A man’s fame lasts longer than his life

Here we are again St. Patrick’s Day which reminds me for being such a small country Ireland has made a large contribution to the world of literature.  All that cold nasty weather forcing people to be indoors must have encouraged imaginations to stir into rich prose mixed with humor.  So once again I have conjured a list of favorites. Five classic authors and three contemporary along with comments on why I find them extraordinary.

 

James Joyce- I read the Dubliners in College and loved that I wasn’t told what to think but rather I was left to come to my own conclusions; this is an evident contrast with the moral judgments displayed by other writers at that time. There is a lack of traditional dramatic resolution within the stories but there is plenty of room to think about what the short-stories actually mean.

 

Oscar Wilde- My all-time favorite Irishman.  His presentation of late-Victorian society, while simultaneously mocking them is exceptionally witty. With a gift for comical farce in the Importance of Being Earnest, every time I hear the line about being born in a handbag, and bred at Victoria Station, I burst into a roar.

Lady Bracknell: Are your parents living?

Jack Worthing: I have lost both my parents.

Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Do you smoke?

Jack Worthing: Well yes, I must admit I smoke.

Lady Bracknell: I’m glad to hear it. A man should have an occupation of some kind.

 

Samuel Beckett- I have seen Waiting for Godot more than any other production. Why? Because it takes on how we as individuals create value by affirming and living life, not by simply talking about it or philosophizing it in our minds. The play validates how each of us either creates value and the place of (or lack of) God in our lives. It has depth.  I see God and Godot as one and the same.

 

George Bernard Shaw- His ironic wit and his way of joking is to tell the truth, it’s why I love his quotes so much, such as— All great truths begin as blasphemies.  A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.  Youth is wasted on the young. Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.  And of course his play Pygmalion which on the silver-screen became the 1930’s movie of the same name and later was adapted to the musical, My Fair Lady.

 

William Butler Yeats- His preference for using rhyme and strict stanza set him apart from the vogue of modern poetry. His creative imagination remained very much his own. An example is in The Drinking Song...

WINE comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

 

Frank Mc Court- His memoir, Angela’s Ashes had me rolling from tragic comedies.  The misery and squalor of his childhood was brilliant. It was one book I thought of long after I put it down.  The film didn’t do the story justice.

 

Edna O’Brien- I was in awe when I read she wrote The Country Girls in a few short weeks. It;s lyrical portrayal of loving, sensitive, good women, being victimized by hard, callous men, and it’s publication hit the right note at the right time which is why it was banned in Ireland. O’Brien as a pioneer, set the road for women to write about relating to men sending out bulletins from battlefronts where other women dare not tread.

Nuala O’Faolain- She demonstrated terrific talent for being a counterpart to Frank McCourt.  Her memoir, Are You Somebody is so honest about her own shortcomings and dysfunctions at first it’s hard to like her but you will admire her. She floats from job to job–relationship to relationship without much thought to the consequences of her actions. It is not until she reaches a personal crisis at her parent’s death that she acknowledges the destructive role alcohol has played in her life—repeating familial patterns and the aimless way she has existed. It is then that she begins to emerge as a more introspective person and you come to love the person that she is.  It is truly beautiful.

How about you? The day inspire any stories?