
A Flutter of Wings
Mervyn Wall(Author)
The Swan River Press
Published on 5. January 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-78380-764-2 (ISBN)
Description
"Strange," he said to himself. "I had an idea that Pat's Tommy was dead."
First collected in 1974, the stories in A Flutter of Wings span Mervyn Wall's entire writing career, dating back as far as the 1940s. Told in an easy style, tales such as "They Also Serve . . . " and "Adventure" offer the same satirical sensibilities found in Wall's classic novel The Unfortunate Fursey; while darker tales such as "Cloonaturk" and "The Demon Angler" are not without a hint of the grimly sardonic. In addition to an introduction by Val Mulkerns and illustrations by Clare Brennan, this new edition boasts the uncollected Jamesian fragment "Extract from an Abandoned Novel", and Wall's early play, Alarm Among the Clerks, a savagely hilarious and ultimately brutal depiction of office life.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Dublin 6
Ireland
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
291 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78380-764-2 (9781783807642)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Mervyn Wall (1908-1997) was born in Dublin. He was educated in both Ireland and Germany, and obtained his B.A. from the National University of Ireland in 1928. After fourteen years in the Civil Service, he joined Radio Éireann as Programme Officer. In 1957 he became Secretary of the Arts Council of Ireland, retiring in 1975. Known during his lifetime as a broadcaster and critic, he is best remembered for his two satirical fantasies set in medieval Ireland, The Unfortunate Fursey (1946) and The Return of Fursey (1948).