James Joyce and the Perverse Ideal

I wrote this book as my PhD thesis during the final five years of the 20th century. I sat beside a stack of fat old books in the Lecky Library every day. I could have lived this life forever. When I was finished, I defended my thesis… More Here.

A Man Without Talent: Book One

I opened an English school in Beijing in 2002.  It grew strong, and I sold it in 2016.  I came to Galway and built a house for my wife and my son. I had designed my life so that I could spend the years remaining to me in study and writing. I wrote a book… More Here.

A Man Without Talent: Book Two

For madmen only. This book begins where book one finishes, with the sale of the school in Beijing.  It takes the form of a diary.  I understand that a diary, especially one drawn from a real life, is off putting, but I felt compelled to complete the story in this way…More Here.

Vehicle

When I was very young, frightened and sleepless, I devised my own method of counting sheep.  I imagined my bed was flying through the clouds I had seen from the window of a plane.  I began to elaborate on this nocturnal vehicle…More Here.