Irish Short Story Month
March 1 to March 31
Event Resources-Links to lots of short stories, from classics to brand new works-Guests posts are welcome-just contact me
Frank O'Connors in The Lonely Voice: A Study in the Short Story ranks George Moore's (1852 to 1933, County Mayo, Ireland) collection of short stories, The Untilled Field as one of the greatest collections of short stories of all times. Some authorities see this collection as the start of the modern Irish short story. (There is additional background information on Moore in my prior posts on his work.) He was a very prolific writer but I think now only his novel Esther Waters (a work I very much admired) and The Untilled Field are still much read. The stories in The Untilled Field are wonderful works, not such academic required reads. I wanted to be sure George Moore was included in Irish Short Story Week.
"The Way Back" opens with one man, an artist, telling his shocked friend, also an artist, they are both Irish staying in London, that he feels he must return to Ireland. Here are the opening lines of their conversation:
Rodney expands his account of his years in Paris to his time in Italy. He went, as did many an artist to Paris and Rome to be inspired. They both agree they cannot bear the ugliness of London any longer. One of the men has some shocking news for his friend. He has met his model, on Lucy Delaney. It seems he was out for a walk and a woman approached him and asked him where a theater was. He told her it was closed and she is very distraught and tells him she has to go on the stage to make a living and she in fact set fire to her school in order to make good her escape. He is made very curious about her, she is seventeen and of course very pretty. He invites her to have dinner with him as he can hear her story. Soon he begins to support her, without any untoward actions occurring even though everyone thinks he must be sleeping with her. Soon complications arise from false accusations which bring about some very interesting plot developments.
This is a very well done, very much worth reading story. George Moore was a highly regarded art historian and the two men have some very interesting to things to say about art and the nature of beauty.
You can read "The Way Back" and other stories by George Moore here.
Mel u
"The Way Back" opens with one man, an artist, telling his shocked friend, also an artist, they are both Irish staying in London, that he feels he must return to Ireland. Here are the opening lines of their conversation:
"It was a pleasure to meet, even when they had nothing to say, and the two men had stopped to talk.
"Still in London, Rodney."
"Yes, till the end of the week; and then I go to Italy. And you? You're going to meet Sir Owen Asher at Marseilles."
"I am going to Ireland," and, catching sight of a look of astonishment and disapproval on Rodney's face, Harding began to explain why he must return to Ireland.
"The rest of your life is quite clear," said Rodney. "You knew from the beginning that Paris was the source of all art, that everyone here who is more distinguished than the others has been to Paris. We go to Paris with baskets on our backs, and sticks in our hands, and bring back what we can pick up. And having lived immersed in art till you're forty, you return to the Catholic Celt! Your biographer will be puzzled to explain this last episode, and, however he may explain it, it will seem a discrepancy."
"I suppose one should think of one's biographer."
This is a very well done, very much worth reading story. George Moore was a highly regarded art historian and the two men have some very interesting to things to say about art and the nature of beauty.
You can read "The Way Back" and other stories by George Moore here.
Mel u
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