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The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish short stories
An anthology of the very best Irish short stories, selected by Sinead Gleeson, author of Constellations.
There have been many anthologies of the short story as it developed in Ireland, but never a collection like this.
The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices - women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, lost 19th-century voices and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from elsewhere now making a life in Ireland. Sinead Gleeson brings together stories ranging from the sublime to the downright bizarre, from classics to the new generation of writers, and from well known names to previously unpublished talent.
The collection paints a tremendous spectrum of experience: the story of a prank come good by Bram Stoker; Sally Rooney on the love languages of the new generation; Donal Ryan on the pains of ageing; Edna O'Brien on political entanglements; James Joyce on losing a loved one; and the internal monologue of a coma sufferer by Marian Keyes.
List of contributing authors:
Samuel Beckett, Sally Rooney, Melatu Uche Okirie, William Trevor, Marian Keyes, Kevin Barry, Edna O'Brien, Claire-Louise Bennett, Sheridan Le Fanu, Danielle McLaughlin, Mairtin O Cathain, Frances Molloy, Blindboy Boatclub, Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O'Connor, Chiamaka Emyi-Amadi, John McGahern, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack, Maeve Brennan, Oein de Bhairduin, Eimear McBride, Sean O Faolain, Cathy Sweeney.
There have been many anthologies of the short story as it developed in Ireland, but never a collection like this.
The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices - women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, lost 19th-century voices and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from elsewhere now making a life in Ireland. Sinead Gleeson brings together stories ranging from the sublime to the downright bizarre, from classics to the new generation of writers, and from well known names to previously unpublished talent.
The collection paints a tremendous spectrum of experience: the story of a prank come good by Bram Stoker; Sally Rooney on the love languages of the new generation; Donal Ryan on the pains of ageing; Edna O'Brien on political entanglements; James Joyce on losing a loved one; and the internal monologue of a coma sufferer by Marian Keyes.
List of contributing authors:
Samuel Beckett, Sally Rooney, Melatu Uche Okirie, William Trevor, Marian Keyes, Kevin Barry, Edna O'Brien, Claire-Louise Bennett, Sheridan Le Fanu, Danielle McLaughlin, Mairtin O Cathain, Frances Molloy, Blindboy Boatclub, Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O'Connor, Chiamaka Emyi-Amadi, John McGahern, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack, Maeve Brennan, Oein de Bhairduin, Eimear McBride, Sean O Faolain, Cathy Sweeney.
1110 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 3, 2021
I am a huge fan of Sinéad Gleeson and have, since Constellations, eagerly awaited some new work from her. I was initially disappointed when I discovered that this new work would be a section of other writers works.
However, as always with Sinéad, I need not have worried as the careful selection in this book provides an incredibly considered, affectionate, and touching collection of works that fully illustrate the vast array of talent that exists in this county.
In many ways this feels the perfect balm to what has been a difficult year.
However, as always with Sinéad, I need not have worried as the careful selection in this book provides an incredibly considered, affectionate, and touching collection of works that fully illustrate the vast array of talent that exists in this county.
In many ways this feels the perfect balm to what has been a difficult year.
August 19, 2022
Some gems in this collection! Average rating of 3.6 stars
April 6, 2021
Well that was thoroughly enjoyable. 100 stories in 100 days. Cat Hogan did a read along on Twitter. And I wrote a hundred mini reviews (for my own memory). I didn't love every story. I've never been a fan of dusty old classics, but quite a few, like James Stephens surprised me. Though most of my favourite ones were modern writers: Lucy Caldwell, Nicole Flattery, Lauren Foley, Neil Jordan, Claire Keegan, Una Mannion, Mike McCormack...
There were so many amazing stories, and though there were a few I didn't get or didn't work for me, like every short story collection it seems, I still think this deserves a solid five stars because the overall experience of reading so many different kinds of stories was a great rollercoaster ride of a read.
There were so many amazing stories, and though there were a few I didn't get or didn't work for me, like every short story collection it seems, I still think this deserves a solid five stars because the overall experience of reading so many different kinds of stories was a great rollercoaster ride of a read.
October 20, 2020
Excellent collection of short stories from the best of Irish writers.
Worth reading, but space them out. I wore myself out reading all without a break!
Worth reading, but space them out. I wore myself out reading all without a break!
November 1, 2022
When I saw the title of "Irish short stories", I wasn't exactly sure what that entailed, but these stories are most definitely Irish. It was wonderful to read one and feel a twitch of recognition at a certain phrase or sentiment.
April 27, 2025
A gift for my birthday, I started reading this a story here and a story there while reading other novels, but I focused just on it for the past month. It ranged from 19th century ghost stories to 21st century small domestic dramas and some of it was wonderful and some just OK, like any collection you connect with some things more than others. The stories are alphabetical by author so just by accident I found the early part of lot of female writers and the attempt at diversity made it less diverse. The second half was a better mix of gender, era and genre. After reading it intensely, I feel I am thinking with an Irish accent!
February 21, 2021
This book introduced me to new authors, allowed me to catch up with old favourites and gives a great picture of Irishness in all its forms. I laughed out loud reading Ian Sansom story - the experience of a an English man meeting his wife’s northern family for the first time, squirmed at Flann O’Brien’s taxidermist tale and was educated by Oein De Bhuairduin’s yew tree information.....I read three stories a day and that time was the highlight of each day for 33 days. Read and enjoy.
October 6, 2023
It's just a lot. Living is a lot of little jobs and big ones and sometimes they all coalesce in front of you. You can't see past them really. It's like a hill that's full of slippy mud and brittle rocks. You knew that it was big but now it's dangerous.
Well this was quite a lot. 100 Short stories on 750 large-format pages. But what a triumph this anthology is, allowing you to, well, catch a glimpse of many facets of Irish literature, Ireland and just people in general. Quite a few stories are stuck in my mind.
Short stories are just such a great form of literature. And this anthology will be a jumping-off point for further reading. I definitely have to give in to the hype and read more from Sally Rooney, "Robbie Brady's Late Goal Takes Its Place in Our Personal Histories" was a tremendously good story. But there were so many other gems in this volume. "The Yew Tree" by Oein DeBhairduin will definitely get me into folk tales of the Irish Travellers.
Well this was quite a lot. 100 Short stories on 750 large-format pages. But what a triumph this anthology is, allowing you to, well, catch a glimpse of many facets of Irish literature, Ireland and just people in general. Quite a few stories are stuck in my mind.
Short stories are just such a great form of literature. And this anthology will be a jumping-off point for further reading. I definitely have to give in to the hype and read more from Sally Rooney, "Robbie Brady's Late Goal Takes Its Place in Our Personal Histories" was a tremendously good story. But there were so many other gems in this volume. "The Yew Tree" by Oein DeBhairduin will definitely get me into folk tales of the Irish Travellers.
April 10, 2021
Brilliant collection. I encountered so many writers for the first time, and many unfamiliar works from writers I already knew. A very comprehensive survey of the short story in Ireland.
February 6, 2021
The Art of the Glimpse – 100 Irish short stories – selected by Sinead Gleeson is an anthology of both classic and new Irish short stories. This is the type of book that every book shelf will covet. It is the perfect gift for the reader in your life or as a well-deserved treat to self, one that you will cherish for many years to come. Gleeson describes it as a “a gathering of possibilities, and an opportunity to be converted into an avid completist of a writer’s work that may have otherwise escaped you”. The anthology unites classic works with lesser-known authors and introduces the first wave of ‘new Irish’ writers from elsewhere now making a life in Ireland. Some familiar names and some long-forgotten names fill this collection such as Bram Stoker, Elizabeth Bowen, William Trevor, Jennifer Johnston, Nuala O’Connor, Claire Keegan and Mike McCormack to name a few are curated by Gleeson.
Author Sarah Moss explained in a recent IT’s article – “the word “anthology” comes from the Greek for “flowers” and 18th-century collections of stories and essays were sometimes called “nosegay” or a “posy”, with the implication that the bouquet is more than the sum of its parts, that the art of the arrangement is the point of the volume. The stories must make a pattern, say together more than each says alone.” Gleeson has opted for alphabetical order due to the sheer size of this book.
However, Moss’s statement triggered the detective within; uncovering patterns, possible themes and identifying an imaginable order in the way that the stories are communicated to the reader. Without giving too much away – each reader will discover different gems and appreciate the richness of each story – glimpsing love and loss, a sense of place, bodies in motion, infidelity, domestic violence and the ubiquitous religious hegemony that once united Irish families.
The stories span the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, the oldest one is Sheridan Le Fanu,1851, “The Village Bully”. Le Fanu was best known for his gothic tales of mystery and horror so it is not surprising that this ghostly story is sandwiched between “Sarah” (1943) by Mary Lavin and Eimear McBride’s “Me and the Devil” (2015) leading me to speculate on a clear correlation; a glimpse at a proposed pattern of supernatural, revenge and patriarchal prevalence.
Crime, tragedy, comedy, folklore and a variety of other genres make up this miscellany. There is a seventeen page long short story by Colin Barrett called “Stand Your Skin”. Readers may be familiar with Barrett’s short story collection Young Skins set in rural Ireland about hapless and broken men and unattainable women. “Stand Your Skin” offers more of a character study about a man named Bat and how he came to be broken in the first place – courtesy of Nubbin Tansey who bequeathed him with a boot to the face.
“It’s slight but distinct, the droop, a nipped outward twisting of the lip, an unhinging, that makes him look always a little gormless”.
Mia Gallagher’s “The Lady, Vanishing” is a mere 576-word story told over two pages and is a wonderful example of brevity. In my opinion the story is far less compelling than many of Gallagher’s other gritty social realism stories and one would wonder why Gleeson –the ‘florist’ – selected it. Perhaps it was in a bid to illustrate Gallagher’s capabilities of precision –where every word counts – as she is best known for her 650-page epic novel HellFire with distinctive prose. This bizarre little flash fiction piece jarringly tells the story of a man disposing of a sex doll.
“She’s weightless in his arms. Cool. He touches her mouth, her shallow forehead, her staring eyes. She trembles”.
As Gleeson states “You may not admire every story in this collection, but you may find plenty to like, or a writer you’ve never heard of…”. One thing I can guarantee is that you will experience endless hours of entertainment as you work your way through this collection, savouring the diversity of the stories and thus tracing the long arc in Irish Writing.
Author Sarah Moss explained in a recent IT’s article – “the word “anthology” comes from the Greek for “flowers” and 18th-century collections of stories and essays were sometimes called “nosegay” or a “posy”, with the implication that the bouquet is more than the sum of its parts, that the art of the arrangement is the point of the volume. The stories must make a pattern, say together more than each says alone.” Gleeson has opted for alphabetical order due to the sheer size of this book.
However, Moss’s statement triggered the detective within; uncovering patterns, possible themes and identifying an imaginable order in the way that the stories are communicated to the reader. Without giving too much away – each reader will discover different gems and appreciate the richness of each story – glimpsing love and loss, a sense of place, bodies in motion, infidelity, domestic violence and the ubiquitous religious hegemony that once united Irish families.
The stories span the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, the oldest one is Sheridan Le Fanu,1851, “The Village Bully”. Le Fanu was best known for his gothic tales of mystery and horror so it is not surprising that this ghostly story is sandwiched between “Sarah” (1943) by Mary Lavin and Eimear McBride’s “Me and the Devil” (2015) leading me to speculate on a clear correlation; a glimpse at a proposed pattern of supernatural, revenge and patriarchal prevalence.
Crime, tragedy, comedy, folklore and a variety of other genres make up this miscellany. There is a seventeen page long short story by Colin Barrett called “Stand Your Skin”. Readers may be familiar with Barrett’s short story collection Young Skins set in rural Ireland about hapless and broken men and unattainable women. “Stand Your Skin” offers more of a character study about a man named Bat and how he came to be broken in the first place – courtesy of Nubbin Tansey who bequeathed him with a boot to the face.
“It’s slight but distinct, the droop, a nipped outward twisting of the lip, an unhinging, that makes him look always a little gormless”.
Mia Gallagher’s “The Lady, Vanishing” is a mere 576-word story told over two pages and is a wonderful example of brevity. In my opinion the story is far less compelling than many of Gallagher’s other gritty social realism stories and one would wonder why Gleeson –the ‘florist’ – selected it. Perhaps it was in a bid to illustrate Gallagher’s capabilities of precision –where every word counts – as she is best known for her 650-page epic novel HellFire with distinctive prose. This bizarre little flash fiction piece jarringly tells the story of a man disposing of a sex doll.
“She’s weightless in his arms. Cool. He touches her mouth, her shallow forehead, her staring eyes. She trembles”.
As Gleeson states “You may not admire every story in this collection, but you may find plenty to like, or a writer you’ve never heard of…”. One thing I can guarantee is that you will experience endless hours of entertainment as you work your way through this collection, savouring the diversity of the stories and thus tracing the long arc in Irish Writing.
October 11, 2021
This book dares to revise the Irish canon of short story writing. There's a much better than normal inclusion of women, forgotten 19th-century writers, LGBT writers, Travellers, Irish writers who have emigrated, writers who have moved to Ireland.
This book is a portal because there were many stories that propelled me straight to Google to find out more about the author. I went down many great rewarding rabbit holes and I'm going to keep it as a reference for future collections I come across - especially the current writers from this century. There are also few writers who emigrated e.g - Elizabeth Cullinane and Maeve Brennan. There are some genre stories not normally found in short story collections. There's a ghost story from Roddy Doyle and crime fiction from Eimar O'Duffy.
Divided Attention by Mary Morrisy had to be transcribed from her Old Amstrad so how much longer before that text would have been lost for good?
I took part in a Twitter hashtag #100daysofArtoftheGlimpse where we read a story a day for 100 days from Christmas Day 2020. We read them in order alphabetically as they are in the book juxtaposing different eras, places, viewpoints in Ireland. What jumps out is how much Ireland has changed and how much diversity there is bubbling just under the loud chattering narrative in the media. So I recommend reading this book slowly and in a group. It was great to read other people's reactions on Twitter.
Here are my top twenty stories in alphabetical order:
Stand your skin - Colin Barrett
Mesmerizing prose about small-town Ireland. He nails the banter and inner thoughts that are so disconnected from said banter.
Here We Are Lucy Caldwell
This is a story of growing up in East Belfast. School girl romance between two girls looked back on. Very well told.
Sleeping with a Stranger Mary Costello
This carefully crafted story is punctuated by short sentences that told the whole story. I used to walk the lanes. It was summer then. Gradually beside him he felt her grow remote. One would never know the depths of him. The genius of this story is that so much life, love, hopes and expectations are shown in so few sentences.
Nine years is a long time by Norah Hoult
This is an unexpected story from the dark ages of the 1930s. It's a world that is just about now vanishing from living memory in Ireland. She reminds me of James Joyce with her straight-up description of ordinary life.
The Husband by Mary Dorcey
Even though the narrator is The Husband, you gradually get to see that it's Martina who is in control and driving all the action. He starts to feel like an unreliable narrator and ends up apparently deluded. Or maybe not? All that vagueness makes it a brilliant story.
Teatro le Fenice - Christine Dwyer Hickey
The narrator here is a woman who finds herself in a nursing home. But we only gradually get to know that because she's an unreliable narrator who's not really sure where she is. Her description of her current surroundings are suffused with her memories. The title is sufficiently vague to allow the reader to fill in the gaps of what it must be like to have move to a nursing home.
77 pop facts you didn't know about Gil Courtney - Wendy Erskine
A brilliant story especially in our era of fake news. Gil Courtney is not real but I was Googling him when I read this story. The best factoid is where a passer-by in a vox pop talked about Gil Courtney did not make it to the final programme because a passing bus rendered the sound too poor in quality.
Standard Deviation - Caoilinn Hughes
The narrator is suspended in the thrill of moving to a new place and discovering herself. A shiver surged from her sphincter to her scalp is one of the best sentences and there are many more like that. This is just a joy to read even if the plot doesn't exactly do much more than a train predictably pulls out of the station. And it's not over-described. This is an example of the short story being the keyhole surgery of the human condition.
Hunger by Louise Kennedy
This is an express train back to 1981 where you're dumped out on the platform bleary-eyed. Can't ask any more of a short story
Sarah by Mary Lavin
Truly powerful that it was written in 1945 long before what we all now know now about Irish society's attitudes to motherhood. The priest didn't intervene directly but he is swishing around in his soutane in the background. The use of farming terminology like raddle and checking on the heifer is powerful and misogynistic. Also the usage of phrases such as Her brazen mind, her slow leopard beauty, strange primitive grace in her rounded figure, The yellow-brown eyes flickered fire. All the dynamics of Irish society are played out on a microscale.
Those that I fight I do not hate by Danielle McLaughlin
The imagery of domestic life at a communion party peppered with war memorabilia gives a sense of impending danger which does eventually materialise when a hand is laid on the cheek of Aoife,17.
A Shiver of Hearts by Una Mannion
Quote: She left and shushed me from the other side of the door so my father wouldn't hear. That sends shivers down your spine because it rings true, unfortunately.
Divided Attention by Mary Morrisy
This story worked for me because I remember when a phone was a phone and not a landline. Mary Morrisy has a great list of five reasons this story is firmly grounded in the late 20th century. And it's the banal details of phone tech in that story that are of most value because the tech has gone to museums. See
https://marymorrissy.com/2020/06/25/p...
Exiles return by Bryan McMahon
1930s Ireland as a steam train arrives back in a station with a returned emigrant from England. The visit to the pub and the publican closing the door behind him and turning around slowly with a full pint in his hand is like a Vermeer painting so skillfully done in great detail. Then the visit to his home has a huge threat of aggression with hints given by his treatment of Timothy.
A literary lunch by Eilis Ni Dhuibhne
Is the author one of the three women who missed out on the starter? Stuck with conversation and Abbey play and soup of the day. They are the insights that are gems.
Then there's the contrast with Francis who is another author who didn't make the cut for an Arts Council grant having a sandwich alone across the river.
Ailsha by Joseph o Connor
The narrator is gradually losing it so we get a chilling insight into his mind through his warped first-person narration. The fact that he names the story after the neighbour's newborn child is creepy and imbues the story with another layer of madness.
Martin O'Cadhain - Road to the Bright City
Worth reading for this line alone: Her thoughts when passing Larry the Peaks House. Dammit her father should have given her to Larry when he came asking. It would have shortened the road to Bright City by six miles. An extremely misogynistic society which is not a surprise.
Sally Rooney - How Robbie Brady's goal changed our lives
This looks like it's the precursor for Normal People. So much is implied that it's the double espresso version of Normal People's Americano.
Donal Ryan - Physiotherapy
Amazing how the devastating facts that have such a long-lasting effect on life are told in short matter-of-fact sentences. It's all the more poignant for that. Those few sentences are the scaffolding the whole thing hangs on.
Colm Toibin - One minus One
Intensely personal story written by an Irish person who now lives in the US. It appears to be auto-fiction since it parallels a part of the author's childhood very closely. There is so much told in this that you can sense a full novel is possible from what's there.
Many of the stories in this collection have that feeling and I could easily have chosen a different twenty equally as good. I recommend reading all 100 slowly because it's worth reflecting on the contrasts between the stories to expose the jewels.
Who's missing? Perhaps Doireann Ni Griofa, Oscar Wilde, Anna Burns, Colm McCann, Patrick McCabe, William Wall, Louise O'Neill, David Marcus, Patrick Pearse, John Jordan, Noise Dolan, GB Shaw . That's not a complaint - there's an embarrassment of riches and it's so hard to choose whom to include in an anthology like this.
This book is a portal because there were many stories that propelled me straight to Google to find out more about the author. I went down many great rewarding rabbit holes and I'm going to keep it as a reference for future collections I come across - especially the current writers from this century. There are also few writers who emigrated e.g - Elizabeth Cullinane and Maeve Brennan. There are some genre stories not normally found in short story collections. There's a ghost story from Roddy Doyle and crime fiction from Eimar O'Duffy.
Divided Attention by Mary Morrisy had to be transcribed from her Old Amstrad so how much longer before that text would have been lost for good?
I took part in a Twitter hashtag #100daysofArtoftheGlimpse where we read a story a day for 100 days from Christmas Day 2020. We read them in order alphabetically as they are in the book juxtaposing different eras, places, viewpoints in Ireland. What jumps out is how much Ireland has changed and how much diversity there is bubbling just under the loud chattering narrative in the media. So I recommend reading this book slowly and in a group. It was great to read other people's reactions on Twitter.
Here are my top twenty stories in alphabetical order:
Stand your skin - Colin Barrett
Mesmerizing prose about small-town Ireland. He nails the banter and inner thoughts that are so disconnected from said banter.
Here We Are Lucy Caldwell
This is a story of growing up in East Belfast. School girl romance between two girls looked back on. Very well told.
Sleeping with a Stranger Mary Costello
This carefully crafted story is punctuated by short sentences that told the whole story. I used to walk the lanes. It was summer then. Gradually beside him he felt her grow remote. One would never know the depths of him. The genius of this story is that so much life, love, hopes and expectations are shown in so few sentences.
Nine years is a long time by Norah Hoult
This is an unexpected story from the dark ages of the 1930s. It's a world that is just about now vanishing from living memory in Ireland. She reminds me of James Joyce with her straight-up description of ordinary life.
The Husband by Mary Dorcey
Even though the narrator is The Husband, you gradually get to see that it's Martina who is in control and driving all the action. He starts to feel like an unreliable narrator and ends up apparently deluded. Or maybe not? All that vagueness makes it a brilliant story.
Teatro le Fenice - Christine Dwyer Hickey
The narrator here is a woman who finds herself in a nursing home. But we only gradually get to know that because she's an unreliable narrator who's not really sure where she is. Her description of her current surroundings are suffused with her memories. The title is sufficiently vague to allow the reader to fill in the gaps of what it must be like to have move to a nursing home.
77 pop facts you didn't know about Gil Courtney - Wendy Erskine
A brilliant story especially in our era of fake news. Gil Courtney is not real but I was Googling him when I read this story. The best factoid is where a passer-by in a vox pop talked about Gil Courtney did not make it to the final programme because a passing bus rendered the sound too poor in quality.
Standard Deviation - Caoilinn Hughes
The narrator is suspended in the thrill of moving to a new place and discovering herself. A shiver surged from her sphincter to her scalp is one of the best sentences and there are many more like that. This is just a joy to read even if the plot doesn't exactly do much more than a train predictably pulls out of the station. And it's not over-described. This is an example of the short story being the keyhole surgery of the human condition.
Hunger by Louise Kennedy
This is an express train back to 1981 where you're dumped out on the platform bleary-eyed. Can't ask any more of a short story
Sarah by Mary Lavin
Truly powerful that it was written in 1945 long before what we all now know now about Irish society's attitudes to motherhood. The priest didn't intervene directly but he is swishing around in his soutane in the background. The use of farming terminology like raddle and checking on the heifer is powerful and misogynistic. Also the usage of phrases such as Her brazen mind, her slow leopard beauty, strange primitive grace in her rounded figure, The yellow-brown eyes flickered fire. All the dynamics of Irish society are played out on a microscale.
Those that I fight I do not hate by Danielle McLaughlin
The imagery of domestic life at a communion party peppered with war memorabilia gives a sense of impending danger which does eventually materialise when a hand is laid on the cheek of Aoife,17.
A Shiver of Hearts by Una Mannion
Quote: She left and shushed me from the other side of the door so my father wouldn't hear. That sends shivers down your spine because it rings true, unfortunately.
Divided Attention by Mary Morrisy
This story worked for me because I remember when a phone was a phone and not a landline. Mary Morrisy has a great list of five reasons this story is firmly grounded in the late 20th century. And it's the banal details of phone tech in that story that are of most value because the tech has gone to museums. See
https://marymorrissy.com/2020/06/25/p...
Exiles return by Bryan McMahon
1930s Ireland as a steam train arrives back in a station with a returned emigrant from England. The visit to the pub and the publican closing the door behind him and turning around slowly with a full pint in his hand is like a Vermeer painting so skillfully done in great detail. Then the visit to his home has a huge threat of aggression with hints given by his treatment of Timothy.
A literary lunch by Eilis Ni Dhuibhne
Is the author one of the three women who missed out on the starter? Stuck with conversation and Abbey play and soup of the day. They are the insights that are gems.
Then there's the contrast with Francis who is another author who didn't make the cut for an Arts Council grant having a sandwich alone across the river.
Ailsha by Joseph o Connor
The narrator is gradually losing it so we get a chilling insight into his mind through his warped first-person narration. The fact that he names the story after the neighbour's newborn child is creepy and imbues the story with another layer of madness.
Martin O'Cadhain - Road to the Bright City
Worth reading for this line alone: Her thoughts when passing Larry the Peaks House. Dammit her father should have given her to Larry when he came asking. It would have shortened the road to Bright City by six miles. An extremely misogynistic society which is not a surprise.
Sally Rooney - How Robbie Brady's goal changed our lives
This looks like it's the precursor for Normal People. So much is implied that it's the double espresso version of Normal People's Americano.
Donal Ryan - Physiotherapy
Amazing how the devastating facts that have such a long-lasting effect on life are told in short matter-of-fact sentences. It's all the more poignant for that. Those few sentences are the scaffolding the whole thing hangs on.
Colm Toibin - One minus One
Intensely personal story written by an Irish person who now lives in the US. It appears to be auto-fiction since it parallels a part of the author's childhood very closely. There is so much told in this that you can sense a full novel is possible from what's there.
Many of the stories in this collection have that feeling and I could easily have chosen a different twenty equally as good. I recommend reading all 100 slowly because it's worth reflecting on the contrasts between the stories to expose the jewels.
Who's missing? Perhaps Doireann Ni Griofa, Oscar Wilde, Anna Burns, Colm McCann, Patrick McCabe, William Wall, Louise O'Neill, David Marcus, Patrick Pearse, John Jordan, Noise Dolan, GB Shaw . That's not a complaint - there's an embarrassment of riches and it's so hard to choose whom to include in an anthology like this.
January 11, 2021
Very interesting collection. Plenty of lesser known stories but many old favourites it was a pleasure to re-read
May 13, 2023
This was a book (Kindle ed!) that I read on a slow simmer over the last two years. It was a longer term reading project that I used as 1) an amuse bouche between longer novels and 2) a way to discover some new (and old) Irish writers who were unknown to me so far(some were known names as an Irish person but I probably wouldn't have ever picked up a book by them so short stories were the perfect intro).
The amazon summary, presumably provided by the publisher, describes Sinead Gleeson's choices as being selected by the following criteria:
"The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices - women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, neglected 19th-century authors and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from all over the world now making a life in Ireland. "
The product is a unique collection of fantastic Irish writing with real soul which I'll return to again and again. I am so impressed with the depth and breadth that Sinead Gleeson found and imagine so much research and time must have gone into developing this. I've previously read The Long Gaze back and look forward to SG's other collections.
The amazon summary, presumably provided by the publisher, describes Sinead Gleeson's choices as being selected by the following criteria:
"The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices - women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, neglected 19th-century authors and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from all over the world now making a life in Ireland. "
The product is a unique collection of fantastic Irish writing with real soul which I'll return to again and again. I am so impressed with the depth and breadth that Sinead Gleeson found and imagine so much research and time must have gone into developing this. I've previously read The Long Gaze back and look forward to SG's other collections.
considering
January 13, 2025Bardwell, Leland The Quest
Barlow, Jane A Lingering Guest
Barrett, Colin Stand Your Skin
Barrington, Margaret Men Are Never God's Creatures
Barry, Kevin The Girls and the Dogs
Beckett, Samuel Ping
Behan, Brendan After the Wake
Bennett, Claire-Over and Done With Luise
Binchy, Maeve Holland Park
Boatclub, Blind-Scaphism boy
Bowen, Eliza-Ann Lee's beth
Boylan, Clare Concerning Virgins
Brennan, Maeve The Morning After The Big Fire
Caldwell, June Leitrim Flip
Caldwell, Lucy Here We Are
Carbery, Ethna The Wee Gray Woman
Carson, Jan Children's Children
Casey, Juanita One Word
Conlon, Evelyn Beatrice
Cooke, Emma A Family Occasion
Corkery, Daniel The Awakening
Costello, Mary Sleeping With A Stranger
Coyle, Kathleen The Vocation
Cullinan, Elizabeth-A Swim
DeBhairduin, Oein The Yew Tree
de Waal, Kit The Beautiful Thing
Donoghue, Emma Speaking in Tongues
Dorcey, Mary The Husband
Doyle, Roddy The Pram
Dwyer Christine Hickey, Teatro La Fenice
Egerton, George Virgin Soil
Enright, Anne Revenge
Enyi-Amadi Chiamaka, Dishonoring the Dead
Erskine, Wendy 77 Pop Facts You Didn't Know About Gil Courtney
Feeney, Elaine Sojourn
Flattery, Nicole Hump
Barlow, Jane A Lingering Guest
Barrett, Colin Stand Your Skin
Barrington, Margaret Men Are Never God's Creatures
Barry, Kevin The Girls and the Dogs
Beckett, Samuel Ping
Behan, Brendan After the Wake
Bennett, Claire-Over and Done With Luise
Binchy, Maeve Holland Park
Boatclub, Blind-Scaphism boy
Bowen, Eliza-Ann Lee's beth
Boylan, Clare Concerning Virgins
Brennan, Maeve The Morning After The Big Fire
Caldwell, June Leitrim Flip
Caldwell, Lucy Here We Are
Carbery, Ethna The Wee Gray Woman
Carson, Jan Children's Children
Casey, Juanita One Word
Conlon, Evelyn Beatrice
Cooke, Emma A Family Occasion
Corkery, Daniel The Awakening
Costello, Mary Sleeping With A Stranger
Coyle, Kathleen The Vocation
Cullinan, Elizabeth-A Swim
DeBhairduin, Oein The Yew Tree
de Waal, Kit The Beautiful Thing
Donoghue, Emma Speaking in Tongues
Dorcey, Mary The Husband
Doyle, Roddy The Pram
Dwyer Christine Hickey, Teatro La Fenice
Egerton, George Virgin Soil
Enright, Anne Revenge
Enyi-Amadi Chiamaka, Dishonoring the Dead
Erskine, Wendy 77 Pop Facts You Didn't Know About Gil Courtney
Feeney, Elaine Sojourn
Flattery, Nicole Hump
April 3, 2021
100 stories read over 100 days. It was a bit of an experiment for me. Short stories often don't work for me and I wanted to see if reading many of them over a relatively short period of time would make me appreciate them more. I'm afraid the result is inconclusive. There were some gems in this collection and quite a few stories that made me think. I discovered new to me authors and saw a different side to authors I had read in the past. But, there were too many stories I didn't connect with (or understand) at all to call this experiment a success.
Having said that, as collections go, this one's a gem. If you're curious about Irish authors past and present, I highly recommend this anthology.
For a much longer reflection on The Art of the Glimpse I direct you toward my blog: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2021...
Having said that, as collections go, this one's a gem. If you're curious about Irish authors past and present, I highly recommend this anthology.
For a much longer reflection on The Art of the Glimpse I direct you toward my blog: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2021...
April 6, 2025
Giving this a solid five stars even though I haven't even come close to reading all the stories in it. Have been dipping in and out for weeks - this is a proper chunk of a book. And it's not even that I love all the stories in it. But conceptually i am so here for this. It just works. There's a coherence to it that I admire, despite the breadth of content. And what's in here is mostly very good, even if I don't like all of it. A really well-edited collection, curated with vision and care. Love it.
October 3, 2022
This book took me a year and a half to read. It is a super big book packed with a selection of thr best Irish short stories ever. As with short stories it is often better to dip in rather than sit down and read them all. They need to be savored and reflected on. There is a wide selection in this book to do just that. Although delightful, my only criticism is that it is not a book to take to bed as it is too heavy (physically that is). I would recommend enjoying it in an armchair by a fire.
April 22, 2021
A whopping tome, a collection of 100 short stories from a variety of writers from the island of Ireland, both old and modern. Some of the stories are wonderful, some are ok, some are meh, as you would expect. A sense of the different kinds of Irish experience shines through as does the concept of an Irish voice. Dip in and out, or read a couple a day, but definitely don't read in one go!!!
August 24, 2021
If you enjoy short stories, I can’t think of a better anthology. Honestly, Irish writers just seem to bring something unique to short fiction, and though there were obviously some here that weren't to my taste, a huge proportion were absolutely wonderful, and so I discovered quite a few new authors as a result.
January 17, 2022
There were a few great reads in here, although overall I was let down. Many were lackluster. The attraction to Irish short stories is that they tell a story and some were flat. I did love others though and the ones that shone through were the Irish stories. Worth a go.
March 21, 2022
I haven't quite read every story, but this collection is such a joy to dip in and out of. I thought at first I would home in on authors I knew. I did, but also loved all the new (to me) discoveries, which now add their names to yet another TBR pile!
June 20, 2022
Short story collections are a wonderful way to be exposed to new writers. In this collection, Sinéad Gleeson mixes contemporary writers with well-know (and sometimes long dead) Irish writers. A terrific collection - one to return to again and again.
April 28, 2023
I started this on Jan 1st -today is April 28. 100 excellent short stories by Irish writers -I read one a day for 100 days; except when on holiday as the book is huge!
Mainly 4 and 5 star stories.
Excellent!
Mainly 4 and 5 star stories.
Excellent!
December 10, 2024
This is the book to help understand the importance of the Irish in literature. I learnt so much about the people who, until now were a mystery to me. Such a variety of stories - most hugely entertaining.
April 1, 2021
A superb collection of short stories by Irish authors.
May 26, 2024
An incredible book. An eclectic mix of stories which bar 1 or 2 I throughly enjoyed. Authors from past and present some household names and others I was unfamiliar with.
October 30, 2021
It has taken me some time to finish this and I have endorsed it several times along the way - 'An Irish Short Story Bible/Anthology/Reference Point Of Excellence' etc etc.
There is great variety in the stories - style, plot lines, characterisation, language, length - some of the reasons why I liked it so much. It became my BIG BOOK to be dipped in and out of as time and mood permitted.
Thoroughly enjoyed it!
There is great variety in the stories - style, plot lines, characterisation, language, length - some of the reasons why I liked it so much. It became my BIG BOOK to be dipped in and out of as time and mood permitted.
Thoroughly enjoyed it!
dropped
February 18, 2025Dropped at page 50 // 7%
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews