The Devil's Diary

by Patrick McGinley

Overview

The Devil's Diary is Patrick McGinley's greatest tribute to his master Flann O'Brien, in this dark humoured portrayal of a harrowing Irish landscape in which lunacy reigns.

Idealistic love and death, sibling rivalry and obsessive lust are themes familiar to McGinley's work, focusing here on Arty Brennan, who built factories, a supermarket and a noisy motel, trading a spiritually enriching culture for a "hippiedrome" of second-rate 20th century glitter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448209538
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/29/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	220
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Patrick McGinley (1937 - present) is an Irish novelist, born in Glencolumbkille, Ireland. After teaching in Ireland, McGinley moved to England where he pursued a career as a publisher and author. His strongest literary influence is his Irish predecessor; author Flann O'Brien, who McGinley emulates most noticeably in his novel The Devil's Diary. McGinley is the author of eight novels including: Goosefoot (1983) Foggage (1983) The Trick of the Ga Bolga (1986) and most recently The Lost Soldier's Song (1994).
Patrick McGinley (b 1937) is an Irish novelist, born in Glencolumbkille, Ireland.

After teaching in Ireland, McGinley moved to England where he pursued a career as a publisher and author. Among his strongest literary influences is his Irish predecessor, author Flann O'Brien, who McGinley emulates most noticeably in his novel The Devil's Diary.

Editorial Reviews

A psychological mystery with haunting overtones, this novel focuses on a priest tormented by the loss of the Gaelic culture, by the increasing worldliness of religion and by his own sexual desires. After a long illness, Father Jerry McSharry returns home to rural Ireland. The peaceful village he remembers no longer exists; his childhood playmate, Arty Brennan, a poor boy who returned wealthy after 10 years in America, has brought prosperity to the area. To Father Jerry, these changes are ``monstrosities that leapt aggressively to the eye.'' Olga, a sculptor to whom Father Jerry is drawn, seems to be attracted to him but she also admires Brennan. Then Father Jerry's brother Hugo comes back to the village and purchases a farm coveted by Brennan. Hugo becomes the butt of malicious pranks for which he believes Brennan is responsible. Father Jerry doesn't quite believe him until he and Hugo narrowly escape a car crash. Later, Brennan is found dead, and Father Jerry discovers Hugo's ``diary'' and reads the latest entry: a compelling, supposedly fictional account of Brennan's disappearance. The priest finds himself drawn into the ambivalent world of the diary, which reflects his deepest, darkest thoughts and desires. McGinley ( The Red Men , Foxprints ) tells an evocative, disturbing story of a man who wants to pursue a life of ``work, study, and prayer alone'' but who is distracted by the world in which he lives. (October)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly