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In October we spent an hour with the Irish author Edna O’Brien. As Chris wrote at the time,
We mean to talk with Edna O’Brien not only about mothers and daughters, about exile and The Light of Evening, but about Ireland then and now, and about the United States that Dilly, in the novel, sampled in the 1920’s and rejected. The Irish through the centuries have honed their backstage wits on the observation of Britain’s imperious weight in the world. What do we want this striking green-eyed sage to tell us about ourselves, our writers and politicians, our American performance at home and on the wider stage of this young global century?
The result was a sometimes emotional conversation between Edna O’Brien and the hibernophile Chris. We’re offering it again as we take time off this week.
The Light of Evening is maginficent as are her early works. I remember reading the country girls at age 11, just after I’d discovered Frank O’ Connor’s short stories and I’ve reread all of them each decade since. At age 43 I still believe each writer is unsurpassed in their genre.
Having just reread In the Forest after a two year break from the first reading, for me this is Edna’s most poignant and affecting work. I’ll never forget O’ Kane, Eily, little Maddie and so many others in that book. Even Kitty, with her short though emotionally charged appearance along with Mick Rafferty’s fear and laissez faire attitude, stayed with me for a long time after the first reading of that book.
Regards
Lisa Roche