Here’s a link to a short story by Colm Toibin with Irish trad as part of its subject:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/originalfiction/story/0,13773,1376228,00.html
Nicely done, I thought. The first chapter of his novel “The Blackwater Lightship” uses a good description of a kitchen session as a focal point for the action at a party.
He’s a brilliant writer…I’ve read several of his books (The Blackwater Lightship, The Heather Blazing, The Master), and he’s got a lot of great stuff on his website, too:
Another great Irish writer to look out for is Eilis ni Dhuibhne, whose short story collection “The Inland Ice” is brilliant. I was less taken with one of her novels that I read subsequently (can’t remember the name offhand), but “The Inland Ice” is a great read.
Anyone for Dermot Bolger’s ‘Father’s music’?
Speaking of Irish literature:
I’ve been enjoying Frank Delaney’s new novel, Ireland, a great deal. Only 100-odd pages into the thing, but I find it delightful so far. Certainly makes one yearn for the return of the itinerant storyteller.
Ireland’s history, its myths and its traditions can sure make for some magic in the hands of a gifted writer.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve had my eye out for “Father’s Music,” but haven’t run into a copy yet. Anyway, classes will be over soon–time to look out for the summer’s reading. (Right now I’ve just started “The Cooper’s Wife is Missing” and am rereading Andre Dubus’ stories–nothing relevant to ITM in the latter, but he is very good, and interesting to reconsider the novellas that went into “We Don’t Live Here Anymore” after seeing the film.)
Count me in..
I’ve been a fan of Bolger from his early days in a Finglas writers workshop..
His poetry is well worth a look 
Slan,
D.
Quite awhile ago I read a book called The Bodhran Makers by John B. Keane. I thought it was really very good. I don’t know how he is regarded in the “literary world” but even though I really have forgotten the story I still have images in my mind from it.
John B. Keane was a very underated talent.Check out his play “Sive”..wonderfull stuff.
Another one of his novels is “The Contracters”..all about a bunch of Irish guys making their way in the world of London around the 50’s and 60’s.
It would never be classed as serious literature but a very well observed and equally well written study of a time and a place.
Slan,
D.
That’s interesting, dubhlinn. I read somewhere that he was considered old-fashioned, whatever that means, and I was disturbed to see him dismissed that way. I’ll check into getting some of his other things, I know they are in print. I think I’ll re-read The Bodhran Makers too. I want to try the other writers mentioned here as well. Here I come amazon.com!!!
D. –
Could you pass along the titles of Bolger’s poetry collections, so I can keep an eye out? How’s his anthology of contemporary Irish fiction?
I also enjoyed “The Bodhran Makers”–neatly written, old-fashioned and funny. And would there be any William Trevor fans in the house? He gave a reading at the college where I teach, maybe ten years ago, and was every bit as quietly elegant as his work is.
(Edited slightly, to try to get it right.)
In a novel like “The Bodhran Makers,” I’d say “old-fashioned” was a virtue, part of the pleasure of it.
I don’t have anything to hand right now but do a Google and you will find something.
It’s all out there
Slan,
D.
Why doesn’t he speak to his mother?
Ask him.
Scroll down to the bottom..
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/authors/default.aspx?id=596
Slan,
D.
edited to add link..Doh!
Thanks for the link. Here’s another:
http://www.irishwriters-online.com/dermotbolger.html
I’ll have to see if his “Selected” is available in the US.
I think William Trevor is one of the greatest writers in the English language. I can’t discuss him in literary terms, but I just think he is…well, way way way up there.
Trevor has his moments..no doubt.
Here’s a nice little story for ye..
From a different part of the wee Island, so to speak
http://www.ireland-information.com/confirmationsuit.htm
Slan,
D.
Jim – Toibin offers several possible reasons, some fairly clearly implied, some a reader could infer. The character is sober and mindful of consequences, he has his own plans for the evening, he feels abandoned, he’s a more marginal part of the tradition they share than she was–and probably more, all sufficient to make a possible meeting seem a less than happy one. The fun part of reading a story like this, for me, is talking or thinking about what combination of motives and circumstances turns the sufficient into the necessary.
dubhlinn—I printed up that story (can’t read sitting at a computer) and I guess “Wow” sounds sort of lame, but I will be ordering the books at the top of the page. The word “chewy” kept coming into my mind as I was reading it, like each word was a substance with an actual flavor and texture that I was having to chew before I went to the next word. I didn’t look up the words I didn’t know. The ending is upsetting, the part where his mother told Miss McCann the truth. I can see that it is hard to say where the greater wrong is, I don’t know what to think. It is a strange story because you go from absolutely laughing out loud to being in tears in such a short time.
I had heard of Brendan Behan but had somehow gotten the idea that he was someone that wrote things that were impossible for a regular person to read. So I will take the plunge! Thank you!
I have just read the first 2 paragraphs of the story and I notice that “uilleann pipes” is misspelled.
J. 
(And “melodeon” in the 3rd paragraph!)