RTÉ Radio
RTÉ RADIO 1’s THE POETRY PROGRAMME CELEBRATES THE LIFE AND WORK OF DAVID MARCUS
“Oh, war’s a passing fancy
And sex a foolish fad.
And living is a riddle
That drives the artist mad.
And birth is rather silly
But death is rather sad.
And all that’s not is sainted
And all that is bad.”
Modern Time, David Marcus
On Saturday, 5 April at 7.30pm RTÉ Radio 1’s The Poetry Programme celebrates the life and work of poet, novelist, anthologist, short story writer, editor, inspiration and patron to generations of Irish writers, David Marcus. On the occasion of the publication of ‘Lost and Found – Collected Poems by David Marcus’ The Poetry Programme salutes a man who has been an extraordinary and inspiring force in shaping the course of Irish writing for more than half a century.
RTÉ Radio 1’s The Poetry Programme presenter, Gerald Dawe talks to two of David Marcus’ protégées, writers Gerard Fanning and Anthony Glavin. The pair speak of Marcus with warmth, appreciation and great affection as a man who has been a giant in Irish literature. In over thirty anthologies of Irish short stories and poetry he edited, David Marcus displays an openness to the changing face of Irish literature, managing in his generous, intelligent and all-encompassing world to accommodate the various and disparate voices that tried to define, analyse and celebrate who and what we were as an emerging Irish nation from the 1940s on. In a unique way too he straddled the worlds of the old Gaelic order in his spirited and inspired translations of such classics as ‘The Midnight Court’ and yet could accommodate the shock and challenge of the new in publishing early prose works by Samuel Beckett.
Marcus’ editorship of the ‘New Irish Writing’ page in The Irish Press provided, over many years, a forum for aspiring Irish writers, publishing many of the important names in Irish fiction and poetry for the first time. On a typical Saturday in The Irish Press readers could find a short story by William Trevor, Edna O’Brien or John Mc Gahern or the first fiction and poetry from new voices like Desmond Hogan, Neil Jordan or Rita Ann Higgins.
Writing in the introduction to this impressive collection of David Marcus’ rediscovered poems, George O’Brien says:
“All who have had the good fortune of knowing David Marcus will recognise at once his human and humane spirit here. Those who may not know him, soon will, and be glad.”
Tune into RTÉ Radio 1’s The Poetry Programme on Saturday 5 April at 7.30pm.
The Poetry Programme is presented by Gerald Dawe and produced by Seamus Hosey.
For further information please contact: Denise Sammon, RTÉ Radio Press and Publicity Office, 01- 208 2215, Denise.sammon@rte.ie
Issued by RTÉ Radio
Date: 31 March 2008
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