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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝

@jacqbetula.bsky.social

1K followers 860 following 990 posts

Woods. Words. Birds. Birch. Beech. Bach. Reviewer of translated fiction for @irishtimes.bsky.social Also contributes reviews to The TLS. Co-curator of the poetry festival Circling The Square. https://circlingthesquare.weebly.com/

circlingthesquare.weebly.com

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · Nov 15

For those who don't know me, apart from a day job, I review translated fiction, primarily for The Irish Times. I also co-curate an annual poetry festival called Circling The Square. In the photo below, I'm talking with poets Thomas Lynch, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Molly Twomey, and Louis de Paor.

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 11h

Glorious!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBBK...

Magic Nights. Three songs to Chinese texts for Soprano and Orchestra, H. 119 - Untouched by...

YouTube video by Bohuslav Martinů - Topic

www.youtube.com

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 11h

Well, I don't think it is, but there is a lot of resistance to that belief.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 12h

If people persisted with 'difficult' novels, they would eventually find them far more satisfying than formulaic novels.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 20h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 1d

I'm puzzled about how Aoko Matsuda could think that the man in the centre of Balthus' painting, The Street, is carrying bread when it is clearly a plank.

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Rónán Hession @ronanhession.bsky.social · 1d

The latest @irishtimes.com fiction in translation column by Catherine Taylor is now online for subscribers 👇

Fiction in translation: The Midnight Timetable; The Woman Dies; The Ferryman & His Wife; My Name Is Stramer; Wolf Moon’ and The Loft

Books by Bora Chung (Korea), Japan (Aoko Matsuda), Frode Grytten (Norway), Mikołaj Łoziński (Poland), Julio Llamazares (Spain) and Marlen Haushofer (Austria)

www.irishtimes.com

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 1d

I don't know who most of the people mentioned in US posters are, and I hope to keep it that way.

Reposted by 𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝

Darach Ó Séaghdha @darach.bsky.social · 1d

GAA exceptionalism has definitely been due a peg-lowering.

The phrase "centrist rugby Dad" speaks to a fantasy where GAA is this benignly egalitarian, progressive and welcoming space. This is not everyone's experience but good luck to them if they say so.

www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic...

Malachy Clerkin: The Jim Gavin fiasco was a long overdue humbling for GAA exceptionalism

Micheál Martin had his head turned by Gavin’s football success, forgetting it’s just a sport, no better or worse than the rest

www.irishtimes.com

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 1d

I suspect it will be the same for me. As long as I keep reviewing, they're going to continue to arrive anyway. But then there are charity shops and the new book I feel I need to read . . .
On we go!

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 2d

My so-called TBR pile is bigger than many people's book collections. That's not a boast, it's just a sad fact.
Retirement, I tell myself . . .

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 2d

Woke too early this morning and listened to Lyric Through The Night for a while. I was mesmerised by a modern piece which I guessed might be by Kaija Saariaho but was in fact, Daar kom die Alibama, a symphony by Kevin Volans.
Very impressive. I'll have to listen again when I'm fully awake.

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Circling The Square @circlingpoetry.bsky.social · 2d

A terrific celebration of Seamus Heaney's work. Well worth listening back to.
The editors of 'The Poems of Seamus Heaney', Rosie Lavan and Bernard O'Donoghue, will be at this year's Cicling The Square, talking to Declan O'Driscoll.
Booking details:
www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats-on/eve...

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 2d

It's heartening to see talented musicians perform with such authenticity, unburdened by commercial considerations, yet capture the attention of three million viewers!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=94oO...

الزمن الجميل .. انت عمرى

YouTube video by micheal kamal

www.youtube.com

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 2d

You're very welcome, Viola.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 2d

Everything about reading is good.
Grégoire Borst, Full Professor of Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Education at Université Paris Descartes, speaks to Eve Irvine who, as it happens, is from my home town!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9hd...

How books shape minds and societies, building cognitive resilience and civic mindedness

YouTube video by FRANCE 24 English

www.youtube.com

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 2d

To get a solid idea of the sort of writer he is, I would suggest starting with 'Satantango'. On the other hand, if you want something short and less demanding, 'A Mountain to the North, A Lake to The South, Paths to the West, A River to the East' is one that I liked a lot.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 3d

Colm Tóibín reviews The Poems of Seamus Heaney, edited by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O'Donoghue Matthew Hollis.
I will be speaking to Rosie and Bernard at The Source Arts Centre, Thurles, in three weeks, Nov 1st, at 2,30pm.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Colm Tóibín on The Poems of Seamus Heaney: ‘A process of finding echoes and associations’

This book contains Heaney’s unpublished poems plus all those from his single books of poetry published

www.irishtimes.com

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jerry simcock @jerrysimcock.bsky.social · 3d

Love her work and loved this ....

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Angela Harding, artist

Angela Harding, artist, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

www.bbc.co.uk

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 3d

For me, the level of self-fascination and the assumption that a reader will share it and thus have read all of her previous books and LRB columns, is very off-putting.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, I enjoyed that review. Claire Lowdon is an infinitely better reviewer than Lockwood, and I say that despite sometimes differing from her enthusiasm for the likes of Martin Amis.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 3d

It's an appalling threat if it begins to be used for creative writing.

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 4d

The film version is great too. I was able to watch it at a cinema a couple of years ago.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 4d

My view is that Satantango is the easiest way into his work. If that appeals to you, you're on your way!

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𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 4d

I'm a big fan of long books. I've just finished a novel of c. 800 pages. It was the third one of that sort of length in recent months.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 4d

Yes, I wish I had the time to read the books in order of original publication. The Melancholy of Resistance was the first novel I read, followed by War & War, so it was a big surprise to find some light in Seiobo, especially that first chapter about observing an egret.

𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕆'𝔻𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝 @jacqbetula.bsky.social · 4d

I agree with you about Seiobo. It has something of all his tendencies.