Darkling Plain: Texts for the Air (Irish Literature Series) - Softcover

Aidan Higgins

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564785378 ISBN 13: 9781564785374

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, 2010

Synopsis

Though best known as the author of a series of brilliant novels, here Higgins turns his writerly gifts to work for the radio.

About this title

About the Author

Aidan Higgins has written short stories, novels, travel pieces, radio plays, and a large body of criticism. A consummate stylist, his writing is lush and complex. His books include "Scenes from a Receding Past", "Bornholm Night-Ferry", "Balcony of Europe", and "Langrishe, Go Down", which was adapted for television by Harold Pinter.

From Booklist

Though perhaps best known for his novels, Irish author Higgins also wrote several dramatic works over the course of his career. Collecting 10 plays broadcast on BBC and RTÉ radio since 1973, this selection draws particular attention to Higgins’ penchant for intertextual experimentation. In some cases, the texts that Higgins plays with are his own: those familiar with the author’s body of work will note that several of these plays are essentially permutations of other works in his canon, rearranged for the stage. Others, especially the metafictional Discords of Good Humour, incorporate so many references to other texts (including those by James Joyce and Brian O’Nolan, each an inveterate intertextualizer in his own right) that the bottom cannot be confidently plumbed without a sure footing in Irish literary history. And some plays seem to have aged better than others. Through all of this, Higgins’ lyrical sentences and sheer enthusiasm for the power of language continue to shine. This collection will be appreciated by Higgins’ growing number of North American readers. --Brendan Driscoll

About this edition

• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1564785378
• ISBN 13: 9781564785374
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 509
• Editor: Daniel Jernigan