McGahern & my father.One night last winter, when I couldn't sleep, I turned on the bedside radio to listen to the latest news from the BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. . Instead, I heard the mesmerizing mes·mer·ize tr.v. mes·mer·ized, mes·mer·iz·ing, mes·mer·iz·es 1. To spellbind; enthrall: "He could mesmerize an audience by the sheer force of his presence" voice of John McGahern reading his memoir All Will Be Well--just as Edward Wheeler did ("Squinting at the Absolute," May 5). The gentle brogue and familiar inflections were unsettling un·set·tle v. un·set·tled, un·set·tling, un·set·tles v.tr. 1. To displace from a settled condition; disrupt. 2. To make uneasy; disturb. v.intr. . They were just like my father's, another Leitrim man. I was moved by McGahern's sad litany of Leitrim place names, as he and his siblings were moved from Ballinamore to Leitrim Village to Cootehall--removed from their dying mother and the house of their childhood to their father's police barracks, where there was little love or joy. Listening that night and the next renewed my appreciation for the heartbreaking beauty of McGahern's work. Thanks to Wheeler for his essay on this great writer. JAMES W. MORAN, CSP (1) (Certified Systems Professional) An earlier award for successful completion of an ICCP examination in systems development. See ICCP. (2) (Commerce Service P Boston, Mass. |
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