Hear in-depth discussions of recent Irish books that are worth reading, across a range of genres. Expert guests get to the heart of books you know and give you ideas of what contemporary Irish literature to read next.

In Irish Books, author and critic Chris Murray discusses recent Irish books with expert guests. Hear their in-depth conversations to learn about contemporary Irish books that are worth reading. For lovers of Irish fiction, The Irish Books Podcast gets to the heart of books you know and gives you ideas of what to read next.

Follow the Irish Books Podcast channel on WhatsApp

Hear in-depth discussions of recent Irish books that are worth reading, across a range of genres. Expert guests get to the heart of books you know and give you ideas of what contemporary Irish literature to read next.
In Irish Books, author and critic Chris Murray discusses recent Irish books with expert guests. Hear their in-depth conversations to learn about contemporary Irish books that are worth reading. For lovers of Irish fiction, The Irish Books Podcast gets to the heart of books you know and gives you ideas of what to read next. <a href="https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBq5wu4SpkCEVjepD42">Follow the Irish Books Podcast channel on WhatsApp</a>

Each episode focuses on a single book to offer in-depth exploration of contemporary Irish writing, one of the the dominant presences in book shops, book groups, and writers’ festivals around the world. Guest experts on Irish culture join author and critic Chris Murray to explore the techniques, cultural resonances, and deeper meanings of the nation’s recent literature. Irish Books tackles prize winners and some of the biggest names in Irish writing today while also calling attention to emerging voices that deserve notice. Listeners will learn more about the books they loved and find out what they should read next.

Host @drchrismurray.bsky.social (Bluesky)

Read the blog at https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com

The Irish Books Podcast is produced by East Coast Studio with support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Monash University

Each episode focuses on a single book to offer in-depth exploration of contemporary Irish writing, one of the the dominant presences in book shops, book groups, and writers&rsquo; festivals around the world. Guest experts on Irish culture join author and critic Chris Murray to explore the techniques, cultural resonances, and deeper meanings of the nation&rsquo;s recent literature. Irish Books tackles prize winners and some of the biggest names in Irish writing today while also calling attention to emerging voices that deserve notice. Listeners will learn more about the books they loved and find out what they should read next.
Host <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/drchrismurray.bsky.social">@drchrismurray.bsky.social </a>(Bluesky)
Read the blog at <a href="https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com">https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com</a>
The Irish Books Podcast is produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://eastcoaststudio.com.au/">East Coast Studio</a> with support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Monash University

Irish Books

Irish Books Season 1

Kevin Foster, an expert in war narratives at Monash University, helps Chris examine a quirky veteran: the hero of Old God's Time fought in the Malayan Emergency and is a retired Garda. He was also brought up in a Christian Brothers home: protagonist Tom Kettle has been through the wars, so to speak. Tom's past resurfaces when two policemen visit his home in Dalkey about a cold case, little realising how closely the mystery relates to Tom's personal tragedies. His attempts to start again seem never to have succeeded; his life has been a series of devastating losses with only glimpses of contentment. Old memories intrude upon Tom's present so forcibly that we wonder whether he has dementia. The book is also haunted, in an inter-textual way, by ghosts from Sebastian Barry's other novels. Kevin and Chris find Old God's Time a moving and complex book which also achieves an unlikely humour in its vision of Tom Kettle's eccentric and perhaps disintegrating mind. The novel moves gracefully between different registers, invoking Greek myth with pathos at one moment and conventions of crime fiction at another. Contains spoilers.

<a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/kevin-foster/">Kevin Foster</a>, an expert in war narratives at Monash University, helps Chris examine a quirky veteran: the hero of Old God's Time fought in the Malayan Emergency and is a retired Garda. He was also brought up in a Christian Brothers home: protagonist Tom Kettle has been through the wars, so to speak. Tom's past resurfaces when two policemen visit his home in Dalkey about a cold case, little realising how closely the mystery relates to Tom's personal tragedies. His attempts to start again seem never to have succeeded; his life has been a series of devastating losses with only glimpses of contentment.&nbsp;Old memories intrude upon Tom's present so forcibly that we wonder whether he has dementia. The book is also haunted, in an inter-textual way, by ghosts from Sebastian Barry's other novels. Kevin and Chris find Old God's Time a moving and complex book which also achieves an unlikely humour in its vision of Tom Kettle's eccentric and perhaps disintegrating mind. The novel moves gracefully between different registers, invoking Greek myth with pathos at one moment and conventions of crime fiction at another.&nbsp;Contains spoilers.

Cracked Lens over a Cold Case: Sebastian Barry's Old God's Time

Chris's guest to discuss Intermezzo is Madeleine Callaghan (Maddy), Senior Lecturer in the School of English at the University of Sheffield. Maddy explains that Rooney's title alludes to the opening strategies of chess, in which players aim to set up the conditions they want for free play. But Rooney's characters find they can't arrange their lives the same way: they can neither identify the beginning nor put the pieces where they want. We meet Peter - torn between his sexual ideal in the younger Naomi and his Platonic match in old flame Sylvia - and Peter's student brother Ivan, the socially awkward chess champion who falls for the much older Margaret. Chris points out that the brothers have recently been bereaved by the loss of their father, a grief that is present without being mediated. With that bereavement, and troubled love affairs, the novel presents a lonely world in which emotional closeness is elusive, sex doesn't fully answer a person's needs, and the unfortunate dog symbolises neglected responsibilities. While commentators have made much of Rooney as millennial spokesperson, Maddy notes Intermezzo's place in the cerebral traditions of various European fictions. Rooney is also specifically interested in where modern Ireland is going, without perhaps having the answers. It feels like a moral work, but does it communicate worthwhile morals? And would the novel benefit from the ability to find humour in adverse circumstances, as in some of the most well-known Irish literature?

 

Chris's guest to discuss Intermezzo is <a href="https://sheffield.ac.uk/english/people/academic-staff/madeleine-callaghan">Madeleine Callaghan</a> (Maddy), Senior Lecturer in the School of English at the University of Sheffield. Maddy explains that Rooney's title alludes to the opening strategies of chess, in which players aim to set up the conditions they want for free play. But Rooney's characters find they can't arrange their lives the same way: they can neither identify the beginning nor put the pieces where they want. We meet Peter - torn between his sexual ideal in the younger Naomi and his Platonic match in old flame Sylvia - and Peter's student brother Ivan, the socially awkward chess champion who falls for the much older Margaret. Chris points out that the brothers have recently been bereaved by the loss of their father, a grief that is present without being mediated. With that bereavement, and troubled love affairs, the novel presents a lonely world in which emotional closeness is elusive, sex doesn't fully answer a person's needs, and the unfortunate dog symbolises neglected responsibilities. While commentators have made much of Rooney as millennial spokesperson, Maddy notes Intermezzo's place in the cerebral traditions of various European fictions. Rooney is also specifically interested in where modern Ireland is going, without perhaps having the answers. It feels like a moral work, but does it communicate worthwhile morals? And would the novel benefit from the ability to find humour in adverse circumstances, as in some of the most well-known Irish literature?
&nbsp;

Placing the Pieces of Grief and Love: Sally Rooney's Intermezzo

Lucy Collins of University College Dublin explains that Duncan refuses what we expect of a novel. The ideas of visual art matter more here than the plot and character that usually drive fiction. Our focus is on the restorative sculptor John Molloy, and the narrative takes us into his craft. While Chris finds Molloy a frustratingly repressed character, a crisis forces Molloy to confront his past. His interest in sculpture recalls both his father's accident at the local quarry and his mother's vision of a Blessed Virgin statue moving. Molloy remains unemotional despite establishing a relationship with fellow-artist Bernadette, but the imminent death of a friend compels him to grieve. Lucy and Chris discuss how Molloy's day among the artworks of Bologna, minutely observed, offers means for Molloy to engage with old trauma and new bereavement. In all of this author Adrian Duncan avoids obvious literary techniques so that the reader must encounter Molloy on his own terms as an artist.

LINKS:
Irish Books Podcast on Blogspot: https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com

Follow the Irish Books Podcast channel on WhatsApp

https://serpentstail.com/work/the-gorgeous-inertia-of-the-earth/

<a href="https://people.ucd.ie/lucy.collins">Lucy Collins</a> of University College Dublin explains that Duncan refuses what we expect of a novel. The ideas of visual art matter more here than the plot and character that usually drive fiction. Our focus is on the restorative sculptor John Molloy, and the narrative takes us into his craft. While Chris finds Molloy a frustratingly repressed character, a crisis forces Molloy to confront his past. His interest in sculpture recalls both his father's accident at the local quarry and his mother's vision of a Blessed Virgin statue moving. Molloy remains unemotional despite establishing a relationship with fellow-artist Bernadette, but the imminent death of a friend compels him to grieve. Lucy and Chris discuss how Molloy's day among the artworks of Bologna, minutely observed, offers means for Molloy to engage with old trauma and new bereavement. In all of this author Adrian Duncan avoids obvious literary techniques so that the reader must encounter Molloy on his own terms as an artist.
LINKS: Irish Books Podcast on Blogspot: <a href="https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com/">https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com</a>
<a href="https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBq5wu4SpkCEVjepD42">Follow the Irish Books Podcast channel on WhatsApp</a>
<a href="https://serpentstail.com/work/the-gorgeous-inertia-of-the-earth/">https://serpentstail.com/work/the-gorgeous-inertia-of-the-earth/</a>

Irish Books Season 1

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