Country Girl: A Memoir
A candid memoir of Edna O’Brien’s life, from rural Ireland to an international literary career. It follows her growth, her writing, and the personal costs of a remarkable public life.
Work Information
A candid memoir that traces a life through writing.
From childhood in Ireland to the literary world abroad, the memoir revisits the people and experiences that shaped O’Brien’s work and public image.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Little, Brown and Company
- Published
- 2013-04-30
- Pages
- 368 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 15.88 x 3.49 x 24.13 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780316122702
- ISBN-10
- 031612270X
- Price
- 7133 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Biographies & Memoirs/Specific Groups/Women
"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."-National Public Radio When Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls , was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and contemplation. Starting with O'Brien's birth in a grand but deteriorating house in Ireland, her story moves through convent school to elopement, divorce, single-motherhood, the wild parties of the '60s in London, and encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars, and literary titans. There is love and unrequited love, and the glamour of trips to America as a celebrated writer and the guest of Jackie Onassis and Hillary Clinton. Country Girl is a rich and heady accounting of the events, people, emotions, and landscape that have imprinted upon and enhanced one lifetime.
Edna O'Brien is the author of The Country Girls trilogy, The Light of Evening , The Love Object , and many other acclaimed books. Born and raised in the west of Ireland, O'Brien has lived in London for many years.
Reviews
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A beautifully written, courageous journey through life
I read most of this memoir in Dublin during my second visit to Ireland. Edna O’Brien’s relationship with herself—the emotional and physical landscapes of her childhood and young womanhood—reached deep into this reader’s heart. Her memoir Country Girl is a visceral journey through Edna O’Brien’s childhood—her love for her mother who she intuitively abandons even before she flees Ireland—and her estrangement from her father. Edna O’Brien’s internal struggles as a woman and a writer are universal and relatable. Her writing is transgressive and brave and full of beautiful imagery expressed in beautiful language. If you love her fiction, if you love Ireland, if you are a woman who has left a controlling and abusive relationship, this book is for you.
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Interessantissima biografia di una grande scrittrice che non conoscevo
Mi sono proprio goduto la lettura di questo libro. E' scritto in un modo eccellente. Descrive la crescita di una giovane donna nella Irlanda conservatrice e bigotta del primo novecento, con tutte le contraddizioni di una terra bellissima, amata visceralmente non ostante tutto. Abbraccia più di un quarto di secolo, descrivendo le peripezie personali, per affermarsi in un mondo non facile, e l'ambiente dello spettacolo non solo anglosassone, con un punto di vista sempre originale. Lo consiglio a tutti gli amanti dell'Irlanda e a chi apprezza la buona scrittura con capacità di introspezione e approfondimento psicologico.
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Autorin hochklassig
Wie immer mit edna o brien einwe gute geschichte
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Country Girl
Evocation vivante, délicieusement féroce de la vie d'Edna O'Brien. Un peu trop ouvertement fière de sa réussite, mais intéressante par sa façon de faire revivre des grands noms de la littérature à l'aide de courtes anecdotes. Peut-être pas assez de commentaires sur les œuvres elles-mêmes. Mon intérêt n'a jamais fléchi, sauf dans le chapitre sur les Troubles irlandais que tout le monde connaît et qui m'a paru superflu.
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Compelling read
Great read what a character
Related Literary Awards
- Irish Book Awards Edition 10 (2012) ・Winner
- Irish Book Awards Edition 11 (2013) ・Lifetime Achievement Award