Finding Mangan: The many lives and afterlives of James Clarence Mangan

by Bridget Hourican

June 1849: Dr William Wilde, passing a wretched hovel in Dublin’s Liberties, discovers James Clarence Mangan in a state of indescribable misery and squalor. Aged just 46, the man dubbed ‘Ireland’s National Poet’ is about to succumb to the cholera epidemic that is gripping famine ravaged Ireland.

August 2008: Writer Bridget Hourican encounters Mangan during a Liberties lock-in with that other great Irish poet, Shane MacGowan, who found inspiration in Mangan’s poetry.

Alcoholic, opium addict, Romantic, Famine poet, Dublin street character and hero of James Joyce, the mercurial Mangan begins to obsess Bridget. The surviving biographical material - scant, subjective, sometimes falsified - both fascinates and frustrates her and she determines to find him. Who was this Baudelaire of The Liberties – this lurker in Irish history whose enigmatic presence helped determine its course?

As the lines between research and real life become blurred, Bridget starts to notice aspects of her life bleeding into Mangan’s. An obsession becomes a haunting and she realises that the only way to truly reach Mangan is to reckon with her own ghosts.

Finding Mangan resurrects Ireland’s most enigmatic literary figuring, restoring his rightful place in the national consciousness.

408 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2024

About the author

Bridget is of mixed Irish-Palestinian heritage, born in Belfast, grew up in Brussels, spent a few years living in Budapest, and is now based in Dublin. As a journalist she has contributed to Time Out and The Irish Times, among other publications. Bridget also has a big interest in travel and history, and has worked on some major projects including the Atlas of Irish History and the Dictionary of Irish Bibliography.

Reviews

[Jean Callanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down.

When I started I knew little of James Clarence Mangan but very early I found myself under his spell - like Hourican herself, Shane McGowan, Yeats and many others.

The book weaves together a journey through Dublin of the early 19th century, a detective story as Hourican tries to piece together Mangan’s life and her own story of love and loss.

A brilliant read.

[Fionnbharr Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have so many writers in Ireland, literally a ridiculous amount, and we unquestionably have the richest literary tradition of any country in the west. Because of this some writers are bound to be overlooked, which is why it’s so beautiful when they’re given the attention they deserve.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I've ever wanted

[Brid Drake · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 For me this was my first encounter with James Clarence Mangan and I am grateful for the accessibe style of Bridget Hourican’s writing. I liked the journey through Mangan’s Dublin and the imaging of his life there. References to other accounts of his life weren’t always clear for me. Learning more about the pre Famine times, The Nation and the start of the Irish cultural revival were all of interest.