A Hyphenated Childhood - by Ralph Cusack (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"I shall begin well before the beginning. And end after the end. That is how it should be. And most of it will be lies, fabrications, inexactitudes, approximations, near misses, botched hits. Not that I wish it to be so."

A writer often compared to Joyce and Beckett, though who enjoyed less of their renown in his lifetime, Ralph Cusack published only one novel: Cadenza, a meandering, autofictional journey through one man's memory. A Hyphenated Childhood, Cusack's previously unpublished and unfinished memoir, paints a rich and compelling narrative of the young life that influenced that novel. In charismatic, evocative prose, Cusack imagines the plight of his mother's pregnancy, marvels at his warped childhood recollections of the damp, foggy hills of the countryside in the aftermath of the fight for Irish independence, and recalls summiting Mount Vesuvius on a family trip to Italy. Though unfinished--hyphenated--this portrait of an early twentieth-century Irish childhood stands as a remarkable tribute to the talent of one of the first writers ever to be published by Dalkey Archive Press.

About the Author

Ralph Cusack (1912-1965) was born in Dublin. He trained as a painter, and was a founding member of the committee of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Cusack eventually settled in the south of France to grow jasmine for the manufacture of perfume. Cadenza was his first and only novel to be published in his lifetime.