A Guest at the Feast

by Colm Tóibín

Overview

From one of the greatest writers of our time comes a collection of brilliant essays about growing up in Ireland during radical change and about cancer, priests, popes, and homosexuality. It is a glorious tribute to the art of writing.

Colm Tóibín opens this stunning collection with a supremely compelling essay, laced with humor about his (successful) treatment for cancer, which begins: “It all started with my balls.”

Part two is an autobiographical essay about growing up in the small town of Enniscorthy in County Wexford, the setting for many of his novels and stories, including Brooklyn, The Blackwater Lightship, and Nora Webster. Tóibín writes about the priests who educated him, several of whom were condemned years later for abuse in the greatest scandal ever to befall the Catholic Church in Ireland. He writes about Irish history and literature and about homosexuality—including his personal experience, that of his predecessors and contemporaries, and the long, tragic journey toward legal and social acceptance.

In part three, Tóibín introduces complex portraits of three popes—John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.

In part four he writes about a trio of authors who reckon with religion. The final essay, “Alone in Venice,” beautifully recounts his trip to that incomparable city (where he has set some of his most dazzling scenes) at the height of the pandemic, when the streets and canals and churches and museums were empty.

A Guest at the Feast is a glorious celebration of a life devoted to art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797153254
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date:	01/17/2023
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary; and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and has been named as the laureate for Irish fiction for 2022–2025 by the Arts Council of Ireland. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Tóibín lives in Dublin and New York.

Editorial Reviews

A writer of sophisticated elegances . . . mesmerizing power and skill.”

The Boston Globe

Colm Tóibín’s intelligence is as great as his knowledge of literature and his empathetic imagination.”

Book Post

PRAISE FOR A GUEST AT THE FEAST

“Colm Tóibín has written superb novels...but if you’ve only read his fiction, you’ve been missing out on a wealth of wonderful essays and criticism....Not to be missed.” —LitHub

“Distinctive, remarkable ...Fans and newer readers will be absolutely glued to every word.” —Bay Area Reporter

“This isn’t Tóibín’s first foray into nonfiction—but it is one of his most intimate." —Sophia M. Stewart, The Millions

“A Guest at the Feast is a reminder of Colm Tóibín's power as a writer of more than just fiction...Tóibín's cleareyed, considered critiques of powerful people and vivid personal essays can make readers long for a place they’ve never seen.” —Sarah McCraw Crow, BookPage

“This volume opens with his poignant journey through cancer treatment and a looming sense of mortality... A hallmark of Toíbín is his uncanny ability to deftly express the emotional undercurrent in his writing, be it loneliness, anger, or nostalgia.” —Bill Kelly, Booklist

“An erudite and consistently stimulating collection.” —Harvey Freedenberg, BookReporter

“Tóibín gathers 11 essays that showcase his versatility in this erudite collection of previously published material... this collection places him in that same class. Tóibín’s fans will relish these sharp reflections.” —Publishers Weekly

“A celebrated novelist... magnificent...these essays show the landscape of the author’s soul, mapping out events that have shaped him as a person and writer... throughout, the poetry of Tóibín’s prose is as impressive as always. Readers will savor every page of this book. Erudite essays from one of the world’s finest writers.”—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

“The breadth of the collection is impressive... Written with brutal clarity and flashes of humour, it encapsulates Tóibín as a whole, a master of light and shade.” —Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times

“Throughout the collection, it is the droll, melancholy elegance of the prose that guarantees the reader’s enjoyment.” —John Mullan, The Guardian

“There is nothing flashy about these essays, no showing off. They are always interesting and intelligent, written in an admirably clear prose free of academic jargon. In short, this is journalism at its best.” —Alan Massie, The Scotsman

“Sumptous... Tóibín creates a sweeping, lyrical portrait of the small-town idiosyncrasies, natural landscapes and family histories in southeast Ireland on which his novels have drawn for three decades... But fittingly, it’s precisely the details of that provincial world that Toibin conjures up superbly here.” —Robert Collins, The Times

“Tóibín’s voice is so powerful and distinct, his descriptions so precise, that a single thread does weave through each of these pieces and does not snap... virtuoso... the pieces in A Guest at the Feast are a tantalizing glimpse into his full fictional powers. Time to crack open Brooklyn again.” —Laura Hackett, The Sunday Times

“Tóibín does something interesting with the illness memoir here: he seeks no lessons; he tries only to be good company on the page. His eyes are always alert; the guest at the feast is always watching closely.” —Kevin Power, Irish Independent

“Tóibín’s writing is what people these days inevitably describe as nuanced, a word that has become a kind of shorthand for expressing a person’s rare ability to understand – or to try to understand – the foibles of others.” —Rachel Cooke, The Guardian

From the Publisher