Read Instead #10 -- Off to the Ireland of the early 20th century -- Garbo

Program for the play "Mr. Gilhooley," in which Helen Hayes starred

I'm close to getting a bit out of my depth this week, because my topic is 20th century Irish writers. I did just request an anthology from the library so I can get up to speed by self-education, but in the meantime, here's this. 

The Irish writers whose work I know best is James Joyce, meaning that I've read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Dead, and the stories in Dubliners. And I've read a bit about the censorship struggles around Joyce's books.

 Book to skip

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

  Why to skip it

Honestly, I feel that James Joyce, like Ernest Hemingway, became one of those writers whose work gets less attention than his personal style or his private life and all of that. Joyce of course has brought the world some amazing work, world-changing stuff. And the fight on his behalf to make his once-forbidden writing available to any reader who wants to decide independently on what is good to read and what is not is admirable. Still, I think there's a case for choosing one of Joyce's works to put on the reshelving cart so that something else can take its place. I chose Finnegans Wake because there's at least one other book I can think of that's set in roughly the same time and place and which tells the life stories of similar characters. 

tMr Gilhooley by Liam O'Flaherty

 Why to read it

Once I realized that the amazing 1935 film "The Informer" is based on Liam O'Flaherty's work, I became interested in his fiction. And then it turned out that the author was prolific and wrote many kinds of nonfiction as well as novels and stories. And Liam O'Flaherty, according to his Wikipedia entry, was a pretty interesting fellow. Maybe not James Joyce interesting, but is that good or bad?  Hmmm. 

Look at those eyes. And that slight smile. 

A fine blog called "The Modern Novel" has an extensive biibliography for O'Flaherty.

As I don't know a lot about writers of the 1910s and 1920s, especially European authors, I wasn' familiar with Mr Gilhooley till recently. But at the time of publication, it was fairly well-known and was used as the basis for a play on Broadway, in which young Helen Hayes appeared. 

Not sure about this one? Here's the first page so you can check out O'Flaherty's writing style. 

Yes?  I found a copy to borrow through my local library's Interlibrary Loan program. 

No? Maybe you'd prefer a seocnd "Read This Instead" option. How about this collection of work by Irish women writers, edited by Maeve Binchy? 

                            Reading Times Compared

Finnegans Wake         11 hours

Mr Gilhooley       4 hours, 45 minutes

In Sunshine or in Shadow   5 hours

I like the dust jacket for Mr Gilhooley pictured above. The copy I borrowed from the library didn't have its dust jacket any more, but I still liked the design of the board covers. 

Speaking of design, Mr Gilhooley was included in the literary works Irish artist Harry Clarke put into the famous Geneva Window. 

 Trailer for the 1935 Oscar-winning film "The Informer," based on another of Liam O'Flaherty's works:

Next week: I'm switching up the formats and will cycle through various ongoing series, including these "What To Read Instead" posts. 

Disclaimer:  I suggest skipping books, but there's always a substitute offering in these posts. I never suggest skipping a book and playing more video games or spending more time doomscrolling. And I am not banning, condemning, harming, or trashing the books I recommend skipping. There's nothing wrong with the titles I suggest skipping; it's just a matter of making choices with limited time to read in a busy, busy world. 

Garbo