Frank McCourt
Right now someone somewhere is opening Angela's Ashes for the first time or 'Tis or Teacher Man and hearing Frank McCourt's voice. Lucky for them that initial discovery and fortunate too are the many who listened to him at a signing or lecture or best of all around a table at The Parlour Bar with his wife Ellen and a good sprinkling of McCourt's on hand.
He was very generous to my husband Martin and me. It's comforting to think I can visit Martin's website BabyNamesOfIreland.com and know Frank is there pronouncing the names and telling the stories. And I told him his quote on the cover of Galway Bay is the best writing in the book. He'd said he was going to give me two quotes because the book was so long. He also told me when I did a presentation to tell the stories rather than read. "They can buy the damn book and read it themselves." Thank God we can read his books -- and I find new levels with every reading. That gorgeous simplicity yields more and more. When I'd be up at five in the morning writing Galway Bay I'd listen to the CD of The Irish and How They Got That Way, the show he wrote and performed with The Irish Rep Theatre in New York. Great songs and great Frank. One morning I let it play on long after the end and found that there were a string of takes of Frank saying "the brother," a reference to Malachy earlier in the piece. Each take is different and full of suppressed and not so suppressed glee. For all his clear-eyed look at misery, the laugh was always there. He was our big brother who could take it and laugh and make the world less scary. We'll miss him so. Thanks for giving us the books, Frank.
He was very generous to my husband Martin and me. It's comforting to think I can visit Martin's website BabyNamesOfIreland.com and know Frank is there pronouncing the names and telling the stories. And I told him his quote on the cover of Galway Bay is the best writing in the book. He'd said he was going to give me two quotes because the book was so long. He also told me when I did a presentation to tell the stories rather than read. "They can buy the damn book and read it themselves." Thank God we can read his books -- and I find new levels with every reading. That gorgeous simplicity yields more and more. When I'd be up at five in the morning writing Galway Bay I'd listen to the CD of The Irish and How They Got That Way, the show he wrote and performed with The Irish Rep Theatre in New York. Great songs and great Frank. One morning I let it play on long after the end and found that there were a string of takes of Frank saying "the brother," a reference to Malachy earlier in the piece. Each take is different and full of suppressed and not so suppressed glee. For all his clear-eyed look at misery, the laugh was always there. He was our big brother who could take it and laugh and make the world less scary. We'll miss him so. Thanks for giving us the books, Frank.
posted by Mary Pat Kelly at
6:41 AM
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