https://booksquare.com/on-that-english-irish-divide/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&%23038;utm_campaign=on-that-english-irish-divide Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:47:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://booksquare.com/on-that-english-irish-divide/#comment-110940 Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:47:33 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/archives/2005/11/03/1643/#comment-110940 I’ve often thought that English and American writers are steeped in Puritanism, while the Irish, like the Spanish, just do whatever the heck they want. I’m reading Saramago, who is having more fun than Banville, who is having more fun than Zadie Smith, and lots more fun than Updike, DeLillo, or Barth. My theory fades when the former Commonwealth countries are included, as Margaret Atwood seems to have fun, while VS Naipaul doesn’t. That’s the fun theory of literature, still in its infancy, but Swiftian at its core. Not available in stores, however.

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