News: Consequence Forum Publishes My Irish-Literature Essay on Pádraic Ó Conaire
Audio and text versions available for all
Today, Consequence Forum published my new essay on the conflict-narrative strategies of Irish humorist Pádraic Ó Conaire, in his recasting of the Easter Rising in the 1917 story “The Bishop’s Soul.” The complete text (accompanied by historic photos) can be found on the Consequence Forum’s Substack at the link below. I was honored to have the text narrated by Simon Barber, foreign correspondent and professional narrator, who runs the News of The Old stack. Simon’s narration really brings the piece to life, as listeners will readily doubtless agree.
Long-time subscribers of the TLS will recall that Pádraic Ó Conaire was one of the first authors I covered, during the February 2023 coverage of Irish literature. He has remained a fascinating writer to me, one who though very famous in his own time in his native Ireland was not translated into English until the 1980s.
The current essay was the result of over two years’ research and benefited tremendously from the insight of Ó Conaire expert Brendan McGowan of the Galway City Museum. I also thank Professor Joseph LaBine in Canada, who like me sees the influence of this early Irish modernist on Flann O’Brien. I would also like to thank Consequence Forum’s non-fiction editor, Chris Gorrie, for his patience in shepherding the text through the editorial process over the last nine months.
If you enjoy this article, and want to read others about conflict and its relationship with writing, subscribe to Consequence Forum on the above-given link.
If you would like to see other articles like this from me, on the TLS or elsewhere, consider becoming a paid subscriber to the TLS. In 2025 and beyond, I have a great number of exciting projects, including not only my Detective Grigoris series but also an expanded series of book reviews and historical studies. Researching and writing all of this takes time and attention, of course, so reader contributions are most welcome. I should have more news about the year-ahead plans in the coming weeks.
Happy reading and enjoy your weekends,
-Chris