Book Club Meeting at the Irish Embassy
A presentation of the award-winning novel “Days Without End” by Seastian Barry
November 29th, 2019Throughout the year the Irish Embassy in Berlin have hosted a number of Book Club meetings. On the 28th November, the years last meeting of the Book Club, The Ambassador’s Reading List, discussed “Days Without End” by Sebastian Barry.
Sebastian Barry is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He is considered one of Ireland's finest writers and in January 2017 he was awarded the Costa Book of the year prize for “Days Without End”, becoming the first novelist to win the prestigious prize twice.
“Days Without End”, staged in the 1850´s is about a boy named Thomas McNulty, aged seventeen, who flees the Great Famine in Ireland and signs up for the U.S. Army. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars and ultimately, the Civil War. Having experienced terrible hardships themselves, the men find these days to be vivid and stimulating, despite the horrors they see and experience.
Sebastian Barry’s latest work is a masterpiece of atmosphere and language. He explores notions of national identity and self-renewal through an intensely emotional story of two men and the makeshift family they create with a young Sioux girl, Winona. This novel is a great portrait of the most fateful years in American history and encompasses the complex interactions with indigenous communities. The book can be purchased at Curious Fox Books, Berlin and Georg Büchner Buchladen.
Literature works, in many ways, as cultural diplomacy as it allows readers to see into foreign countries, learn about distant cultures, people and their history, which leads us to a greater understanding. Many thanks to the Irish Embassy.
References:
- - https://www.facebook.com/events/620748975127333/
- - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/28/days-without-end-by-sebastian-barry-review