As if the case with many Irish writers, John McGahern's work has moved from controversy to social history within a couple of generations. The early novels, The Barracks (1963) and The Dark (1965), remain powerful testaments to a way of life which seems at once so distant and yet so chillingly recent. Despite the international success of Amongst Women, the best of John McGahern is in fact contained within the covers of this valuable book, which should be required reading for anyone interested in Irish fiction, or indeed in the short-story form in general. There are thirty-four stories, some of which, such as "High Ground", are excellent, and although Mc Gahern lacks William Trevor's thematic and tonal range, his magic is expressed by a chance gesture, a taut observation or nuance or a passing remark, as well as by his ability to evoke a tense, eloquent silence or the unease of memory. The final story here, "The Country Funeral", in which three brothers are obliged to return to their uncle's farm on his death, is not only McGahern's finest work, but can claim a place alongside the greatest stories written anywhere this century.
