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The Irish Existentialists: How Conor took the wrong coat and accidentally nearly unravelled the universe.
Conor is breaking up with his girlfriend, and doing a bad job of it. Taking to moaning on his best mate Matt’s shoulder and drinking with strangers in the bars of Dublin, one night he encounters a man he thinks he recognizes as a celebrity. But Conor is mistaken, the stranger is in fact a traveller from a different universe.
As the story splits into the infinitely possible, into multiple-universes, life goes on. Conor and Matt continue to hang out and chat and go about their lives. The stranger ends up lost. And Conor continues to fail to break up with his girlfriend.
A look at the smaller side of huge existential issues, the friends talk their way through the complexities they are presented with. And they continue to drink, while the universe continues to function.
But in the end it becomes apparent that though the universe will always muddle along, it may not be doing so in the way we imagine. We may all be living in a more dangerous world than the safe and relaxed bars of Dublin lead us to believe.
As the story splits into the infinitely possible, into multiple-universes, life goes on. Conor and Matt continue to hang out and chat and go about their lives. The stranger ends up lost. And Conor continues to fail to break up with his girlfriend.
A look at the smaller side of huge existential issues, the friends talk their way through the complexities they are presented with. And they continue to drink, while the universe continues to function.
But in the end it becomes apparent that though the universe will always muddle along, it may not be doing so in the way we imagine. We may all be living in a more dangerous world than the safe and relaxed bars of Dublin lead us to believe.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2014
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June 23, 2017
In between touring Dublin's pubs, Conor, Mark, Colin and Sarah are producing a play, having Arts student type discussions about the meaning of social structures, and applauding a rugby hero. Or is he really the rugby hero? Is it Dean Conway in person or, as he claims, another version of him from a parallel universe? THE IRISH EXISTENTIALISTS are too absorbed by gay rights marches and Dostoyevsky to notice how many Dean Conways there are, and then Conor mistakenly - drunkenly - comes home wearing Dean's sports jacket.
According to Dean, if you believe he is Dean when at the same time Dean is playing live rugby on the TV screen in the pub, there's an infinite number of universes in which he's a billionaire, an infinite number where he's homeless, and everything in between. People in his universe take vacation weeks to explore the possibilities. Those strange numerical codes in the notebook Conor found in his jacket pocket? Maybe better you don't know. After all, goodness knows how much harm you could do.
The latest trend of chess-boxing - where players play alternating rounds of each - is amusingly adapted here into chess-rugby. That aside, there is potential danger. Because what if someone who came touring, liked your life, your universe, better than his own?
Maybe it's because I read a lot of SF, but the most confusing part of this adult story is that Conor and Colin are similar names and we get no descriptive passages to help create a mental image of them. A lot of talk and action is condensed into a short novella; many discussion points, social themes from gay marriage to homelessness to women getting roles on stage. And how to talk your way out of being arrested for jaywalking. John Buchanan must have enjoyed stitching this story together for us to unravel. If you're not laughing, you're not Irish.
According to Dean, if you believe he is Dean when at the same time Dean is playing live rugby on the TV screen in the pub, there's an infinite number of universes in which he's a billionaire, an infinite number where he's homeless, and everything in between. People in his universe take vacation weeks to explore the possibilities. Those strange numerical codes in the notebook Conor found in his jacket pocket? Maybe better you don't know. After all, goodness knows how much harm you could do.
The latest trend of chess-boxing - where players play alternating rounds of each - is amusingly adapted here into chess-rugby. That aside, there is potential danger. Because what if someone who came touring, liked your life, your universe, better than his own?
Maybe it's because I read a lot of SF, but the most confusing part of this adult story is that Conor and Colin are similar names and we get no descriptive passages to help create a mental image of them. A lot of talk and action is condensed into a short novella; many discussion points, social themes from gay marriage to homelessness to women getting roles on stage. And how to talk your way out of being arrested for jaywalking. John Buchanan must have enjoyed stitching this story together for us to unravel. If you're not laughing, you're not Irish.
Displaying 1 of 1 review