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Article: Introduction: the 'whole world' of John McGahern.(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Irish University Review: a journal of Irish Studies
- Article date:
- March 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Irish University Review. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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'I may not have travelled far but I know the whole world', [Jamesie] said with a wide sweep of his arm. 'You do know the whole world', Ruttledge said. 'And you have been my sweet guide'.
(That They May Face the Rising Sun, p.312).
In a recent television profile of the writer, John McGahern appeared first at home, comfortable and intimate against the Leitrim landscape, and then was transposed into the more exotic, super-urban setting of Tokyo. (1) The images of the Leitrim farmer wandering through the neon-lit bustle of Tokyo served to illustrate an apparent paradox about McGahern's most successful work: here was an essentially parochial writer whose ...