Lists are a form of cultural hysteria: so said Colm Toibin, quoting Don DeLillo, when he and publishing doyenne Carmen Callil took on the public in Galway on Tuesday to debate the inclusions - and exclusions - of their book The Modern Library, just published by Picador.
When Toibin heard DeLillo make this weighty pronouncement some time back, he may have squirmed - but, undaunted, he and Callil pressed ahead in selecting the 194 best novels in English since 1950. At the Cuirt Debate in the Town Hall Theatre, the audience held forth on what was right and wrong with the book. Deemed to be on the missing list were Susan Minot, Paul Auster, Joyce Carol Oates, Lisa St Aubin de Teran and J.R.Tolkein . There was disappointment that Aidan Higgins wasn't among the Irish writers listed but universal delight at the inclusion of Eugene McCabe's Death and Nightingales. Among the audience was Liadain O'Donovan, daughter of Frank O'Connor, who reminisced in the foyer afterwards about her father, not eligible for consideration for this lively book on grounds of dates most likely.
ESSAYS that gain rather than lose relevance with age are as scarce as hen's teeth, but one of Kilkenny's most well-known sons is, sadly, proving to be rather prescient. Hubert Butler, who died in 1991, was the author of essays on topics as diverse as Graham Greene and influenza, but is perhaps best remembered for his controversial writings on the Balkans.
Both Butler's writings and he himself were given the cold shoulder for some years before they were re-published by Lilliput Press in the 1980s, but Sadbh has heard that Mr B. is having the last, rather macabre laugh. Such is the relevance of essays such as "The Sub-Prefect Should Have Held His Tongue" and "Yugoslav Papers", they are now being translated into Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian and published for the first time in the Balkans. Poet and journalist Chris Agee is the editor and the publisher is Zid Sarajevo.
`I wanted to live in a country free from bickering, backbiting and begrudgery," explained English literary critic Terry Eagleton at the launch of his latest book, The Truth About The Irish. "But I moved to Ireland instead." A fine clutch of friends, who came along to the Temple Bar Gallery for Tuesday's party included actor Stephen Rea; and writers Seamus Deane, Nuala O'Faolain, Michael Farrell and John Horgan.
Higel was going to meet another New Island prospective author the next day - Billy Hutchinson, who will be writing his autobiography for the press. A sequel to the very popular collective novel Finbar's Hotel is also planned, and will be called Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel. Writers on board already include Maeve Binchy, Deirdre Purcell and Anne Haverty.
Tribunals are not the only windfall a good lawyer can expect these days. When the manuscript for Dublin lawyer Brian Gallagher's first novel went to auction recently, it was snapped up for £150,000 by Susan Lamb and Malcolm Edwards at Orion, who beat off competition from Penguin to secure the two-book deal. The book comes complete with a rather good name, The Feng Shui Junkie, and Lamb enthuses that her new signing is "the bees knees".
A story about a marriage falling apart, The Feng Shui Junkie is told from a woman's perspective and apparently even Gallagher's wife was astonished by his understanding of the female psyche. The agent responsible for engineering all this is Jonathan Lloyd who, incidentally, also represents Marian Keyes.
When Keith Ridgway's first novel, The Long Falling was published last year, critics both here and in Britain were full of praise. Clearly, readers in the USA were similarly impressed with the tale of a mother's search for the truth behind her son's death, since the book has been nominated for the 1999 Lamda Award in the category of Gay Men's Fiction.
The Lamda Literary Foundation which honours gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender literary excellence will hold the award ceremony next Tuesday at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Unfortunately Keith, who is currently working on a book of short stories and a new novella, won't be at the ceremony to hear whether he joins the ranks of past winners such as Alan Hollinghurst, Michael Cunningham and Edmund White.
Sadbh