his week on The Book Show Sinéad Gleeson talks to writer and film-maker Neil Jordan
Jordan is the author of many novels and short stories as well as an Oscar winning film director.
His latest novel, The Drowned Detective (Bloomsbury) is set in an unnamed Central European city and weaves the classic detective story with a tale of the supernatural. Jonathan, the eponymous detective, is drawn into a strange case when an elderly couple show him a photo of their missing daughter. The affair takes a mysterious turn, however, when he encounters a young woman who is about to jump off a bridge.
Jordan explains the background of the novel to Sinéad and tells her about his passion for music and travel as well as his plans for future film and TV work.
The Irish essayist, Hubert Butler is the subject of a new documentary film which will be featured in this year’s Audi Dublin International Film Festival. Butler travelled widely as a young man in the 1930’s and his experiences abroad, in places such as Russia, Croatia and Austria, fed into his work. He was all but blacklisted after the Second World War for linking the Catholic Church to the persecution of Orthodox Serbs in Croatia but towards the end of his life his writings attracted wide readership and he is now celebrated as ‘Ireland’s Orwell’. The new film, ‘Hubert Butler: Witness To The Future’ is directed by Johnny Gogan who speaks to The Book Show about the man and his work.
The Fencing Mouse and The Unicorn, is the name of an exhibition of doodles, marginalia and jottings at Marsh’s Library in Dublin. These aren’t mere scribbles on notepads, however, but are found among the library’s enormous collection of rare and centuries old books.
Jason McElligot is the Keeper at the library and he guides Regan Hutchins around the display cases showing examples of commentary by Jonathan Swift, macabre illustrations of skeletons and a potent recipe for a ‘purge’.
