Originally published as three separate volumes—
Donkey's Years, Dog Days
, and
The Whole Hog—A Bestiary
relates the life and times of one of Ireland's greatest contemporary
writers. As in his fiction, Higgins's writing exquisitely captures
sights, smells, and emotions, detailing his life from childhood in
County Kildare before his family's economic decline, to his mother's
slow,
Originally published as three separate volumes—
Donkey's Years, Dog Days
, and
The Whole Hog—A Bestiary
relates the life and times of one of Ireland's greatest contemporary
writers. As in his fiction, Higgins's writing exquisitely captures
sights, smells, and emotions, detailing his life from childhood in
County Kildare before his family's economic decline, to his mother's
slow, agonizing death; from his travels in England and South Africa, to
his two years spent living with a schoolmistress after the end of his
first marriage. In writing his memoirs Higgins exposes the sources for many of his best novels, from
Scenes from a Receding Past
to
Langrishe, Go Down
, giving the reader a rare look into the "story behind the story." But
A Bestiary
is more than a factual expose—this collection of memoirs is constructed
in a novelistic way, creating a work of literary art out of a life.
...more
Paperback
,
672 pages
Published
July 2nd 2004
by Dalkey Archive Press
(first published June 2004)