The Pear is Ripe: A Memoir
The book is full of warm anecdotes and wry observations on the numerous literary, artistic and musical characters John Montague encountered, befriended and occasionally provoked. He recounts his personal and professional relationships with such luminaries as Patrick Kavanagh, Allen Ginsberg and, as co-founder of Claddagh Records, with composer Seán Ó Riada. There is an interesting account of meeting Charles Haughey and a suggestion that a seed was sown that might have led ultimately to the introduction of the artist tax exemption. The Pear is Ripecovers a period of great social change and upheaval internationally and, in particular, the north of Ireland. Montague's proximity to these changes, by accident or design, was to influence his work and lends this memoir an immediacy that belies the intervening years.While much of the book covers the writer's public and literary life, it also addresses the strain that living apart from his wife Madeleine placed on their marriage - which would ultimately lead to their break-up. While the book principally spans the period from the mid-sixties to the late seventies, Montague has included a powerful and moving epilogue featuring more recent events. He writes of visiting young men with AIDS in a New York hospital, and of a final meeting with an ailing Samuel Beckett in Paris.
1020516030
The Pear is Ripe: A Memoir
The book is full of warm anecdotes and wry observations on the numerous literary, artistic and musical characters John Montague encountered, befriended and occasionally provoked. He recounts his personal and professional relationships with such luminaries as Patrick Kavanagh, Allen Ginsberg and, as co-founder of Claddagh Records, with composer Seán Ó Riada. There is an interesting account of meeting Charles Haughey and a suggestion that a seed was sown that might have led ultimately to the introduction of the artist tax exemption. The Pear is Ripecovers a period of great social change and upheaval internationally and, in particular, the north of Ireland. Montague's proximity to these changes, by accident or design, was to influence his work and lends this memoir an immediacy that belies the intervening years.While much of the book covers the writer's public and literary life, it also addresses the strain that living apart from his wife Madeleine placed on their marriage - which would ultimately lead to their break-up. While the book principally spans the period from the mid-sixties to the late seventies, Montague has included a powerful and moving epilogue featuring more recent events. He writes of visiting young men with AIDS in a New York hospital, and of a final meeting with an ailing Samuel Beckett in Paris.
22.49 In Stock
The Pear is Ripe: A Memoir

The Pear is Ripe: A Memoir

by John Montague
The Pear is Ripe: A Memoir

The Pear is Ripe: A Memoir

by John Montague

eBook

$22.49 

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

The book is full of warm anecdotes and wry observations on the numerous literary, artistic and musical characters John Montague encountered, befriended and occasionally provoked. He recounts his personal and professional relationships with such luminaries as Patrick Kavanagh, Allen Ginsberg and, as co-founder of Claddagh Records, with composer Seán Ó Riada. There is an interesting account of meeting Charles Haughey and a suggestion that a seed was sown that might have led ultimately to the introduction of the artist tax exemption. The Pear is Ripecovers a period of great social change and upheaval internationally and, in particular, the north of Ireland. Montague's proximity to these changes, by accident or design, was to influence his work and lends this memoir an immediacy that belies the intervening years.While much of the book covers the writer's public and literary life, it also addresses the strain that living apart from his wife Madeleine placed on their marriage - which would ultimately lead to their break-up. While the book principally spans the period from the mid-sixties to the late seventies, Montague has included a powerful and moving epilogue featuring more recent events. He writes of visiting young men with AIDS in a New York hospital, and of a final meeting with an ailing Samuel Beckett in Paris.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781909718814
Publisher: Liberties Press
Publication date: 06/27/2014
Sold by: Bookwire
Format: eBook
Pages: 320
File size: 376 KB

About the Author

JOHN MONTAGUE is one of Ireland;s leading poets and his work, which draws on that of various American masters, is recognised as being of international importance. His 80th birthday, which was in February 2009, was widely marked in Ireland in print and broadcast media.

Born in New York but reared in County Tyrone, John Montague rose to prominence in the 1960's and 1970's with his collections including Poisoned Lands and the long poem The Rough Field. Now with The Pear Is Ripe, he has confirmed his reputation as a dazzling prose writer and memoirist. The book recounts the time he spent teaching at the University of California Berkeley as the flower-power movement burgeoned in opposition to the continuing war in Vietnam. He recalls his departure from the States to France, where he witnessed the évènements of May 68 at first hand and from there to Dublin and Cork, where he continued to pursue his career as a poet and academic.

Table of Contents


Preface     7
Part I
Paradise Revisited or To California Then I Came     11
O Rose, Thou Art Sick, Part One     21
A Pride of Poets, Part One     29
O Rose, Thou Art Sick, Part Two     32
A Pride of Poets, Part Two     42
Postscript: Paradise Lost     48
Part II
Paris Interlude     55
Not Driving, But Swearing     57
Expatriate Life     60
The Reluctant Englishman and the Wild Irish Girl     63
Almost a Star     70
Dublin Revisited
Preface: Dublin from a Height     74
Collecting Kavanagh or Late Harvest     79
Boss Haughey     94
Reluctant Rogue, Part One     103
Henry in Dublin     108
Dublin, Round Two     120
Part III
Claddagh Goes North or The Northern Muse     127
The Planter and the Gael or An Ulster Tandem     139
Part IV
'Shine, Perishing Republic' An Elegy for 1960s America     151
On the Road Again or 'Po-Biz'     153
Reluctant Rogue, Part Two     156
I See Crimson     160
My Other North     162
Shine, Perishing Republic     166
Bad News fromBerkeley     171
The Pear Is Ripe or Shall We Overcome?     174
Make Love Not War     177
On the Barricades     180
Exit Kafka     187
Calypso     189
Patriotic Suite     191
Starting Again or What Are You Doing Here?     206
Afterwords
The Private Life     223
Old Moulds     226
'Dr Montague'     231
Precious Little     234
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews