice, they speak with the same ac-cent whose inflection and intonation mark every word I utter...The ground covered in them...belongs to the human tribe...even if the universal issues are addressed in an Ulster accent; even if the points of departure are often minutely local..." ©1999 Chris Arthur .
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"Arthur's precision in recalling his homeland - and heartland - will strike a chord with many exiles , and the deliberation with which he writes recalls a woodcutter, polishing his creations until they give off a deep, burnished glow." -- Grania McFadden in the Belfast Telegraph
"Irish Nocturnes contains eighteen essays which range in subject matter from the Siege of Derry to Buddhist philosophy, from owls and kingfishers to fear of the dark, from sheepdogs to how we acquire language, from learning things by heart to coping with a sense of exile, from the origin of life to making linen, from bits of bone to Japanese bells. Underlying this diversity is a common origin." -- Local Literature
"Irish Nocturnes is beautiful and thoughtful. Each essay is a span in a lyrical bridge between the Irish and the Irish-American experience and between the natural world in Ireland and the much more troubled one that man has created on that glorious island." -- Stephen White
"There are eighteen essays here, an almost overwhelming gift, each a jewel in itself. [Chris Arthur] writes with simple grace and a poet's instinct for the right and necessary metaphor....I will take time over my reading and go back a second and, no doubt, a third time. I am certain that more precious metal is to be got from such a rich ore." -- William Wall in Local Literature
"thought-provoking...immensely readable and rewarding collection" [of essays each of which] "represents a lyrical interpretation of a facet of the Belfast-born author's life through his childhood to his work as a nature warden and his experiences as an emigrant." -- Pauline Ferrie, The Irish Emigrant Book Review
"Irish Nocturnes contains eighteen essays which range in subject matter from the Siege of Derry to Buddhist philosophy, from owls and kingfishers to fear of the dark, from sheepdogs to how we acquire language, from learning things by heart to coping with a sense of exile, from the origin of life to making linen, from bits of bone to Japanese bells. Underlying this diversity is a common origin." -- Local Literature
"Irish Nocturnes is beautiful and thoughtful. Each essay is a span in a lyrical bridge between the Irish and the Irish-American experience and between the natural world in Ireland and the much more troubled one that man has created on that glorious island." -- Stephen White
"There are eighteen essays here, an almost overwhelming gift, each a jewel in itself. [Chris Arthur] writes with simple grace and a poet's instinct for the right and necessary metaphor....I will take time over my reading and go back a second and, no doubt, a third time. I am certain that more precious metal is to be got from such a rich ore." -- William Wall in Local Literature
"thought-provoking...immensely readable and rewarding collection" [of essays each of which] "represents a lyrical interpretation of a facet of the Belfast-born author's life through his childhood to his work as a nature warden and his experiences as an emigrant." -- Pauline Ferrie, The Irish Emigrant Book Review
From the Publisher
The author, Chris Arthur, was born in Belfast and lived for many years in County Antrim. He worked as warden on a nature reserve on the shores of Lough Neagh before enrolling at the University of Edinburgh, where he took a First Class Honours degree followed by a Ph.D. He has been widely published as an essayist and poet on both sides of the Atlantic, with work appearing in The American Scholar, The Antigonish Review, The Centennial Review, Contemporary Review, Dalhousie Review, Descant, Event, The Honest Ulsterman, The North American Review, Northwest Review, Poetry Ireland Review, The Southern Review, The Threepenny Review, The Wascana Review and others. He was Gifford Fellow at the University of St. Andrews and is a winner of both the Akegarasu Haya International Essay Prize and the Beverly Hayne Memorial Award for Young Writers. He currently teaches at the University of Wales, Lampeter. His second collection of essays, Handscapes of the Mind: Journeys Into Ireland is scheduled for publication in 2000.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Of Ireland and Life,
By Kostas G. Messas (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Irish Nocturnes (Paperback)
I read Irish Nocturnes with a great deal of pleasure. Everyone of the 18 essays brought me closer to what one might refer to as the unexpected beauty in our lives. One will definitely fall in love with life. Everyday experiences are told with a touch of wonder to them. As the essays grow deeper in lyricism and poetry, so does the universal appeal of the sentiments they invoke, including longing, nostalgia, gentleness,childlike optimism,adult realism, and stability. The author, Chris Arthur, is a master of sharing personal experiences in a way that they can become one's own. Although I have not been to Ireland, I find myself sharing the author's pathos for Ireland's beauty and strength. I recommend this collection of essays to everyone interested in that which is both beautiful and thoughtful.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essays, gentle and profound,
This review is from: Irish Nocturnes (Paperback)
A remarkable collection of essays on themes suggestd to the author by specific Irish locations of special significance to him. Beautifully written they remind me of a combination an agnostic Fred Buchner and a modern Annie Dillard
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