On this entry into the Irish-centric thread of this podcast Vince Francone (The Soft Lunacy, Like a Dog, A Book No One Wants) and Chad W. Post are joined by Angela Weaser, the longest tenured Dalkey Archive employee in its history, and ex-wife of John O’Brien. They talk a bit about Dalkey back in the day, about Angela’s trip to visit Aidan Higgins and his wife Alannah Hopkin (whose biography of Higgins, A Very Strange Man plays a large role in this episode) when Dalkey signed on all the Higgins books, and, obviously, Langrishe, Go Down, Higgins’s first novel, which is now a Dalkey Essential. They also touch on Scenes from a Receding Past (future Essential), and the monumental A Bestiary.
The next book to be featured in this series is Alannah Hopkin’s collection of short stories, The Dogs of Inishere.
This episode’s music is “Tom Courtenay” by Yo La Tengo.
You can subscribe to the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube.
And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Three Percent (Apple, Spotify) for more book talk!
Get full access to Mining the Dalkey Archive at dalkeyarchive.substack.com/subscribe