The Contemporary Irish Novel: Critical Readings by Linden Peach (review)

Abstract

scarce are Beckett'sofferingsthat this is something of an occupationalhazard, and Albrightcould surelybe expected to have teased something furtherfrom this fabric. A similarintuitionof the unsaidhoversaroundAlbright'sthree citationsof Beckett's I937 'German Letter' to Axel Kaun (B&A,pp. I3, 53, I45), of which the middle instanceleaves the most questionsbegging. The multipleand indefinitemoods of 'in the forestof symbols,which aren't any, the little birdsof interpretation,which isn't any, are never silent' cannot be narratedby 'Beckettfamouslysneers'(B&A,p. 53); elsewhere in the book, however, Albright proves himself superlativelysubtle and insightfulon the subjectof Beckett and symbols. The chapter-headingsof Beckett andAesthetics imply a thematic or media-centred approach:'Introduction:Beckettand Surrealism','I. Stage:ResistingFurniture','2. Tape recorder, radio, film, television:resistingthe human image', and '3. Music: losing the will to resist'.However, within this structureAlbrightby and large traces a chronological line: from Eleutheria through WaitingforGodot, Endgame, and Happy Daysin chapter one; with chaptertwo takingin Krapp's LastTape,All thatFall,Rough for RadioI and II, Film,EhJoe, and GhostTrio.After this consummate overview, the third (and shortest)chapter is something of a disappointment,the change in focus given away by what is, by Albright'sstandards,an uncharacteristically gauche turn: 'Reading this [Watt]is like hearing difficultmusic for the firsttime. Now, let us see whether hearing difficult music is like reading Beckett' (B&A, p. I46). While the elements in the equation may be the same, directionis everything,and it is misleading to imply that considerationof the compositionsof Philip Glass, Heinz Holliger, Gyorgy Kurtag, Morton Feldman, and Earl Kim -however Beckett-inspired will necessarilyreveal anything about the works of Samuel Beckett. Such was the mutual importanceof music to Modernism, music to Beckett,and Modernism and Beckett to each other, one might have hoped for more from this final chapter;but I could be guiltyof imposingan imaginaryteleology on Albright'silluminatingtour, conducted once again with a certain old-fashioned charm, informal yet informed ('Ms.Akalaitis','Mr. Halley' (B&A,p. 67)).Wary undergraduatesand wearyprofessors alike will find much of interest, use, and pleasure in this deceptively slim volume; and I am already impatient for its successor. UNIVERSITY OFLONDON THOMAS MANSELL The Contemporary Irish Novel: Critical Readings. By LINDEN PEACH. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2004. xvi + 250 pp. /45 (pbk jI4.99). ISBN:0-333-94892-0 (pbk 0-333-94893-9). Linden Peach considers selected novels by Glenn Patterson and Robert McLiam Wilson; Seamus Deane and Joseph O'Connor; Jennifer Johnston, Mary Leland, and Linda Anderson; Brian Moore and John McGahern; Emma Donoghue and Kathleen Ferguson; Dermot Bolger; Roddy Doyle and Mary Morrissy; Patrick McCabe and William Trevor; and John Banville and Bernard MacLaverty; the critical readings offered here are, therefore, necessarilycompressed. For example, Peach has frequentrecourseto the self-confessedlyobvious method of commenting on characters'names (p. 59); his remarksabout 'Eddie Virago' (p. 30), 'Miranda' (p. 59), 'Moran' (p. 85), 'Tracey Evans' (p. I29), 'Rita Spain' (p. 162),and 'Godkin' (p. 209) are by turns far-fetched and self-evident. Still, better that something scarce are Beckett'sofferingsthat this is something of an occupationalhazard, and Albrightcould surelybe expected to have teased something furtherfrom this fabric. A similarintuitionof the unsaidhoversaroundAlbright'sthree citationsof Beckett's I937 'German Letter' to Axel Kaun (B&A,pp. I3, 53, I45), of which the middle instanceleaves the most questionsbegging. The multipleand indefinitemoods of 'in the forestof symbols,which aren't any, the little birdsof interpretation,which isn't any, are never silent' cannot be narratedby 'Beckettfamouslysneers'(B&A,p. 53); elsewhere in the book, however, Albright proves himself superlativelysubtle and insightfulon the subjectof Beckett and symbols. The chapter-headingsof Beckett andAesthetics imply a thematic or media-centred approach:'Introduction:Beckettand Surrealism','I. Stage:ResistingFurniture','2. Tape recorder, radio, film, television:resistingthe human image', and '3. Music: losing the will to resist'.However, within this structureAlbrightby and large traces a chronological line: from Eleutheria through WaitingforGodot, Endgame, and Happy Daysin chapter one; with chaptertwo takingin Krapp's LastTape,All thatFall,Rough for RadioI and II, Film,EhJoe, and GhostTrio.After this consummate overview, the third (and shortest)chapter is something of a disappointment,the change in focus given away by what is, by Albright'sstandards,an uncharacteristically gauche turn: 'Reading this [Watt]is like hearing difficultmusic for the firsttime. Now, let us see whether hearing difficult music...