The Pear is Ripe by John Montague
The book is full of warm anecdotes and wry observations on the numerous literary, artistic and musical characters John Montague encountered, befriended and occasionally provoked. He recounts his personal and professional relationships with such luminaries as Patrick Kavanagh, Allen Ginsberg and, as co-founder of Claddagh Records, with composer Seán Ó Riada. There is an interesting account of meeting Charles Haughey and a suggestion that a seed was sown that might have led ultimately to the introduction of the artist tax exemption. The Pear is Ripe covers a period of great social change and upheaval internationally and, in particular, the north of Ireland. Montague's proximity to these changes, by accident or design, was to influence his work and lends this memoir an immediacy that belies the intervening years. While much of the book covers the writer's public and literary life, it also addresses the strain that living apart from his wife Madeleine placed on their marriage - which would ultimately lead to their break-up. While the book principally spans the period from the mid-sixties to the late seventies, Montague has included a powerful and moving epilogue featuring more recent events. He writes of visiting young men with AIDS in a New York hospital, and of a final meeting with an ailing Samuel Beckett in Paris. Poetry Ireland director Joe Woods has spoken of the dearth of memoir by poets that may help to inform their work and its enjoyment. John Montague's book and its earlier companion Company: A Chosen Life hopefully will set a trend for some of the other workers in song to follow suit. In short, The Pear Is Ripe is a startling testimony from an engaging writer at the peak of his powers.
John Montague was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. A few years later his family returned to County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, where he was raised. He was educated at University College, Dublin, where he received his BA and MA degrees. In 1955 he received an MFA from the University of Iowa. Before beginning a career of college teaching, he worked as a Paris correspondent for The Irish Times. He has taught at universities in France, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. In 1998, he was named the first Irish Professor of Poetry, a three-year appointment to be divided among The Queen's University in Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin. He now divides his time between France and West Cork, Ireland. He has received many awards, including the Irish-American Cultural Institute's Award for Literature, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award for 1995, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the author of numerous collections and an editor of anthologies. He has also published a book of stories, Berkeley's Telephone and Other Fictions (Lilliput Press, 2000). Wake Forest is the publisher of his last ten volumes, including his most recent, Speech Lessons (2012).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781905483259 |
| ISBN 10 | 1905483252 |
| Title | The Pear is Ripe |
| Author | John Montague |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Liberties Press Ltd |
| Year published | 2015-03-02 |
| Number of pages | 258 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |