Bookworm
Paul Murray: The Mark and the Void
Paul Murray's comic novel dramatizes an economic crisis in his native Ireland, one that imperils the vitality of Dublin's culture.
By Michael Silverblatt • • 29m ListenPaul Murray navigates in the comic tradition of his fellow Irish writers Beckett, Joyce and Jonathan Swift. His new novel, The Mark and the Void (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), dramatizes a banking crisis – the result of the collapse of Ireland's brief economic boom fueled by foreign investment. The novel's characters experience a Faustian temptation as the promise of big money robs them of their humanity. What's really at stake? The traditions of Irish culture – life in the pubs, gossip that enlivens a sense of community, a gleeful mockery of pretension.
Photo: Alex Pieros
