Nelson, Dorothy

views updated

Nelson, Dorothy

PERSONAL: Born in Bray, Ireland; married.

ADDRESSES: Home—Shankill County, Dublin, Ireland. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Dalkey Archive Press, ISU Campus 8905, Normal, IL 61790-8905.

CAREER: Writer and guitar maker. Co-owner of a guitar-making business with husband.

AWARDS, HONORS: Bursary from Irish Arts Council, and Rooney Prize for Literature, both for In Night's City.

WRITINGS:

In Night's City, Wolfhound Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1982.

Tar and Feathers, Wolfhound Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1987, Dalkey Archive Press (Normal, IL), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Irish writer Dorothy Nelson's first novel, In Night's City, earned her the Rooney Prize for Literature and a grant from the Irish Arts Council. Tar and Feathers was published five years later, and was reprinted in the United States in 2004. Tar and Feathers follows the dynamics of a severely dysfunctional Irish family and hits on themes of physical abuse, incest, and criminal behavior. The father is an unemployed criminal who serves various stints in prison and directs his anger physically at his family. The mother is a depressed alcoholic who incestuously flirts with her sensitive and artistic son, Benjee. The story is told from the perspective of all three family members.

While noting that the novel is "Not for the timid reader," Bob Williams of CompulsiveReader.com commented that Tar and Feathers "meets the standards of outstanding artistic accomplishment and the story of this family is engrossing," resulting in "an unforgettable and skillfully written book." "Nelson's stream-of-consciousness narration is lush and dense," maintained a Publishers Weekly reviewer, while Lisa Nussbaum, writing for Library Journal, called Tar and Feathers "a riveting story of how family bonds are tried and tested."

Nelson commented in an interview with Williams for CompulsiveReader.com that, as a writer, she is interested in "the politics of relationships. The two main elements that interest me at the moment in relationships are communication and survival and the conflicts that they generate. I find it fascinating to observe the ways in which different personalities react and how these reactions can have a snowball effect in a situation." Her works are also heavily influenced by what she described to Center for Book Culture Web site interviewer Ana Lucic as an undercurrent of anger among contemporary Irish writers: "I think the anger in Irish fiction was because of the oppressive nature of society and also a secrecy about what was really going on that allowed abuse and corruption to flourish," she maintained. Although Nelson's novels have also centered on themes of anger and anguish, she commented to Lucic that "on a personal level I found people who had read the books but had not met me beforehand were very surprised that I wasn't as angry as they perceived the writer to be."

Nelson told CA: "Life, I suppose, influences my work because it can be so chaotic and puzzling and through fiction you can attempt to make some sense of it. Indeed, from an early age I was interested in reading about other people's experiences, particularly as expressed in fiction. Later on it became the most natural way for me to express my own ideas and themes.

"Of my books, my favorite is probably In Night's City because it was my first book to be published. When I write, at some point, a couple of characters will come to mind and over a period of time a story will emerge around these characters. The time-consuming part is figuring out what the story is capable of saying emotionally, dramatically, and psychologically. The early stages are more a mental process in which I don't commit anything to paper. And then I begin drafting, which continues until 'the end.'"