Serious Sounds

by John Moriarty

A wonderful walk through the story of Moriarty’s childhood growing up on a small farm in north Kerry, and his lifelong engagement with traditional Catholic sacraments, taking as his point of departure Philip Larkin’s poem ‘Church Going’ – a richly meditative essay of extraordinary resonance that begins with a visit to the island of Inis Fallen on Loch Leine: ‘People say we live in a time of ritual deprivation. Not so people of my age born into Christian Ireland. From three days’ of age I was inducted onto the Christian sacramental road, and that journey I rehearse in this book.’

Genres: Philosophy

64 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

JOHN MORIARTY was born in North Kerry in 1938 and educated at Listowel and University College Dublin. He taught English literature at the University of Manitoba in Canada for six years, before returning to Ireland in 1971. He is author of Dreamtime (1994), and the trilogy Turtle Was Gone a Long Time: Crossing the Kedron (1996), Horsehead Nebula Neighing (1997) and Anaconda Canoe (1998).

Obituary with information: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/...

Reviews

[k · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different experience and perspective from my own with resonances nonetheless. Martin Shaw mentioned him exuberantly in a podcast and this is the only book I’ve yet to acquire. Hope to read more. Comforting amidst life struggles…

[Con · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give it 5 stars in the context of Moriarty's previous output. It's great he gave his followers a reward, just before he died, with this beautiful, lucid and frank account. And very short by his standards.