Since, when I began the TLS newsletter in January 2023, there was not yet any order imposed on the chaos of creation, the initial posts did not archive into Sections, as the latter did not yet exist.
Therefore, I’m taking a brief look back on those inspired and detail-rich early essays and listing them below in their proper home, under the subLit section.
Here they are, in chronological order.
What I Learned from James Joyce is a personal account of my early and formative influence from an acknowledged master of 20th-century literature, published on his 141st birthday.
Second, I took a deep and unexpected research foray into the forgotten world of L.T. Meade, a woman born in West Cork, Ireland, but who became famous as an author of mysteries, historical romances, and children’s books in London from the Victorian period.
This was quickly followed by a more in-depth study, Part 2 on L.T. Meade as appears here:
My multi-part series on Meade concluded in March with a commission to publish an article in the Southern Star newspaper of Skibbereen in West Cork.
Meanwhile, I had published several other essays on Irish literature. The first one, an intimate look at my influence from W.B. Yeats, also included a brief analysis of four of his poems:
The next essay took a comparative look at two great Irish playwrights, Synge and Beckett, in the context of shared concepts of vision and blindness- with an unexpected detour into Early Modern Irish Philosophy on the subject.
Next, I provided an authoritative collection of academic and primary-sources resources for the oft-neglected but fascinating theatrical work of Flann O’Brien (Brian O’Nolan).
Finally, the month concluded with an intriguing investigation into an obscure (to outsiders) author who was nevertheless the father of Irish-language modernism, and achieved a lasting fame posthumously in position along with a famous US president.