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The Great Ulster Book

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William Crawley | 13:46 UK time, Wednesday, 9 November 2011

Imagine a shelf of books in your home. But not just any books.

These are the best books, the most important books, the most celebrated or most deserving of celebration, to have come out of Northern Ireland.

In this series of the Book Programme, we go in search of The Great Ulster Book.

It could be a novel, a poetry collection, a history book, a memoir, a political book -- any book you think merits a place on our shelf.

You can use this thread to add your suggestions to the list of nominations from our programme guests or debate the place of any particular book.

What are we missing so far?

Which absolutely indispensable Ulster writer is not currently on our list?


by Robert MacLiam Wilson -- Glenn Patterson
by Sinead Morrissey -- Leon Litvack
by Brian Moore -- Bernard McLaverty
by John Hewitt -- Michael Longley
by Michael McLaverty -- Grania McFadden
by Louis MacNeice -- Eunice Yeates
by Glenn Patterson -- Carlo Gebler
by Glenn Patterson -- Liam Clarke
by Sam Hanna-Bell -- Fionola Meredith
by Mary McNeill -- Eamonn Phoenix
by Stephen Davison --Claire McCollum
by Patrick Kavanagh -- Paddy Heaney
by McKittrick, Kelters, Feeney and Thornton -- Nell McCafferty
by Jonathan Swift -- Rosie Pelan
by Ciaran Carson -- Eamonn Hughes
T- James Ussher -- Rev Ian Paisley
by Sam MacBratney -- Melissa McCullough
Tby Garth Ennis -- David Booth
by Seamus Heaney -- William Crawley


Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    The Confession of St. Patrick by St. Patrick

  • Comment number 2.

    May, Lou and Cass: Jane Austen's Nieces in Ireland, by Sophia Hillan was an excellent read and a great piece of research. For listings of books published in NI since 2000 go to the NIPR website, www.nibooks.org.

  • Comment number 3.

    Sam McBratney: The Chieftain's Daughter

  • Comment number 4.

    Poems by W.R. Rodgers; edited and introduced by Michael Longley.

  • Comment number 5.

    Seamus Heaney's North.

    Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf, which although not exactly an "Ulster Book", does have the benefit of having been done by an Ulsterman and uses Ulster idiom. In English literature it is canonical, and Heaney's as I understand, is now the most widely used translation in universities. Heaney is also our Nobel Laureate.

    Cal, by Bernard MacLaverty.

    Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People, by Susan McKay.

    As an atheist, I hesitate to put this forward as a "great" book, but it certainly Ulster, and has had probably more of an impact than any piece of writing to come out of this place.

    James Ussher's Annals of the Old Testament. Accursed, but surely should be on that shelf.

  • Comment number 6.

    Ah! How could I forget Ciaran Carson's translation of The Tain! Ulster through and through.

  • Comment number 7.

    A History of Ulster - Jonathan Bardon

    The Making of Modern Ireland 1603-1923 - J.C. Beckett

  • Comment number 8.

    How about a mention for the Blackstaff Press too for consistent quality in terms of range of titles, design and production over the course of so many difficult decades?

  • Comment number 9.

    Three Plays for Ireland (Northern Star, Heavenly Bodies, Pentecost) by Stewart Parker.

  • Comment number 10.

    My Lady of the Chimney Corner by Alexander Irvine

    or if it has to be modern,

    Silver's City by Maurice Leitch

  • Comment number 11.

    Does Jennifer Johnston not constitute as an Ulster writer? Shadows on our skin or How many miles to Bablyon should be included in my humble opinion

  • Comment number 12.

    For someone regressing back to childhood I always enjoy the Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis. They certainly contain much that would be good to put into practice. I'm just away to the wardrobe... :-)

  • Comment number 13.

    not really an ulster book and off topic but in this slot can i share a discovery with ya all, C-span the american politico website has a new series of programs that for me with a bent on history is facinating and enlightening. the series is called . the also rans, for president,

    some of you might find it interesting also,

    They ran and lost but changed political history

  • Comment number 14.

    Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July - a classic children's book.

  • Comment number 15.

    Bernie McGill, The Butterfly Cabinet.

  • Comment number 16.

    Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Wilde's exploration of moral schizophrenia. A debauched socialite maintains his youthful good looks, while his portrait in the attic slowly disintegrates into a vision of evil.
    Also
    Oscar Wilde, "Complete Works". Bittersweet satire, subversive one-liners and profound existentialist philosophy all masquerading as well-made, drawing-room entertainment.

  • Comment number 17.

    @16.BluesBerry :
    What was Oscar Wilde's connection to Ulster?

  • Comment number 18.

    17 mscracker

    Portora Royal School in Enniskillen. Samuel Becket too.

  • Comment number 19.

    @18. newlach:
    Thanks!

  • Comment number 20.

    He’s not exactly an Ulster writer – maybe a tiny bit? – but I like William Trevor and want to read more of his work.

  • Comment number 21.

    Marie

    Well, The Story of Lucy Gault is certainly one of the most haunting books I have ever read.

    Maybe Ulster is a tiny bit Munster, or the other way round... maybe we're all a tiny bit something else :-)

  • Comment number 22.

    20 marieinaustin

    This week's Something Understood with Fergal Keane had a short reading from Felicia's Journey:

    /programmes/b0171yqr

  • Comment number 23.

    Great recommendations, here on this thread.

    21, 22,

    Thank you, peterm2 and newlach. I have to admit I haven’t read The Story of Lucy Gault yet. Thanks for reminding me of it. I only discovered Trevor about four months ago and I read his Selected Stories and Love and Summer – his insight floored me, and it’s been confirmed he has even better to offer. I will put Lucy Gault after the next two books on my list. Newlach, I really like Ismael Lo’s Nabou – sounds/feels beautiful. I was just listening to that elsewhere – the world’s a tiny bit tiny after all. :)

  • Comment number 24.

    Newlach,

    Do you know who that is singing Sonnet 29, around minutes 22-24 on the programme??

  • Comment number 25.

    Oops - sorry to single-handedly bottle-neck this thing, whilst you are all tucked in your beds...but Peter, maybe I don’t want to be haunted- or do I ? If there’s another William Trevor I should read first, please anyone suggest. Go raibh maith agaibh.

  • Comment number 26.

    Marie

    The Story of Lucy Gault - you could try this:



    but it's a bit of a spoiler! I didn’t mean ‘spooky’, I meant poignant and evocative.

  • Comment number 27.

    Peter,

    The Story of Lucy Gault it will be then. :)

  • Comment number 28.

    How about 'The road to notown' by Michael Foley - a great fun novel - and a Blackstaff original

  • Comment number 29.

    I'll give you a Great Ulster Book; 'War Diaries 1939-1945' by Field Marshall Viscount Lord Alanbrooke. A gripping read which unveils the man, without pretension, who deserves much wider recognition as really the chief architect of Allied victory in World War II. In fact he's a shoo-in for a PERMANENT place on the fourth plinth on Trafalgar Square - he'd even have an equestrian statue like the other three. Only trouble (for this thread) is that he wasn't born in Ulster (France), but his father and ancestors were Ulstermen, and he felt strong enough ties to have been, for instance, Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast in the decade before his death in 1963.

    May God rest his soul.

  • Comment number 30.

    @26. peterm2 :
    I found "The Story of Lucy Gault" at the library today. Thank you for the recommendation!

  • Comment number 31.

    The Ulster English dictionary by John Pepper ?

    Maybe not, but very funny !

  • Comment number 32.

    I am going to make 2 choices from different genres that could serve as ‘bookends’ for the mainly safe choices above within the Ulster literary classic canon.

    Padraic Fiacc’s anthology ‘The Wearing of the Black’. Fiacc is an outsider in the varied meanings of the word, he is the Troubles ‘war poet’. There is a raw immediacy to Fiacc’s anthology that makes me return to it. It’s significant that his troubled psyche and dogged battle with the literary establishment mirrored what was going on in the urban streets.

    Michael Duke’s play “Revenge’ is my joint first choice. It is theatre’s equivalent of ‘Night of the Living Dead’. The play offers the community stark choices – either go forward to the brave new world of acceptance and reconciliation or remain forever trapped in a zombistic past and the sectarian bloodlust it gives rise to. Incisive drama at its best. Kudos to Tinderbox as you can buy the play directly as a photocopied script for £3 +P&P.

    Mick Ellison

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