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Published Feb 2018
224 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
From the internationally acclaimed and Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea and the Benjamin Black mysteries - a vividly evocative memoir that unfolds around the author's recollections, experience, and imaginings of Dublin.
As much about the life of the city as it is about a life lived, sometimes, in the city, John Banville's "quasi-memoir" is as layered, emotionally rich, witty, and unexpected as any of his novels. Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, Banville saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child, a birthday treat, the place where his beloved, eccentric aunt lived. And though, when he came of age and took up residence there, and the city became a frequent backdrop for his dissatisfactions (not playing an identifiable role in his work until the Quirke mystery series, penned as Benjamin Black), it remained in some part of his memory as fascinating as it had been to his seven-year-old self. And as he guides us around the city, delighting in its cultural, architectural, political, and social history, he interweaves the memories that are attached to particular places and moments.
The result is both a wonderfully idiosyncratic tour of Dublin, and a tender yet powerful ode to a formative time and place for the artist as a young man.
"Starred Review. Told in a conversational style both luscious and luxuriant, this is exquisite work by a master craftsman." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. Dublin could not have asked for a more perceptive observer, or a more enchanting portrait." - Publishers Weekly
"Recommended for Banville devotees as well as anyone who shares his fascination with Ireland's capital city." - Library Journal
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Banville, the author of sixteen novels, has been the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, a Lannan Literary Award for Fiction and the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. He lives in Dublin.
Paul Joyce, a filmmaker and photographer, has been exhibited at numerous venues throughout Europe and the United States. His films have been nominated for International Emmy and CableACE awards and have been screened at more than twenty festivals worldwide; also he has collaborated on two books with the British artist David Hockney. He has lived and worked most of his life in London.
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