- Thomas Mann’s hidden debt to Danish Gothic - After six months or so of deep reading, I began writing up this essay at the beginning of what Christians celebrate as Lent (early March 2022). A time of fasting and reflection. It coincides with a volatile time in European and world history as Russian forces invaded Ukraine just prior to the start of Lent. …
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- The invisible lives and philosophies of workers and immigrants - (Colmcille Press set to publish Paul Larkin’s latest novel) In the spring/summer period of this year, the well-known and respected Irish publisher Colmcille Press of Derry will publish The Hidden Nature of Irish Plastic. Below, there is an extract from this novel, which follows the exploits of a young Manchester Irish teenager, Peter Baker, who …
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- Henrik Pontoppidan, Kierkegaard and ‘Danish Gothic’ (Henrik Pontoppidan as Educator) - Henrik Pontoppidan, Kierkegaard and ‘Danish Gothic’(Henrik Pontoppidan as Educator)byPaul Larkin The Danes are the masters of irony. Probably the best Ironists in the world. I don’t know how this has escaped the world’s attention, as Denmark has become more renowned for an alleged hygge, good beer, pastries and moody mists in detective films. In its …
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- Why is there no fun in Kierkegaard studies? - Søren Kierkegaard enjoying his menneskebad – people bath – in which he indulged most days. Kierkegaard is too often presented as pure doom and gloom, and Kierkegaard studies have exacerbated that caricature a thousand fold. Why? Rider: In what follows below, I make no assertion that the Kierkegaard experts I mention favourably would necessarily agree …
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The Irish freedom questions at the heart of my novel ‘Éilis from the Flats’ - The Irish freedom questions at the heart of my novel Éilis from the Flats (‘Éilis from the Flats’ is an existential and psychological thriller. It is volume one of ‘The Good Friday Sting’ hexalogy) ‘Éilis from the Flats’ is the opposite of a right-wing Catholic tract The ancient idea of personal guilt (in ancient times … Continue reading "The Irish freedom questions at the heart of my novel ‘Éilis from the Flats’"
Why all the things you have been told about Kierkegaard are wrong - Celebrating Søren Kierkegaard’s birthday – 5th of May, 1813 For a change I’m simply going to shoot from the hip, as that wonderful North American saying has it, and tell you some things about Denmark’s only world renowned thinker without any detailed referencing. Søren Kierkegaard preferred to be called a thinker, rather than a … Continue reading "Why all the things you have been told about Kierkegaard are wrong"
Kierkegaard’s vision of heaven - ‘For, what is it to be, and to want to be, a sovereign individual?’ – Søren Kierkegaard This is not about whether you believe in God, or are a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist or a Christian. It is primarily about thinking outside the box of human time – something we can all … Continue reading "Kierkegaard’s vision of heaven"
The Irish Times takes me and my novel ‘Éilis from the flats’ seriously – well done. - In 1977, Padraic Fiacc – perhaps the greatest urban poet ever to come out of Belfast in our modern times, wrote a remarkable poem called ‘An attempt on his life’ *. Fiacc didn’t just write about the Irish war. For example, he was a great poet of myth, and myth busting also, but he … Continue reading "The Irish Times takes me and my novel ‘Éilis from the flats’ seriously – well done."
How I was vanished from my own book - (As we prepare to celebrate the UN’s International Translation Day on September 30th, this article on the – still prevailing – abysmal treatment of literary translators has been sent to three national representatives at the UN: Geraldine Byrne Nason (Ireland); Martin Bille Hermann (Denmark) and Karel van Oosterom (Netherlands). All three countries are relevant to … Continue reading "How I was vanished from my own book"
- The Danish folk tale background to my 2019 novel, Éilis From the Flats, part of ‘The Good Friday Sting’ series - ‘Éilis’ – inspired by Danish author Steen Steensen Blicher’s folk tale – Hosekræmmeren/The Stocking Merchant After an unavoidable delay, American/Irish publisher Dalkey Archive Press will be publishing my novel Éilis from the Flats in August of this year in readiness for a full launch programme this autumn. See https://www.amazon.com/Eilis-Flats-Paul-Larkin/dp/1628972769 I began throwing out shapes …
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The infallible human artist test - Kierkegaard taking his daily menneskebad – a people bath * If you were there, or saw the above scene at a gallery or in a movie, you might not remember the date, time or even exact place, but you will forever recollect the scene. Bring it to life again and again as it returns to … Continue reading "The infallible human artist test"
- Haruki Murakami, Kierkegaard, Christmas and the Winter Sun-Shift - Haruki Murakami, Kierkegaard, Christmas and the Winter Sun-Shift Haruki Murakami – A worker bee Magic realism is supposed to be Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s forte, yet he is in fact closer to a worker bee, as we shall see. But a worker that can suddenly and miraculously transform our world into a range of …
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New York Review of Books reviews ‘A Fortunate Man’ - The Danish Tolstoy Henrik Pontoppidan rules over the province of Danish letters with a grey-bearded authority akin to Leo Tolstoy’s or Henry James’s. The author of three sweeping epics,Det Fortjættede Land (The Promised Land, 1891–1895), Lykke-Per (A Fortunate Man, 1898–1904), and De Dødes Rige (The Kingdom of the Dead, 1912–1916), he was awarded … Continue reading "New York Review of Books reviews ‘A Fortunate Man’"
- Why everybody should read ‘A Fortunate Man’ - Very occasionally in your life, you will experience a moment where your efforts in a particular discipline all meld together into a sense of great harmony. That something you did was exactly as you wanted it and had worked for. It doesn’t matter whether you excel at knitting, crown green bowling, flower growing, bird watching, …
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- BBC Today presenter Nick Robinson loses his ‘impartial’ way amongst my non-existent tattoos and “broad” accent. - In the late 1980s, during my time as a BBC Production Trainee in Manchester, I worked with the well-known BBC journalist Nick Robinson. He is now a presenter on the ‘Today’ radio programme. Nick and I worked together in as much that we worked for the same TV programme Brass Tacks, attended production …
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