Irish author Colm Tóibín |
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Open Book
Colm Tóibín
The author Colm Tóibín
appeared at the University of South Carolina Thursday night as part of the OpenBook series.
He reminisced about being
nominated for a Booker Prize and not getting it, all with deprecating humor—how
he attended the awards ceremony convinced he’d take the prize, only to hear
another name announced as the winner.
He discussed writing his
book, The Master, a creative
nonfiction account of the life of Henry James. To get beyond “James was born,
he wrote, he died,” Tóibín brought his own reality to the carefully researched
details of James’ life. Tóibín’s lecture ranged over literature with the assurance
of a college professor, from Shakespeare to Robert Louis Stevenson to James
Joyce.
It was exciting to see
Tóibín, who wrote one of my favorite novels, Brooklyn. The book was made into a movie which is the antithesis of
Hollywood’s ubiquitous hysterical adventure movies. Brooklyn has no car chases, no explosions, no gratuitous sex, no
guns or murders, no gays, transsexuals or deprived blacks. You might call it a
miracle.
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