Book description
With a foreword by J. P. Donleavy. The best book about literary
Dublin ever written' - FRANK DELANEY. Edna O'Brien chose John Ryan's
memoirs as her Observer Book of the Year in 1975, describing it as a
fine and loving account of literary Dublin in the golden fifties',
which purrs with life and anecdote'. This classic evocation of the
period 1945-55 celebrates a city and its personalities - Brendan
Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, Myles na gCopaleen (Flann O'Brien), as well
as Pope' O'Mahony, Gainor Crist the original Ginger Man, and others -
a remarkable group who were to revitalize post-war literature in
Ireland. As friend, publisher and fellow artist, Ryan paints a vivid
picture of this ebullient, fertile milieu: No more singular body of
characters will ever rub shoulders again at any given time, or a city
more uniquely bizarre than literary Dublin will ever be seen.' As one
reads his words, dressed in their wonderful finery of irony, the world
he speaks of reblossoms to be back again awhile. To see, feel and
smell the Dublin of that day; a masterpiece of reminiscence' - from
the foreword by J. P. Donleavy
