The Failing Heart by Eoghan Smith
'Reading The Failing Heart is like taking a trip; part escape into another consciousness, part suffocating delusion. The story - or rather the scaffolding upon which Smith displays elegant philosophical architecture - follows a young scholar whose mother has just died. Estranged from his father after stealing his money, hounded by the ominous figure of his landlord, and oppressed with images of his ex-lover's impending labour, he wanders into an existential purgatory. All these open mouths, living or dead, they never shut up. Death is everywhere, through the needs and revulsions of the body, its smells, secretions, drives. The narrative circles in on itself in an ever-decreasing gyre, examining ancient and modern ideas about existence, subjecting philosophical scholarship itself to a sardonic inquiry using its own tools of scrutiny. The writing is self-aware and wry, with rare flashes of humour amid a claustrophobic search for meaning and desire to confess. Time expands and contracts; it is unclear what is real, what is internalised: at the end of this brief novel there is the sensation of having witnessed the dark dream of a stranger.' The Irish Times
Smith, Eoghan: - Eoghan Smith is an Irish writer, critic and academic. He completed a PhD at Maynooth University, and has taught English literature at universities and colleges in Dublin, Maynooth and Carlow since the mid-2000s. He is the author of a full length study of the novels of John Banville, and the co-editor of a collection of essays on Irish suburban literary and visual cultures. He has contributed numerous essays, articles and reviews on literature and visual culture to a variety of academic and literary publications. The Failing Heart is his first novel.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781910213919 |
| ISBN 10 | 1910213918 |
| Title | The Failing Heart |
| Author | Eoghan Smith |
| Series | Dedalus Original Fiction In Paperback |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Dedalus Ltd |
| Year published | 2018-11-09 |
| Number of pages | 150 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |