A Different Story: The Writings of Colm Tóibín

Description

Colm Tóibín published his first book in 1985 and in the three decades since has been a central voice within popular Irish cultural and intellectual discourse.
Tóibín is one of the most widely-read and critically respected of Irish contemporary novelists, both in Europe and in North America, and his fictions have justly earned him an international reputation and an ever-growing popularity.
His use of many literary forms; the newspaper essay, the travel book, the historical study, reviews, broadcasts, best-selling novels and short stories all attest to his crucial influence on Irish public discourse and Irish identity.
Eibhear Walshe presents here a complete study of Tóibín’s writing life to date, drawing on the newly-opened Colm Tóibín literary archive.

• The only complete and current study of Tóibín’s novels, plays, literary essays , short stories, travel books and historical studies
• Draws on the newly opened Colm Tóibín literary archive in the National Library, Dublin
• Accessible, informative and written with a wide audience in mind by a leading Irish literary critic and author

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Travels in the Past. Walking Along the Border (1987), The Trial of the Generals (1990) The South, (1990) Homage to Barcelona (1990).
2. Escaping History The Heather Blazing. (1992) The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994), The Irish Famine (1999) (with Diarmaid Ferriter,) The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999), Lady Gregory’s Toothbrush (2002) Beauty in a Broken Place (2004).
3. The Gay Body: The Story of the Night (1996), The Blackwater Lightship (1999) Love in a Dark Time (2002).
4. The Victorian Closet: The Master (2004).
5. Emptying the Family Mothers and Sons (2006).The Empty Family (2010) New Ways to Kill your Mother (2012).
6. Exile: Brooklyn (2009). The Testament of Mary (2012).

Conclusion

About the Author

Dr Eibhear Walshe is a senior lecturer in the Department of Modern English at University College Cork. His biography Kate O’Brien: A Writing Life was published by Irish Academic Press in 2006, and he edited Elizabeth Bowen: Visions and Revisions for Irish Academic Press in 2008. His memoir, Cissie’s Abattoir, was published in 2009.