Saturday review: Books: Terms of imprisonment: Helen Falconer on a novel by hostage Brian Keenan: Turlough by Brian Keenan

Despite its setting in 17th-century Ireland, the key features of [Brian Keenan]'s first novel - its claustrophobic atmosphere, its depiction of the horror of civil slaughter, and its portrayal of a protagonist in whom ordinary perception is displaced by spiritual vision - spring from the writer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Guardian (London)
Main Author Falconer, Helen
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Guardian News & Media Limited 11.11.2000
Subjects
Books-titles
Keenan, Brian (1950- )
Novels
Turlough
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Summary:Despite its setting in 17th-century Ireland, the key features of [Brian Keenan]'s first novel - its claustrophobic atmosphere, its depiction of the horror of civil slaughter, and its portrayal of a protagonist in whom ordinary perception is displaced by spiritual vision - spring from the writer's imprisonment in the 1980s by Shi'ite militiamen in Beirut. Turlough O'Carolan, the legendary blind Irish bard, came as a vision to Keenan in his solitude, camping with him in his tiny cell, spinning him stories and protecting him from madness. After his release, Keenan reckoned he owed "a debt of honour to a man who saved my sanity and enriched my soul", and undertook years of research into the patchy historical data and fervent eyewitness statements surrounding him.
ISSN:0261-3077