The Dark
Cillian Murphy: 'One of the greatest Irish writers'
Will be published approx. on 30. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-571-39950-5 (ISBN)
Description
With a new foreword by Colin Walsh, this is 'one of the most volatile, vital and unsafe novels in Irish literature', banned by the censor for obscenity in 1965 - and just as explosive today.
He was coming and there was nothing to do but wait and grow hard as stone and lie.
Mahoney grows up in fear of his father: of his beatings with the heavy leather strap; of the nights he wants love. Seeking to escape the claustrophobic family farm, he contemplates a future in the priesthood, but battles with his tortured conscience amidst adolescent lusts. After winning a scholarship, he takes a stand against the household's toxic violence - and begins a journey towards an understanding that may mean peace.
'A master.' Kevin Barry
'Timeless.' Sinead Gleeson
'Extraordinary.' Colin Walsh
'Blew me away.' Colin Barrett
'A great writer.' Sebastian Barry
'Exquisite.' Andrew Michael Hurley
'Elegiac and graceful.' David Mitchell
'One of the greatest writers of our era.' Hilary Mantel
'The Irish novelist everyone should read.' Colm Toibin
'The preeminent Irish writer of his generation.' Anne Enright
'I'm grateful for every sentence he left in this world.' Donal Ryan
'One reads McGahern for the textures of time and space, through which each of us travels, often alone.' Yiyun Li
He was coming and there was nothing to do but wait and grow hard as stone and lie.
Mahoney grows up in fear of his father: of his beatings with the heavy leather strap; of the nights he wants love. Seeking to escape the claustrophobic family farm, he contemplates a future in the priesthood, but battles with his tortured conscience amidst adolescent lusts. After winning a scholarship, he takes a stand against the household's toxic violence - and begins a journey towards an understanding that may mean peace.
'A master.' Kevin Barry
'Timeless.' Sinead Gleeson
'Extraordinary.' Colin Walsh
'Blew me away.' Colin Barrett
'A great writer.' Sebastian Barry
'Exquisite.' Andrew Michael Hurley
'Elegiac and graceful.' David Mitchell
'One of the greatest writers of our era.' Hilary Mantel
'The Irish novelist everyone should read.' Colm Toibin
'The preeminent Irish writer of his generation.' Anne Enright
'I'm grateful for every sentence he left in this world.' Donal Ryan
'One reads McGahern for the textures of time and space, through which each of us travels, often alone.' Yiyun Li
More details
Edition
Main - Re-issue
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-571-39950-5 (9780571399505)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
John McGahern was born in 1934 and raised on a farm in the West of Ireland. He became a primary school teacher in Dublin but was dismissed when his novel The Dark was banned in 1965 for 'obscene' content. The author of six acclaimed novels and four story collections, McGahern was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize and awarded the Irish PEN Award, the Prix Ecureuil de Litterature Etrangere and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died in 2006.