House of Splendid Isolation (1994)Feminista 100 Greatest Works of 20th Century Fiction by Women Writers
Josie O'Meara, an aging Irish widow, lives in a large West Country house, alone with her ghosts. Years ago, her drunken loutish husband was gunned down by the Guarda after hiding IRA arms on the property. Now, McGreevy, an IRA gunman on the run, has chosen her house as a hiding place. The two start as bitter enemies, but gradually develop a tentative understanding, as they come to understand the losses that the other has suffered. But all ends in tragedy, as the Guarda returns to the House. O'Brien writes in luxuriant prose, but it's that kind of writing where you think there are sentences or words missing. She seems to assume that you understand more than you do. But the bigger flaw in the book, is her misunderstanding (shared by many) of the Irish troubles in their modern form. She sees them as something intrinsic to Ireland and the Irish, a bitter violent history seeping from the soil. In fact, the really violent period of Irish history was an outgrowth of the Cold War. The struggle had long ceased to be about Ireland and unity and had instead devolved into a simple matter of radical Left opposition to the British. As a result, the collapse of the Soviet Union has taken the IRA with it and brought an end to the "troubles". That said, her unique prose style and her obvious empathy for her characters, make this one a marginally worthwhile read. (Reviewed:) Grade: (C) Tweet Websites:-WIKIPEDIA: Edna O'Brien - -INDEX: Edna O'Brien (The Guardian) -OBIT: Edna O’Brien, groundbreaking Irish novelist, dies at 93 (Adrian Higgins, 7/28/24, Washington Post) -OBIT: Irish author Edna O’Brien dies aged 93: After early novels that won international acclaim but were banned at home, the Irish author had a prolific career lasting more than half a century (Richard Lea, 7/28/24, The Guardian) -OBIT: Edna O’Brien, iconoclastic Irish author who wrote ‘The Country Girls,’ dies at 93 (Hillel Italie, Jul 28, 2024, AP) - - -TRIBUTE: Edna O’Brien was the last great Irish iconoclast: Great Irish literature is defined by dissent. So why do so many writers uphold the status quo? (Finn McRedmond, 7/30/24, New Statesman) -TRIBUTE: Edna O’Brien: liberator and seductress (Denis MacShane, 7/29/24, The Article) -TRIBUTE: ‘A beacon of brazenness and defiance’: Edna O’Brien remembered (Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, Megan Nolan, Eimear McBride and Alex Clark, 29 Jul 2024, The Guardian) -TRIBUTE: Remembering the Firebrand Irish Novelist Edna O’Brien: Her fiction delivered searing, candid portraits of Irish society through the prism of female friendship. (Lucy Scholes, July 28, 2024, NY Times) Book-related and General Links: -Litchat with Edna O'Brien (Salon) -INTERVIEW: Edna O'Brian (The Atlantic) |
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