Mad, Bad, Dangerous To Know

'A father...is a necessary evil.' Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses

In Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know Colm Tóibín turns his incisive gaze to three of Ireland's greatest writers, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce, and their earliest influences: their fathers. From Wilde's doctor father, a brilliant statistician and amateur archaeologist, who was taken to court by an obsessed lover in a strange premonition of what would happen to his son; to Yeats' father, an impoverished artist and brilliant letter-writer who could never finish a painting; to John Stanislus Joyce, a singer, drinker and story-teller, a man unwilling to provide for his large family, whom his son James memorialised in his work.

Colm Tóibín illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways they surface in their work.

PRAISE FOR NEW WAYS TO KILL YOUR MOTHER

A brilliant book... Tóibín is a supple, subtle thinker, alive to hints and undertones, wary of absolute truths. (New Statesman)

Illuminates, startles and delights...a consistingtly revealing look at how writers' relationships have influenced their work, [which] also sheds fascinating light on Tóibín himself (Sunday Telegraph)

These are foxy essays... Tóibín talks about writers' families...with great subtlety and sometimes with splendid impudence (The Spectator)

Insightful and compassionate...the breadth and depth of analysis here is impressive... Tóibín wears his knowledge very lightly...a fine and engaging collection (Independent on Sunday)

Tóibín is a particularly compelling guide to fellow novelists...a wide-ranging and enlightening study of the potentially stifling family and the individual spirit of the writer (Sunday Times)