Derek Mahon, best known as a poet, has also published a considerable body of prose. Previous work in this line, much of it journalism (feature articles, book reviews), appeared in Journalism (Gallery, 1996) and some is reprinted here, often in extended form; but most is new. ‘Critical’ essays — on Swift, Coleridge, Yeats and Dylan Thomas among others — take pride of place, while autobiographical excursions — ‘Huts and Sheds’, ‘The Poetry Nonsense’, ‘Bowen on the Box’, ‘Indian Ink’ — add an intriguing new dimension. Selected Prose is a fascinating and entertaining selection which throws fresh light on the work of an important writer.
Selected Prose is Mahon unplugged, meditating on all things that have mattered to him over the stretch of his writing life to date. The volume, under the discrete narrative of individual essays and reviews, merges into a composite picture of the poet himself and the world he imagines, as much as the one in which he lives, or has lived in.
— Gerald Dawe, Dublin Review of Books
Year Published: March 2012
Details: 288pp
ISBN PBK: 978 1 85235 528 9
ISBN PBK: 978 1 85235 529 6
ISBN ebook: 978 1 85235 555 5
