Christopher Nolan (poet, novelist, author of the memoir "Under the Eye of the Clock") died in a Dublin hospital a few weeks ago. Nolan was paralyzed, but as he said, he became liberated when he was able to type on a keyboard thanks to special technology.
His mother described his early works:
“He wrote of a family visit to a cave that was illuminated by electric lights: He said it was ‘a lovely, fairy-like effect to the work of nature,’ ” she told the Associated Press in a 1987 interview. “It was just that turn of phrase,” she said. “I thought, that’s unusual for a child of eleven.” ~ Bernadette Nolan
His father Joseph, a part-time farmer and psychiatric nurse, read his son poetry and passages from James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” Christy, as his family called him, took to writing early: He published “Dam-Burst of Dreams,” a collection of poetry, at 15. Even then, critics compared it to Joyce.
His novel, The Banyan Tree might be a good read for the Virtual Book Club sometime this year.
.
10 comments:
Thanks to E; over at Life in Progress, for mentioning Christopher Nolan to me. I had read Under the Eye of the Clock, a a bit of his poetry, but wasn't aware of his novel, or his untimely death.
A R: just read a few pages of The Banyan Tree over at Amazon.
Reading Nolan is like slowly chewing on real whole-grain bread, as distinguished from the fluffy slices of white stuff. Every word counts (as well it might, considering the work involved in producing them).
Gorgeous writing. Thanks to E for pointing him out.
Thanks for the posting, AR! And I love RLB's description of Nolan's work. Very apt.
Haven't read his work, but great posts and comments, all!
I havn't read his work- but I think a film was made about his life?
It sounds like a brilliant choice for the book club- I would love to read it.
By the way- are we still on for Mr Pip for May- shall I add it?
Does anyone have any thoughts about when we might make the Virtual Book Club public?
I'm all for Mr. Pip, I'll ask over at the Virtual blog.
Sounds like a good choice to me.
Sounds good to me.
I'm sad he died so young.
There was a film, My Left Foot, but that was Christy Brown...I was getting them mixed up in my head while reading this!
So many guys named Christy in Ireland--the folksinger Christy Moore also.
Post a Comment