Customer Reviews

Irish Writers on Writing (The Writer's World)

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When I picked up this book in the Trinity University book store, I was just bored and looking for something to distract me from final exams. If not for the fact that it was on clearance, I probably wouldn't have bothered. But I started in on the introduction, kept going, and only looked at a clock after more than two hours had slipped by without my noticing.

Boland's introduction is funny and insightful in places, and the editorial selection beautifully illustrates the back and forth nature of the dialogue between authors. She describes Irish literature as an evolving conversation, and the book does meander around at times, but I enjoyed the diversions.

If you have access to a well-stocked library, you'll probably find that this book adds another ten or twenty to your reading list. Any one of these selections could have you combing through an author's body of work, looking for more.

The one theme that emerges more than any, at least to my mind, is the Irish tendency towards word play as they reconcile the introduction of the English language and the suppression of Irish--making the most of an unfortunate situation by using their new language in interesting ways. I don't know that this book will make you a better writer, but the florid prose and astute social commentary will be interesting and set you down new roads of thought.