Reading matters

'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde

Fiction - paperback; Penguin Popular Classics; 67 pages; 1994.

In my quest to read more work by Irish literary greats this year, I recently purchased a newly repackaged Penguin Popular Classic version of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest. This edition, with its vibrant green cover and tracing-paper thin paper (all 100 per cent recycled), retails for a meagre £2 -- that's a damn cheap price for a masterpiece, in my opinion.

I don't normally read plays (as the 200-plus reviews on this blog will attest), but I decided to make an exception in this case. (Well, to be honest, I'd already read The Picture of Dorian Gray back in my early 20s and because there's a distinct lack of other novels in Mr Wilde's back catalogue I wasn't left with much choice.)

I had seen a film version of this play a couple of years ago (the 2002 version starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench) and I remember laughing out loud at a lot of it. But seeing the words in black-and-white print makes them seem even funnier -- if that is possible.

For those who don't know the storyline, the brief synopsis goes something like this: Country gentleman Jack Worthing invents a younger brother, Ernest, whom he pretends to be when he visits the city. This gives him free reign to pursue the beautiful Gwendolen. Meanwhile his city-based friend, Algernon Moncrieff, invents a poorly relative, Bunbury, whom he pretends to visit in the country in order that he can leave his dull city existence behind for a bit of fun and frivolity. One day Algernon pretends to be Ernest and visits Jack's pretty charge, Cecily, in the country, which leads to all kinds of confusion about identity. Obviously, Jack is not happy, but when his own deceptive behaviour is called into question, the scene is ripe for much farce and hilarity.

'Tarry Flynn' by Patrick Kavanagh

Fiction - paperback; Penguin Classics; 192 pages; 2000.

Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967) is best known as an Irish poet, but he also dabbled in fiction. Tarry Flynn, first published in 1948, is perhaps his most popular and most famous novel. It is set in rural Ireland in the 1930s and tells the story of a young farmer's day-to-day desires: women, nature and poetry, not necessarily in that order.

On the face of it, this book does not have much of a plot. It's essentially a series of vignettes, held together by the passing seasons, but it is written in such beautiful, evocative prose, it's difficult to find fault with the narrative. There's a quiet, understated grace to every sentence that makes it a powerful and affecting read. I never thought I would say this, but I loved this book so much I'm afraid the late John McGahern, my favourite Irish writer and possibly my favourite writer per se,  has a rival for my affections.

There are lots of similarities in style and content -- I rather suspect that McGahern (1934-2006) drew inspiration from Kavanagh's work -- but it is their shared ability to find beauty in the simplest of things, in the mundane tasks of people's lives, that I love so much.

An Irish writers' year

It's no secret that I have a penchant for modern Irish fiction. I've read everything from John McGahern to Roddy Doyle, Maeve Binchy to Jennifer Johnston. But despite one (timid) foray into James Joyce, I've never really explored the great Irish writers, such as Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett. This year I hope to change all that.