The Sunday Telegraph - 01.09.2019

STELLA|1SEPTEMBER 2019 57

Being brought upin

CountyWexfordwas

like being brought up

in the19thcentury.

No telephone, for ex-

ample. No television

until Iwas around nine.Becaus emy

father wasateacher and involved in

politics andtheCatho lic Church,peo-

plevisitedthe house. Once he died,

Ifeltmuchmoresolitary.

At schoolIwaswrittenoffby afew

teachers.IthinkIsat in class in a

kind of dream. WhenIwent on to

boardatStPeter’s College in Wex-

ford,theyhad agood libraryand I

read alot of poetry, especiallyYeats,

EliotandAuden.

After graduatingfromUniversity

CollegeDublinIwas ajournalist at an

Irish magazine,which held those

whohad powertoaccount.And pow-

er washeldfirmlybyanumber of

stubbornforce sthen ,includingthe

Cathol ic Church. Ouraim wasto

changeIreland,thoug hthat sounds

toograndiose. BythetimeIleft,aged

29,I’d written halfofmyfirst n ovel,

TheSouth,and afterthat Ikept work-

ingonnovelsun tilitb ecamemylife.

Irecall vividlythe momentIstart-

ed writingmy sixthnovel,Brook-

lyn.Ihadreturned to Ir eland after a

yearin theUS. Irereadthefirstchap-

terofanothernovel Iwas writ ing

andthoughtitwould makeastory

on itsown. Onenight ataconcertin

Barcelona,theentir estructurecame

to m eclear ly.Thatbookhad some

luck butit all happenedslowly. By

thetime thefilm cameout Iwas

workingonotherprojects.

WhenIworkIamreallyuntidy.

Thereare booksand pilesofpaper

Mybookshelf

Colm, 64, is the author of nine novels, including Brooklyn,which wasmade

into afilm starring SaoirseRonan. He livesbetw een NewYork and Dublin

Colm Tóibín

ever ywhere. Ontheother hand, I

tend tobe pretty organised in how

Iapproach anovel. Forexample, I

don’t needtowritedownaplan. The

structure is in my headand itis

precise. So Isupposethe untidiness

around meis asortofalibi for the

amountofc ontrolIexerci seoverthe

textIamworkingon.

Iwakeearlybutgetuparo und9am.

Iswim abit or play abit of tennis

and go to thegym sometimes–but

when IamworkingIwork, andlike

to keepgoing untilIgotobed,with

shortbreaks formeals orreading.

Sometimesmypartner[the writer

Hedi El Kholti] asks mewhat Iam

thinking about.Ihave to admitthat

Iamthinking aboutmynovel. I

wishIcould feelguilty aboutthis,

astheguiltmightbeproductive.But

Idon’t .It’sthe onlyway work can

getdone.

Colm Tóibín’snew

book,Mad,Badand

Dangerous to Know:

TheFathe rs of Wilde,

Yeatsand Joyce,

astudy of three of

Ireland’sgreatest

writersthrough their

fathers’ lives,iso ut

now(Penguin, £9.99)

Getty Images

COLM’S LIFE IN SIX BOOKS

TheGoodSoldier

by Ford MadoxFord

An tale of treachery and adultery,first published

in 1915.Fordmanagesto playwith concealment

and revelation withreal, sly skill.Technically,

it is one of the greatbooksofits time.

DeathandNightingales

by EugeneMcCabe

This masterpiece issetinIreland in the 1880s.

It is vivid with accounts of theFermanagh

landscape and the tribal divide in Ireland.

It alsohas amost convincing plottwist.

HowLateItW as,HowLate

by JamesKelman

This is as muchacelebration oftone in proseas

it is astory of hardship,misfortune and pain. It

is filled with comic energgy,but it is alsonot

afraidto explorethe darkestregions of the mind.

ThePast

by TessaHadley

The story of an Englishfamily havingareunion

aftermanyyears. Thewayemotions arehandled

and relationships dramatised makes this

one of the high points of contemporaryfiction.

ThePaaxBritannicatriloggy

by JanMorris

Morris has an acutesenseofthe damagedone

in thenameofprogres sand civilisa tion.

But thereisalsosomethingfond andforg iving

in this accountofthe British Empire.

ALegacy

by Sybille Bedford

It is writtenwith wit and panache. Ittells the

story oftwoGermanfamilies in theyearsbefore

the FirstWorldWar. Thereisnot asingle lazy

sentence. Instead, thereisexquisiteenerggy.

Document: 1057CC-STMMA-1-010919-A057C-XX.pdf;Format:(205.00

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