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A Guest at the Feast

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

In his essay about the life of Irish writer John McGahern, Tóibín reveals the tones of melancholy and amusement within both art and the artist. In his extraordinary essay on his cancer diagnosis, Tóibín unpicks the word 'battle', and illuminates the distress, horror and blankness of his experiences. From the shades of light and dark in a Venice without tourists, to the streets of Buenos Aires riddled with disappearances and tied up with dictators and politics, we find ourselves considering law and religion in Ireland as well as in Marilynne Robinson's fiction.

A Guest at the Feast reveals the places where politics and poetics meet, where life and fiction overlap, where one can be inside writing and also outside of it. The imprint of the written word on the private self, as Tóibín himself remarks, is extraordinarily powerful. In this collection, that power is gloriously alive, illuminating history and literature, politics and power, family and the self.

©2022 Colm Tóibín (P)2022 Penguin Audio Art Cultural & Regional Diaries & Journals Essays Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Nonfiction
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I loved this book, and even more loved hearing it read by the author, Colm Tobin, who - unsurprisingly, given he is so used public speaking- lends evocative sensitivity to the worlds in each essay, and their ambiguities and long shadows. Recommended!

Captivating series of essays read by the author

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Too many good things to say about these beautiful essays and insufficient skill to do so, so read the professional reviews. I’m grateful for the lend of Colm Toíbin’s time and mind.

If only there were more!

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