Product Description

Derry, with its long tradition of learning, its turbulent history and its cross-fertilisation of Irish, English and Scottish cultures has always been a fertile ground for writing. This handsome new anthology, a sister volume to Patricia Craig's acclaimed Belfast Anthology, presents a wealth of writing about Derry city from earliest times to the present and includes fascinating extracts from fiction, history, poetry, letters and travel writing. The wide range of writers hints at Derry's eventful past - from St Columbkille through to John Wesley, William Thackeray and Mrs Alexander. In more recent times, writers like Sean O Faolain, Ben Kiely, Kathleen Ferguson, Nicholas Monsarrat, Brian Friel, Nell McCafferty, Jennifer Johnston, Eamonn McCann, Seamus Heaney, Michael Foley and Seamus Deane have all recorded vivid impressions of the city and its people. Researched and introduced by Derryman Sean McMahon, The Derry Anthology provides a complex and stimulating portrait of this ancient city.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1120824 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
To outsiders, the name 'Derry' or 'Londonderry' may conjure up images of soldiers patrolling the street and barbed wire, but this anthology attempts to cover all aspects of life in the Northern Irish city. The sister book to Patricia Craig's Belfast Anthology, it is a collection of fictional and non-fictional prose and poetry about the city. Contributors include such names of note as William Makepeace Thackeray, Seamus Heaney and Paul Theroux. Editor Sean McMahon, a Derryman who has written and edited many books relating to Ireland, separates the extracts into 13 chapters. They include 'A Schooling', a delightful collection of memories about growing up in Derry, and 'HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour', focusing on Derry's experiences of the two world wars. The different accounts create a fascinating tapestry of the city, leaving the reader with a mixed impression of it, perhaps not surprisingly given the decades of conflict that it has been forced to endure. In the opening pages of the anthology, travel writer Paul Theroux describes the city as 'lovely and familiar' from a distance yet concludes that 'Up close Derry was frightful', and Thackeray says, 'It is not splendid but comfortable.' However, playwright Brendan Behan is more favourable: 'It's a lovely city, Derry, and the people are very kind and generous.' Lovely, familiar, frightful or comfortable, Derry has certainly inspired a great deal of literature and this comprehensive collection of it is perfect for dipping into for natives and foreigners alike. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
SEAN McMAHON has written or edited over forty books including The Best of the Bell, A Book of Irish Quotations, A Short History of Ireland, Rich and Rare, The Poolbeg Book of Children's Verse and Sam Hanna Bell; A Boigraphy. He also reviews for, among others, the Irish Independent.