The Winner of Sorrow - Softcover

Lynch, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564785211 ISBN 13: 9781564785213

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, 2009

Synopsis

A fictional imagining of the gentle but troubled zealot William Cowper―best known as a precursor to Romantics such as Wordsworth and Burns―Brian Lynch’s The Winner of Sorrow brings to life the mind and times of an eighteenth-century poet. Intense and exhilarating, this is literary fiction at its finest―the reader will be hard-pressed not to rush ahead to see what happens next. Yet you’ll want to savor every word as Lynch traces Cowper’s tragic descent into madness, which is presented matter-of-factly so that the novel is not sentimental but austere, not precious but serious, and yet, remarkably, lively, sensuous, and blackly comic.

About this title

About the Author:

Brian Lynch was born in 1945 in Dublin, where he still lives today. A poet, novelist, and playwright, Lynch is also a filmmaker. His feature film Love and Rage, starring Daniel Craig and Greta Scacchi, was directed by Cathal Black in 1998, and his television series Caught in a Free State--a four part series about German spies in Ireland during World War II--has been shown in over forty countries since its debut in 1983. Praising his "exceptional talent," Samuel Beckett recommended Lynch for election to the Aosdana in 1985.

From Publishers Weekly:

Irish poet and filmmaker Lynch's first novel is an engaging fictional account of the life of the little-remembered 18th-century English poet William Cowper. Told primarily in flashback, Lynch introduces Cowper as an old man, plagued by self-loathing, sickness and hallucinations. His formative years are marked by the death of his mother and early inclinations toward poetry, contemplating the taste of words. Along with the major figures in Cowper's life—the charismatic Rev. John Newton, real-life author of Amazing Grace; John Johnson, Cowper's young cousin; and Mary Unwin, the love of his life—Lynch also lends Dickensian detail to minor characters, using them skillfully to provide an orbiting view. Lynch takes a serial approach, managing to take readers by surprise in every short chapter, whether terrifying (as in the height of Cowper's hallucinations) or hilarious ([p]oetry and puking were hardly ideal companions). This curious novel captures the sad poet from all angles, reimagining his life in a gracefully sprawling epic. (Feb.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1564785211
• ISBN 13: 9781564785213
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 363