The Return of Fursey

Fursey #2

by Mervyn Wall, David Sweeney-Bear (Narrator)

“Henceforth I will serve Evil. I’ll become a most depraved character. I’ll turn really wicked.” (Fursey)

Having escaped being burnt at the stake, the reluctant sorcerer Fursey is back in this sequel, trying to make a quiet life for himself as a grocer in the realm of King Ethelwulf. But when his old enemies seize his wife, Fursey resolves to embrace evil and return to Ireland to reclaim her. Along the way, he'll have to contend with bloodthirsty Vikings, a melancholy vampire, an alcoholic wizard, a lovesick cow, and Satan himself, who is more determined than ever to get his hands on Fursey's soul.

“The Return of Fursey shows no lessening at all in Wall’s quality of imagination ... as with the best of Charlie Chaplin, or of Anton Chekhov or O’Casey, the laughter is very akin to high art.” (Robert Hogan)

“For anyone who doesn’t know Fursey, this opportunity to do so is not to be missed.” (George O'Brien, Dublin Book Review)

“The Unfortunate Fursey and The Return of Fursey are not quaint esoterica for the specialist, folks, they are living masterpieces. They haven't dated slightly and are as fresh and as powerful as when they were first written.” (Darrell Schweitzer)

“The Unfortunate Fursey and its 1948 sequel, The Return of Fursey, have been called the Irish equivalent to T.H. White’s The Once and Future King.... If you enjoy the dry, ironic humour of John Collier, Roald Dahl, Saki, or Jack Vance (and you should), you will like Fursey." (Michael Dirda, Essays and Literary Entertainments)

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Audiobook, Classics, Historical Fiction, Humor, Fiction

9 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Mervyn Wall was born in Dublin in 1908. He attended Belvedere College, a Jesuit school for boys in Dublin, and obtained his B.A. from the National University of Ireland in 1928. He worked in the Irish civil service from 1934-1948 and later for Radio Éireann as Programme Officer. In 1957 he became Secretary of the Arts Council of Ireland, a post he held until his retirement in 1975. Though he published a number of novels, short stories, and plays, Wall is best remembered for his two comic fantasies centering on the medieval monk Fursey, which have been republished several times and praised by critics such as E. F. Bleiler and Darrell Schweitzer. Wall died in 1997.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Return of Fursey is a luxurious burlesque boldly probing the supernatural side of earthly existence…
Now, after Fursey escaped to Britain the King of Cashel demands his extradition for the sake of returning him to Ireland with the purpose of judicial burning…
But who is Fursey?

“He was an unfortunate man, this Fursey. After he had left the monastery, he permitted himself through stupidity to be married to a witch, an aged, spent and decrepit hag; and, through a deplorable lack of attention to what was happening around him, he inadvertently inhaled her sorcerous spirit as she lay dying, and so became unwillingly a sorcerer himself.”

The expulsion is denied but his beloved is taken away… To get back his sweetheart, after many unbelievable adventures with Vikings, Fursey returns to his monastery where the sinister Censor destroys precious manuscripts…  

“What some of you people don’t realise,” he explained to the mournful Librarian, “is that in this country we don’t want men of speculative genius or men of bold and enquiring mind. We must establish the rule of Aristotle’s golden mean. We must rear a race of mediocrities, who will be neither a danger to themselves nor to anyone else.”

Vikings burn the monastery… Fursey flees to the mountains where he becomes an apprentice of a mighty wizard… Soon he learns that wizardry is a very dangerous vocation… Winter passes away… He and his tutor fly on the broomsticks to the springtime Sabbath where his initiation must be completed…   

Fursey was a man who enjoyed food, and his eyes nearly fell from his head when he saw what he was expected to eat. There were huge dishes on the table loaded with strings of entrails, carrion and putrid garbage. The black-clad attendant had set up a brazier beside the table, and when anyone seemed diffident about consumption of the food placed before him, he was immediately threatened with red-hot iron plates. To convince the delinquent that he was in earnest, the attendant directed attention to a leg-crushing machine in the background. Fursey ate with difficulty as the hag beside him had apparently taken a fancy to him and retained one of his hands in her lank claw all during the meal. Between courses she made love to him cackling girlishly.

In the end he is expelled from the Sabbath for his unwizardly behaviour… 
Wonders of the nature aren’t enough for man, man wants miracles.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing both Fursey books, what struck me the most is the sheer amount of imagination that must have lived in Mervyn Wall's head. He's one of those authors who can write a very silly book employing method in his madness to make it a downright serious satire at the same time, and that is not an easy thing to do in a right way. I'm so very sorry there are only two Fursey books because I fell head over heels in love with this guy shortly after he was introduced in the first novel and I wanted his adventures to continue. If you haven't read these two books, it's time to grab your copies.

I've posted about both Fursey books here, without specifics re plot because trust me, you WANT to be surprised.

http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2018...

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

...Ну и да - прекрасного еще и то, что день реального св. Фурсы совпадает с моим д.р. А критики врут, второй роман нисколько не мрачнее первого.

[Lizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

This was another chance to cheer on Fursey. He went on many more adventures and to my delight, really developed as a person. I was proud of his growth. This was a delightful little pair of novels and I’m happy to have randomly stumbled upon them.

[Karl]

This is copy 48 of 100 stamped numbered copies.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s objectively a very fine book, but Wall seems somehow crushed with cynicism this time around and determined to undo the joyous ending of the first book. It’s a dark and frequently very melancholy book, with only a few flashes of the first book here and there - particularly Fursey’s unfortunate relationship with a cow. Clearly Wall wants to distance himself from the tone of Unfortunate and he does it well, it’s just a little sobering compared to the glee of the first novel

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, but the English narrator's fake Irish accents made this Irish book about Irish culture incredibly difficult to enjoy. The first Fursey audiobook was great, but this one was utterly terrible. Everyone sounded like one of those Irish policemen you see in American comedy shows. Extremely disappointing. Audio greenface in 2018? Valancourt really messed this one up.