Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Down These Green Streets

Declan Burke has released a working table of contents for Down These Green Streets, the collection of essays, articles, interviews and short stories by Irish crime writers on Irish crime writing for which he is acting as editor and benevolent shepherd. Who's contributing? Just about everyone in Irish crime writing: Ken Bruen. Adrian McKinty. John Banville. Tana French. Colin Bateman (It's good to see humor represented) and many more.

Declan Hughes will no doubt speak for many of his fellows when he discusses American influences on Irish crime fiction. I'll also be interested to see what a woman of Ruth Dudley Edwards' political persuasion has to say about Liam O'Flaherty, some of whose revolutionary characters were anything but heroic. Eoin McNamee's contribution ("The Puritan soul and Irish noir") looks to be fascinating, too. And I wonder if Burke and McKinty will clash over the merits of early Irish crime fiction.

Visit Burke's Crime Always Pays for more details.

© Peter Rozovsky 2009

Labels: , ,

10 Comments:

Blogger adrian mckinty said...

There will be blood. He's a hard man to please is Burke take it from me.

June 09, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

It's funny, but he was just saying what a pain in the arse all his contributors were.

No, no, he never even hinted at any such thing. But I do seem vaguely to recall your once having uttered some disparaging remark about the quality of Irish crime writing pre- was it pre-Ken Bruen? Pre-Celtic Tiger? Such a perspective would make an interesting backdrop for an exploration of the roots of irish crime writing.

June 09, 2009  
Blogger adrian mckinty said...

Oh yeah, I suppose that will add frisson to my historical chapter.

BTW these days its more Tasmanian Tiger than Celtic Tiger, i.e. extinct. To mix my metaphors even more I dont know if the the whole Celtic Tiger phenomenon was a boom or just a mirage. A lot of those jobs have gone to India now and they aint coming back.

June 09, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

To mix metaphors even worse, I knew the air had come out of the boom. That could give Irish crime writing a different kind of boost.

A taxi driver in Dublin last year was noting the decline of construction in the city. I mentioned that I'd seen a fair number of cranes and construction sites. He said I should have seen the city a few years earlier.

If the Celtic Tiger was a mirage or a mere slogan, well, some thoughtful crime writer might offer some fruitful ruminations.

June 09, 2009  
Anonymous Ian said...

Is there an Amazon listing for this?

June 09, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

It's a little early for that. I don't think a publishing deal had been signed as of Burke's post on the subject. I am looking forward to the collection.

June 09, 2009  
Blogger seana graham said...

Thanks, Peter. I'm going to want one of these.

June 09, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Seana, there are many reasons to look forward to this book, not the least of which will be the chance to read some good crime writers holding forth on the writing that forms their own background.

June 09, 2009  
Blogger Linkmeister said...

In the "Crime Mystery Thriller" group at Library Thing there's a thread for European crime novels. I plugged Burke's post over there.

June 10, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Thanks. You can let Mr Burke know here that you're spreading the news about the project.

June 10, 2009  

Post a Comment

<< Home