Scenes From Receding Past PA

by Higgins,Aidan

• ISBN13: 9781564783875
• ISBN10: 1564783871
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-06-17
• Publisher: JOHN MUIR

Summary

Opening with a quote from Richard Brautigan--"I've been examining half-scraps of my childhood. They are pieces of distant life that have no form or meaning."--Scenes from a Receding Past constructs the adolescence and early adulthood of Dan Ruttle out of a variety of scenes and reminiscences about his life in Ireland, his time in a Catholic school, his first experiences with his sexuality, and his brother's mental breakdown. The second half of the book centers around his relationship with his future wife Olivia, her past, and her former lovers. Calling to mind Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man for Dan Ruttle's love-hate relationship with Ireland, and the stylistic innovations employed by Higgins, Scenes from a Receding Past is a masterpiece from one of Ireland's greatest contemporary writers.

Table of Contents

Part I
Distant Figures	11	(12)
The Banners of Passion Week	23	(7)
The Bogey Man, the Tantalising Cat and the Nun from Dingle	30	(8)
My Name, Imaginary Clouds	38	(9)
The Old Bishop, Crook'd Noonan	47	(4)
The Gulf of Dreams	51	(2)
The Old Man on the Mall, Ned Colfer, the Tunny Shoals	53	(5)
The Ring-Pump, Dublin Zoo, Oscar	58	(3)
Country Circus	61	(4)
The Bowsy Murray, Vimy Ridge and The King of England	65	(12)
In the Forbidden Places	77	(7)
The Hand and Flower Press
The Seed Bull Peter
The Stallion
The Vicious Bite
The Thwarts	84	(7)
The Orrs of Garrick, Uncle Jack and the Whoopee	91	(4)
The One from Carney, the 0.22 Rifle	95	(7)
The End of Innocence	102	(3)
Part II
Killashee	105	(6)
Record of a Record	111	(3)
The College, its Secret Language	114	(5)
The Heavy Curtain	119	(6)
The Institution	125	(9)
The Suicided Corpse	134	(4)
The Thirteenth Man	138	(5)
The Girl on the Steps	143	(5)
The English Major	148	(3)
The Ghost of Emmett Grieve and the Missing Ketch Joyita	151	(5)
Billy Grieve	156	(5)
Gussens and the Groper	161	(8)
The Poet Gabby Gall	169	(3)
Before me, the Simian Hand: Lear	172	(4)
The Icecream Factory	176	(2)
Tea with Mr. Spender	178	(4)
The Attic	182	(9)
Life at Gospel Oak	191	(5)
The Pond	196	(5)
Baboushka-Katinka	201	(2)
Adriatic-Aegean	203	(1)
End	204