An interesting but disjointed and exceedingly uneven presentation of reminiscences by Oliver Gogarty, most often remembered as the inspiration for Joyce's Buck Mulligan in Ulysses, but an intriguing figure in his own right. A brilliant and accomplished doctor, poet, and senator, Gogarty knew everyone on the Dublin scene, from Lord Dunsany to Lady Gregory, and famously escaped being shot by British soldiers in the 1916 uprising by jumping into the Liffey and swimming to escape.
This book is organ
An interesting but disjointed and exceedingly uneven presentation of reminiscences by Oliver Gogarty, most often remembered as the inspiration for Joyce's Buck Mulligan in Ulysses, but an intriguing figure in his own right. A brilliant and accomplished doctor, poet, and senator, Gogarty knew everyone on the Dublin scene, from Lord Dunsany to Lady Gregory, and famously escaped being shot by British soldiers in the 1916 uprising by jumping into the Liffey and swimming to escape.
This book is organized as a collection of topical vignettes in which he reflects on his encounters with various personages. Of chief interest to me is his self-defense against his presentation in Ulysses, which he entirely misunderstands. His extremely critical appraisal of Joyce's personality does have the ring of truth to it, however, and he excuses what Joyce would pillory as superciliousness in his character as his attempt to get the withdrawn and sullen genius to lighten up and stop being so Jesuitical about everything.
This book contains something for anyone interested in the period and milieu, though its wide and uneven range of concerns and the precious quality its prose will probably prevent most readers from calling it a classic.
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