Black List Section H

by Francis Stuart

This astonishingly powerful novel follows H on a spiritual quest for revelation and redemption, from his disastrous marriage to Iseult Gonne, the Irish Civil War and internment, to his life as a writer, poultry farmer, racehorse owner and bohemian in 1930s London, and his arrival in Hitler's Germany in 1940. Arrested after the war, the 'outsider' at last finds himself 'alone and free, passionately involved in my own living fiction.'.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature, 20th Century

546 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart (1902–2000) was an Irish writer. His novels have been described as having a thrusting modernist iconoclasm. Awarded the highest artistic accolade in Ireland before his death in 2000.

Works:

We Have Kept the Faith, Dublin 1923
Women and God, London 1931
Pigeon Irish, London 1932
The Coloured Dome, London 1932
Try the Sky, London 1933
Glory, London 1933
Things to Live For: Notes for an Autobiography, London 1934
In Search of Love, London 1935
The Angels of Pity, London 1935
The White Hare, London 1936
The Bridge, London 1937
Julie, London 1938
The Great Squire, London 1939
Der Fall Casement, Hamburg 1940
The Pillar of Cloud, London 1948
Redemption, London 1949
The Flowering Cross, London 1950
Good Friday's Daughter, London 1952
The Chariot, London 1953
The Pilgrimage, London 1955
Victors and Vanquished, London 1958
Angels of Providence, London 1959
Black List Section H, Southern Illinois Univ. Press 1971
Memorial, London 1973
A Hole in the Head, London 1977
The High Consistory, London 1981
We Have Kept the Faith: New and Selected Poems, Dublin 1982
States of Mind, Dublin 1984
Faillandia, Dublin 1985
The Abandoned Snail Shell, Dublin 1987
Night Pilot, Dublin 1988
A Compendium of Lovers, Dublin 1990
Arrow of Anguish, Dublin 1995
King David Dances, Dublin 1996

Pamphlets

Nationality and Culture, Dublin 1924
Mystics and Mysticism, Dublin 1929
Racing for Pleasure and Profit in Ireland and Elsewhere, Dublin 1937

Plays

Men Crowd me Round, 1933
Glory, 1936
Strange Guests, 1940
Flynn's Last Dive, 1962
Who Fears to Speak, 1970

Additionally, Stuart authored many articles in various journals.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some big problems here.

1) Stuart should have published this as an autobiography. It gains nothing from its semi-fictional form.
2) Stuart is really not that good a prose-writer. So forget any pleasure on that front.
3) Stuart, as widely noted, had one of the most repulsive personalities of any 20th Century writer, without the talent (Céline, Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis) to take a reader over that hurdle.

[Jack]

This is about as politically insightful as Siouxsie and Sid wearing swastikas on British TV.

[Kieran Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Irish Camus

Compelling and true account of an Irish poet and novelist's belief that to create and be original he should not only take no heed of the norm but even take measures to place himself beyond the pale. Known to Yates (who appears in the book) as the Dunce who married Maud Gonn's daughter, the promising young poet H finds himself incarcerated by the new Irish Free State as an Irregular during the War of Independence. Interred in the Curragh he writes his first novel. Feeling familial responsibility on the eve of WW2 he ends up in Germany where he broadcasts Nazi propaganda to Ireland. His numerous affairs are detailed as his obsessions and prejudices. H is a thoroughly unlikable character, selfish, immature and ultimately wrong on all accounts. Interesting take on early 20th century Ireland including neutrality and the presence of small numbers of Irish in Germany during the war years. The infamous Lord Haw Haw also makes a cameo. I liked it!

[Michael Martin]

I read an introduction which put Celine, Camillo Cela and some others in a category of writers of the damned. I wonder if Francis belongs there - they're great writers but on the wrong side. Includes the memorable aphorism, 'regret is the devil's remorse'. A great book (just in case there was any doubt).

[E.J. Matze · Rating 3 out of 5]

autobiographic novel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_...

Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart (1902–2000) was an Irish writer. His novels have been described as having a thrusting modernist iconoclasm. Awarded the highest artistic accolade in Ireland...