The Best New Irish Short Stories 2005

by David Marcus

Including original stories by Neil Jordan, Gerard Donovan, Edna O'Brien, Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann, Claire Keegan, Colm Toibin, Niall Williams, and Mary Morrissy, this stunning collection of short stories illustrates the vibrancy and eclecticism of contemporary Irish writing. In Roddy Doyle's The Joke, a middle-aged man sits eavesdropping on his wife's conversation with a friend, at once bitter and sweetly yearning; in Sophia Hillan's The Cocktail Hour, a couple wander the night haunted and lost in a reverie of the Jazz Age; in Bernard MacLaverty's Matters of Life and Death, two young brothers spend the night at the house of the local doctor and his wife, and together the four of them end up in a revelrous late night dance. From Ireland to the United States, rural Peru to the mountains of the Himalayas, these pieces collectively and individually demonstrate the complexity of emotion and memory that is associated with the very finest short stories, and bears testimony to the fact that the form is still alive and flourishing.

Another country / Molly McCloskey --
The joke / Roddy Doyle --
Organ recital / Gillman Noonan --
Different city different state / Paula Cunningham --
Harry Dietz / Gerard Donovan --
Cold front / Blánaid McKinney --
Faithless-heart / Cóilín Ó Haodha --
Hy-Brasil / Mary Burke --
Surrender / William Wall --
They need no motorcars / Julia O'Faolain --
Matters of life and death / Bernard MacLaverty --
A good turn / George O'Brien --
Drag / Mary Morrisey --
The Berkeley complex / Neil Jordan --
The homesick industry / Hugo Hamilton --
The forester's daughter / Claire Keegan --
What is it called, your country, behind the mountain? / Colum McCann --
Love's lesson / Edna O'Brien --
When God was a comedian / Niall Williams --
The other silence / Tom Mac Intyre --
Water / Colm Tóibín --
A way of making sure / Dermot Somers --
The cocktail hour / Sophia Hillan

325 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

David Marcus was born in Ireland to Lithuanian Jewish parents. His dual heritage was reflected in his work, including three novels and several collections of short stories and poetry. As well as his own writing, he fostered the talent of other writers as literary editor for The Irish Press (where he ran the "New Irish Writing" page from 1968 to 1986) and as editor of 30 anthologies of Irish short stories and poetry. He was married to the author Ita Daly.