Judy Kravis

This book was originally published in 1976. Mallarme's writings about the nature and purposes of art lie behind much modern critical theory. There is no sharp distinction between his poetry and his prose; in both he was exercising his art; and in both he was preoccupied by the same things. Yet the prose is little studied. Dr Kravis treats it under the headings of literary, music and dramatic criticism, translation, writing on fashion and on language. She shows the intellectual links between the various interests. More important, she shows how the prose is an art which does what it talks about. Quotation is in French, so this is primarily a book for the reader of French. But it is important for any serious reader of modern literature.

The people who talk about their lives in this book represent a creative, dissident Ireland. They are artists, writers, map-makers, weavers, water-diviners, teachers, environmentalists, farmers, wood-cutters, gardeners, travellers and monks. Some continue ways of life that have existed for generations; others have chosen to live and work in ways that are experimental, exploratory, and always singular. The choices they have made prompt us to reflect on our own choices. These thirty-two portraits in word and image provide an alternative view of the possibilities of life in Ireland, and a bracing antidote to the banalities of the consumer society.

In this text, writers and teachers such as Grace Paley, Edmund White and Andrei Codrescu explore their responses to literature. They describe how they teach and what they teach, and remember the teaching they received, both good and bad.