Sunday, March 8, 2009

Remembering Christopher Nolan



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.


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10 comments:

Avid Reader said...

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.

R.L. Bourges said...

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.

e said...

Thanks for the posting, AR! And I love RLB's description of Nolan's work. Very apt.

Anonymous said...

Haven't read his work, but great posts and comments, all!

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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?

Avid Reader said...

I'm all for Mr. Pip, I'll ask over at the Virtual blog.

Barbara said...

Sounds like a good choice to me.

Megan said...

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!

Squirrel said...

So many guys named Christy in Ireland--the folksinger Christy Moore also.

My Classic Fiction Book List -Partial List

  • Austen, Jane: (Complete Works)
  • Balzac: Cousin Bette/ Eugenie Grandet / Cousin Pons
  • Best Russian Short Stories
  • Boyle, TC: Short Works
  • Brennan, Maeve : Short Works, 1 Novella
  • Bronte, Emily, Ann, Jane (Complete Works)
  • Brookner, Anita ( Complete Works)
  • Cather, Willa (Complete Works)
  • Chekov: Short Works
  • David Copperfield (Dickens)
  • Dickens:A Tale of Two Cities
  • Dickens:Great Expectations
  • Dickens:Nicholas Nickelby
  • Dickens:Our Mutual Friend
  • Dickens:The Old Curiosity Shop
  • Doyle, Roddy (some novels, memoir)
  • Drabble, Margaret (4 Novels)
  • Drieser, Theodore (Complete Works)
  • Fitzgerald, F.Scott (Most Novels & short works)
  • Hardy, Thomas (Complete Works)
  • Hemingway, Short stories
  • Hemingway: The Old Man in the Sea
  • Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
  • Hugo: Les Miserables/Hunchback Of ND
  • James, Henry: Daisy Miller
  • James, Henry: In The Cage
  • James, Henry: Portrait of a Lady
  • James, Henry: The Golden Bowl
  • James, Henry: What Maisy Knew
  • James, Henry: Wings of a Dove
  • James, Henry:The Ambassadors
  • James, Henry; The Bostonians
  • Kerouac: Dharma Bums
  • Kerouac: On The Road
  • Kerouac: The Subterraneans
  • Kerouac: Tristessa
  • Lardner,Ring:Short Works
  • Larsen: Quicksand
  • Lewis, Sinclair: Arrowsmith
  • Lewis, Sinclair: Free Air
  • Lewis, Sinclair: Main Street
  • Lewis, Sinclair: The Job
  • MacGill, Patrick (Complete works)
  • Mackin, Walter (novels)
  • Maupassant: Short Works, novels
  • McGahern, John (novels of)
  • McNulty, John (Short Works)
  • Norris, Frank: McTeague
  • O'Brien, Edna (3 Novels)
  • O'Donnell, Paeder : Novels of
  • O. Henry
  • Potok, Chaim (4 novels/1 non fiction)
  • Salinger, JD : Nine Stories
  • Salinger: Franny & Zooey
  • Salinger: Raise High the Roofbeams
  • Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye
  • Sinclair, Lewis: Dodsworth
  • Sinclair, Lewis: Elmer Gantry
  • Sinclair, Upton: King Coal
  • Sinclair, Upton: The Jungle
  • Steinbeck, John: Sweet Thursday
  • Steinbeck: Winter of our Discontent
  • Steinbeck: Cannery Row
  • Steinbeck: East of Eden
  • Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
  • Theroux, Paul (3 Novels )
  • Toibin, Colm: (Novels of)
  • Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
  • Tolstoy: Short Works
  • Turgenev (2 novels)
  • Twain: T Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi
  • Vonnegut: Early Works (1950s-60s)
  • Wharton, Edith: Novels of/Short Stories
  • Women & Fiction (Edit. Cahill)
  • Zola, Emile ( 10 novels)