Review
Peter Murphy's debut,
John the Revelator, is in many ways structured
like other well-known 20
th-century Irish novels such as
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle, and
Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe; it's
dark, gothic and gritty, has elements of both tragedy and black comedy, and is populated
with stock characters; but the author transcends the genre, taking these stereotypes and breathing new life into them. The resulting work is
utterly fresh, unique, and quite unlike anything else I've read.
Murphy's writing is difficult to categorize, primarily because he uses so
many different techniques throughout the novel. While much of the book is
straight-forward narration, he also inserts snappy dialog, dream sequences,
fables, Bible tales, and even stand-alone short stories penned by one of the
characters. Each part has its own...
Beyond the Book
John The Revelator, The Person
The title of Peter Murphy's book is taken from a traditional song about John of Patmos,
the name given to the author of the biblical
Book of
Revelation, who identifies himself as living on the Greek island of Patmos.
Scholars date
Revelation to between AD 54 and 96 with most believing it
to have been written around AD 95.
In the 2nd century AD, the early Christian apologist Justin of Caesarea
(later Saint Justin Martyr) suggested that the author of Revelation was the same
person as both Jesus' apostle, "John the Beloved", and "John the Evangelist", author
of
The Gospel of John. But, around the 3rd century this was called
into question by church historians who identified the author of...
