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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Paradise House by Paul Perry: A fascinating, original and well-executed speculative fiction about James Joyce
Paradise House Author : Paul Perry ISBN-13 : 9781036907952 Publisher : Somerville Press Guideline Price : €20 In dire straits, as he often was, James Joyce latched on to a casual remark from his sister Eva, who was visiting her brother in Trieste, about the lack of a cinema in Dublin. Securing Italian syndicate backing, Joyce returned to Ireland and the Cinematograph Volta opened on Mary Street in December 1909. Once it was up and running Joyce retreated to Italy but the nascent business ran aground soon after and the struggling author remained, for the time being at least, potless. But what if Joyce's picture palace had taken off? This is the notion behind Paradise House by UCD professor of creative writing Paul Perry. If his last novel, 2021's excellent The Garden, evoked American masters like McCarthy, Steinbeck and Hemingway then this one takes inspiration from F Scott Fitzgerald, specifically The Great Gatsby. Here the Volta is renamed Paradise House and its success in a Dublin that's 'a city of half-truth and half lies' seen through the eyes of narrator Jacob Moonlight, has brought Joyce (called Kinch, the nickname bestowed by Oliver Gogarty, throughout) the financial rewards which previously eluded him. Like F's Jay however, what he truly longs for is love. This 'magical venue' has only one purpose: 'Kinch was trying to win Norah back'. [ Author Paul Perry: 'The myth of the starving genius is harmful nonsense' Opens in new window ] Upstairs at the House there's an after-hours club, The Worm's Ditch, which brings 'a sensuous kind of alternative reality' to 'a dreary outpost of colonial rule' and allows Joyce to throw Gatsby-esque, champagne-soaked get-togethers where luminaries such as Caruso can enjoy themselves, while he gazes longingly towards the green light of Norah's dock. READ MORE Perry's Joyce is a might-have-been who 'wrote a book and it was pulped' and was fired from his teaching job 'for turning up ossified'. Moonlight, a Jewish outsider like the Bloom this Joyce never gets to finish writing about because he's determined to drown any such ambition, doubts the Kinch he knows would ever want bridges or buildings named after him or to have his face on the currency or have 'ignorant, power-hungry politicians quote him without a clue' anyway. This alternate history also takes in to account war in Europe and rising unrest back home, and further borrows from Fitzgerald for the fates of supporting characters. It's a fascinating, original and well-executed what-if conceit, and highly entertaining to boot.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Honoring Memorial Day: New Market remembers its fallen heroes
NEW MARKET, Ala. (WHNT) — Memorial Day is centered upon remembering the heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice, whether they lost their lives on the front lines or back at home due to service-related illness or injury. For many in New Market, those heroes are their dads. 'Growing up, my dad never talked about his service,' Elizabeth Perry Mason, daughter of Paul Perry, said. 'And when you would ask him questions, he would say, 'You just don't talk about it.' When he died, all of us just fell apart. So, he was just our glue.' 'They gave everything for us': Thousands gather for 45th Annual Cotton Row Run 'I can talk about this all day long, and then it hits, and I don't know why,' Daughter of Jonah Ray Fanning, Melinda Fanning Avery, said. 'My dad has been dead for 50 years.' For these families, Memorial Day is the opportunity to open the scrapbooks, read the letters and honor the lives of those they lost. Several people News 19 spoke with said they didn't know much about their dad's time in service, but letters and pictures found later in life revealed much of the story. 'January 11, 1945, to my mother,' Pam Howard Mann, daughter of William B. Howard Jr., said as she read a letter from her dad to her mom. 'This was written from France. Dearest darling, how's my sweet darling doing these days? As for myself, I'm not so good. I'm back in a convalescent hospital.' 📲 to stay updated on the go. 📧 to have news sent to your inbox. Fanning Avery read a letter from her dad to her grandparents, detailing the jungle fighting he had just endured in Japan. 'Their own clothes had worn out long before, and only the captured Jap clothing saved them from fighting in the raw…I remember him talking about how hard it was,' Fanning Avery said. For many families, honoring the lives of service members on Memorial Day goes far beyond the front lines. Their loved ones suffered life-changing illnesses or injuries after service, often leading to their passing after hanging up their uniform. 'It would be criminal to forget those men that gave so much, either the ultimate sacrifice, injury, mental damage that was caused by seeing what they saw and going through what they saw,' George Jones, son of Howard C. Jones Jr., said. 'They deserve as much as anyone to be remembered for their service.' Every year on this day, they get together, share stories about their heroes, shed a few tears and remember. If they could speak with their dads one last time, they would simply say 'thank you.' 'I am proud of you,' Rosemary McCrary, daughter of Thomas R. McCrary, said. 'I am in awe of you. He was a special man, and he was my hero.' 'Thank you is not enough, but just thank you for giving so much of your life,' Fanning Avery said. 'I wish I could've told him 'thank you for what you did',' Howard Mann said. 'And for allowing us to live free today.' 'Thank you for your service and sacrifice to our country,' Jones said. 'I'm very proud of you.' The names listed below are those whom the people News 19 spoke with are honoring this Memorial Day: Jonah Ray Fanning William Benton Howard Jr. Howard Criner Jones Jr. Howard Criner Jones Sr. Thomas R. McCrary Levi Pickett Esslinger John R. Thomas Paul Perry Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
