James Harpur entered a boy's boarding school in the 1970s and survived to tell the tale. His sequence of poems is a searingly honest and compelling account of his five-year journey, from leaving home for the first time and sleeping in a dormitory in which enemies appear like shadows, to his sadness at his parents' separation and the death of a father figure from a bomb. For as well as Prog Rock, flared trousers and industrial strikes, this was the era of the Troubles. An introvert in an extraverted world, Harpur took refuge in Homer and the magical world of Troy, and found that school could be a haven, and even fun: a sex education lesson that backfired; a rare sighting of girls at a dance; a scary ride on his brother's illegal motorbike; a surreal trip to Covent Garden. Powerful, poignant and humorous, The Examined Life re-creates a 'vale of soul-making' that, with its tragedy and comedy, heroes and villains, is like a microcosm of life itself. 'A quite marvellous work...an Odyssey, a Ulysses shaken up in the snow-dome of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.' -From the foreword by STEPHEN FRY

About the Author
James Harpur has had six poetry collections published by Carcanet and Anvil Press and is a member of Aosdana, the Irish academy of arts. He has won a number of awards for his poetry, including the Vincent Buckley Prize, a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship, and the UK National Poetry Competition. His books include The White Silhouette (2018) an Irish Times Book of the Year; Angels and Harvesters (2012) a PBS Recommendation and shortlisted for the 2013 Irish Times Award; and The Dark Age (2007), winner of the Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize. James regularly broadcasts his work on radio and gives readings and talks about poetry, inspiration and the imagination in schools and universities and at literary festivals.

Reviews

'Completely wonderful to read. I was amazed, amused, horrified, and so very moved.' - KEGGIE CAREW (Author of Dadlands, winner of the 2017 Costa Biography Prize)

'It's an unflinching account of an unholy initiatory ordeal - moving, funny, tender, lyrical and exact ...Terrific stuff.' - LINDSAY CLARKE (Author of The Chymical Wedding, winner of the 1989 Whitbread Prize)

Book Information
ISBN 9781909747876
Author James Harpur
Format Paperback
Page Count 108
Imprint Two Rivers Press
Publisher Two Rivers Press