JOHN MCGAHERN

Elizabeth Regan, after years of freedom - and loneliness - marries into the enclosed Irish village of her upbringing. The children are not her own, and her husband is straining against his job in the police force. Moving between tragedy and savage comedy, desperation and joy, this is a novel of haunting power. This is the first novel by John McGahern, originally published in 1963. Elizabeth Regan, after years of freedom - and loneliness - marries into the enclosed Irish village of her upbringing. The children are not her own; her husband is straining against his job in the police force; and her own life, threatened by illness, seems to be losing the last vestiges of its purpose. Moving between tragedy and savage comedy, desperation and joy, "The Barracks" is a novel of haunting power.

From the very opening pages, we see many memorable characters as they move about the Ruttledges, who have come from London home to Ireland in search of a different life. There is John Quinn, who will stop at nothing to ensure a flow of women; Johnny, who left for England twenty years before in pursuit of love; and Jimmy Joe McKiernan, head of the IRA, both auctioneer and undertaker. The gentle Jamesie and his wife Mary embody the spirit of the place. They have never left the lake but know everything that ever stirred or moved there. The drama of a year in the lives of these and many other characters unfolds through the action, the rituals of work, religious observances and play. With deceptive simplicity, by the novel's close we feel that we have been introduced to a complete representation of existence. An enclosed world has been transformed into an Everywhere.

'My only concern', John McGahern once said, 'is that I get the sentence right and describe my world clearly and deeply.' 'The Country Funeral' witnesses three brothers, John, Philly and Fonsie Ryan, as they travel west from Dublin to Gloria Bog - the heart of the territory where so many of McGahern's stories take place - to attend the funeral of their uncle. Depicting the customs and rituals of the day, McGahern exquisitely traces how the brothers react to the area in unexpected and tender ways, and face their own feelings about the transience of life.

John McGahern (1934-2006) es uno de los más grandes escritores irlandeses, generalmente mencionado entre los mejores escritores contemporáneos en cualquier lengua. Sin embargo, es prácticamente desconocido para los lectores en castellano. Con la publicación de la más impactante de sus novelas, La oscuridad, los lectores podrán descubrir a un escritor absolutamente extraordinario. La oscuridad retrata la entrada en la adultez de un niño sometido a todo tipo de maltratos por parte de su padre viudo, un ser amargado y fracasado que descarga todas sus frustraciones en los hijos, explotando literalmente por cualquier cosa. Patrick crece y cree encontrar una salida en la religión, pero los curas pueden ser tan hipócritas como su padre. Su única oportunidad será obtener una beca para la universidad, aunque Mahoney, su padre, hará todo lo posible para que fracase.

"Estos cuentos fueron madurando en mi cabeza y en las muchas versiones del material, pero en general comenzaron a partir de pequeños detalles. Otros empezaron como historias diferentes, que fueron reemplazadas por algo completamente imprevisto al comienzo. Los más difíciles fueron tomados directamente de la vida. Pero si no los recreaba, los re-imaginaba y los dislocaba de su origen, nunca me habrían parecido satisfactorios. La imaginación exige que la vida sea relatada de manera oblicua, debido a su necesidad de distancia. La ficción tiene, entre muchas otras, la obligación de ser siempre creíble. La vida no tiene por qué estar sujeta a semejante limitación, y buena parte de lo que sucede es creíble sólo porque sucede. El dios de la vida es el accidente. La ficción debe ser fiel a una idea central o a una visión de la vida." John McGahern Este libro incluye la totalidad de la obra cuentística de John McGahern (1934-2006), considerado por la crítica como "el mejor escritor irlandés de cuentos desde James Joyce". Hasta que Adriana Hidalgo editora publicó La oscuridad, la novela más impactante de McGahern, este era un escritor prácticamente desconocido para el lector en lengua castellana. McGahern recibió, entre otras distinciones, el Irish American Foundation Award y el Prix Étranger Ecureuil, además del doctorado honorario del Trinity College de Dublín.

Moran es un viejo irlandés republicano cuya vida se vio alterada para siempre por sus días de gloria como oficial en la Guerra de la Independencia de Irlanda. Ahora, ya anciano, retirado en el campo, Moran todavia se debate en una lucha - contra su familia, sus amigos e incluso contra si mismo- para reconciliarse con el pasado.

John McGahern is widely considered to be one of Ireland's greatest writers, with fans including John Updike, Hilary Mantel, Colm Toibin and John Banville. Often hailed as his greatest work, Amongst Women is a poignant novel of family and togetherness. Once an officer in the Irish War for Independence, Moran is now a widower, eking out a living on a small farm where he raises his two sons and three daughters. Adrift from the structure and security of the military, he keeps control by binding his family close to him. But as his children grow older and seek independence, and as the passing years bring with them bewildering change, Moran struggles to find a balance between love and tyranny. "A masterpiece...It is the sort of book which you can give anyone of any age and know that they will be changed by it." (Colm Toibin).