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In the right arena
Mark Knopfler's down-home music seems at odds with the arenas he
plays to satisfy his many fans - but he's happy so long as his
concerts remain communal, he tells
Tony Clayton-Lea p
Stranger than fiction
Kevin Gildea offers a guide to the bestsellers that
will never see a bestseller list, the perfect gifts that will never
see wrapping paper, the books that, frankly, haven't been written
yet p
The 'racket' and the 'clanking' inside the 'Ulysses' paper
Rare images of the Freeman's Journal premises visited by Bloom
in 1904 in Joyce's Ulysses have just surfaced, writes
Terence Killeen p
Annus horribilis or golden age?
Ireland The Irish Times Book of the Year has become
a valuable annual institution, encapsulating a series of snapshots,
in words and pictures, of major events and developments from the
year gone by, writes
Ivana Bacik p
Arts
Moments frozen in time
On The Town Listening to music by Marconi beside a
roaring fire, enjoying a glass of port, Dubliner Bill Doyle said he
was not inclined to leave his home to come to the opening of a
retrospective of his work at the Gallery of Photography, Dublin,
this week, writes
Catherine Foley pThe ghosts of ministers past
ArtScape At his Budget briefing, Minister for Arts Séamus Brennan said he would outline "my own arts plan for 2008" within about 10 days. He indicated part of this would involve support for individual artists. Decisions on Access III infrastructural investment are also expected soon, writes Deirdre Falvey pRendering visible the unseen reality
Culture Shock Gerard Mannix Flynn's conceptual art events and installations constitute a guerilla history of the State, writes Fintan O'Toole p
The seeds of change
The Irish Seed Saver Association undertakes the important task
of safeguarding native seed species outlawed by European
legislation since the 1970s, writes
David Allan pThe reality of the attack of the killer jellyfish
Another Life The idea that those masses of jellyfish chose to "attack" the unfortunate salmon in their cages off the Glens of Antrim last month made striking headlines here and abroad, writes Michael Viney pHorizons
Illumination for the nation Householders who use a large number of festive lights can spend up to €1,000 on electricity over the Christmas season, writes Sylvia Thompson pEcoWeb
www.europarl.ie/climatechange p
Windows into new worlds
Children's Books Of The Year: Robert
Dunbar, commentator on children's books and reading, picks
his top 30 titles of the past 12 months - in random order pThe age of the shutterbugs
Photography The word "snapshot" originated as a
hunting term, and refers to a shot that is fired quickly and
without careful aim, writes
Jane Powers pHoming instinct
Poetry: After Daddy, Daddy, The Laughter of
Mothers. After The Berlin Wall Café the leap off the bridge at
"Tarmonbarry/On the Roscommon side of the River Shannon", by the
poet's mother along with "two other aged ladies,/Deborah O'Donoghue
and Maureen Timoney". So all things return to their origins: the
fantasy and the document arrive at the same place by a process that
is not quite coincidence but poetry. pA contradictory nationalist
Biography The life of Seán MacBride was full
of contradictions. He was, of course, not the only Irish
revolutionary in the 20th century who made the change from
supporting physical force to being a constitutional politician,
writes
Ronan Keane pA baffling babel of voices
Fiction A man returns from a business trip to discover his wife, whom he has tracked down to a hotel room, is either insane or merely seriously disturbed. So far so good; from his opening sentence, "I knew something irreparable had happened the moment a man opened the door to that hotel room and I saw my wife sitting . . . looking out the window in the strangest way," here is an Everyman narrator you want to believe; after all, he sounds as bewildered as the reader will be before too many pages pass, writes Eileen Battersby . pThe plans of mice and manga marvels
Comics and Manga Artemis Fowl makes his debut in
graphic form, 'guardsmice' discover a dark plot, and manga goes
mammoth, writes
Katherine Farmar pHow to turn your kids into bookworms
How many grannies, grandads, aunts, uncles, godparents, friends - even parents - set out for the children's corner of the bookshop in December wanting to pick the perfect book for the child on their list and become overpowered by the choice and unsure about what would be right. Caroline Walsh reports. pTales that ripple in time
Short stories 'Save Our Short Story" is the banner
of the worthy campaign in the UK these past few years to nurture
the form in the face of disinterest from publishers and the
apparent disinclination of the reading public to help them meet
requisite sales figures, writes
John Kenny pOn the side of the angels
Biography Roy Campbell famously described the group of middle class, university-educated poets associated with WH Auden as "Macspaunday". His distaste for their seemingly unassailable grip on the 1930s literary scene was renowned, writes Gerald Dawe p
'It has to be said, roysh, I haven't seen Sorcha this pissed off about men since she went through that Aimee Mann phase'
I'm pretty sure that this Ayaan Hirsi Ali autobiography is at the hort of Sorcha's strop. It would take, like, a total Slick Mick to turn this situation to his advantage, writes Ross O'Carroll-Kelly pSalaciousness in the city
TV Review 'I might just spank a bottom," offered a
tentative Anna Nolan to the shadowy figure on the inky stairwell.
Well well, what a sophisticated little blob of lichen we have
become. No longer do we have to resort to late-night Channel 4 for
soft porn dressed up as sociology, writes
Hilary Fannin , our national broadcaster has
now embarked on its very own trite examination of our collective
sexual psyche. pTravellers in their own words
Radio review When Travellers are usually on the radio, they're on the back foot. Typically, it's when someone from that community has been asked to comment on the latest slash-hook wedding fracas, illegal dumping mess or residents association versus halting site row, writes Bernice Harrison p
