What is this novel about?
Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is a multi-perspective novel largely set in 1979. It retells the story of the discovery of the first dinosaur fossils ever found in Ireland while providing a portrait of Belfast and its people. The style of the novel is generally comedic, but as it is set during the Troubles, there is also plenty of drama.
Readers who have any interest in Belfast will surely find much to entertain here: the streets, the shops, the sounds and the feeling of the 1979 town are captured in great detail. The sense of societal frustration particular to Northern Ireland is also captured, as the friendship between young friends, one Catholic and one Protestant, gives a beating heart to the story. The spirit of Belfast resides in its people. Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is a story of the spirit of Belfast. It is comedy, but it is fierce comedy, brutally honest and full of insight -with some strong language to boot! The book has a certain punkish side to it, with bucketfuls of irreverence and iconoclasm woven into its matrix. Oh, and the dinosaurs are part of it, too. Let's not forget them! They clomp through the narrative with abandon. Hard to believe that two little stone-like lumps, now viewable at the Ulster Museum, might conjure visions of such ancient brutality... This novel completely distorts the actual discovery story, and yet it ultimately pays tribute to the person who found them, and to those who look into the past and find treasure and enlightenment rather than grievance and conflict. |
What happens in this novel?
The story is set in motion by what is generally known in Belfast as a 'spoof', something not entirely true, but a bit of a laugh. Said 'spoof' (concerning the recent discovery of fossils) then takes on a life of its own after it is published in a newspaper. This leads to endless city-wide chat and conversational extrapolations. Once exposed for what it is, the editor of said newspaper is none too happy with his nephew for having inveigled him into allowing it grace the pages of his august rag.
This unholy error affects others, too, most immediately the professors at Queen's University in charge of studying the fossils and digging for others. One is local, an archaeologist; the other very much not local -a legendary German palaeontologist.
The various characters in this book are what gives the novel its multi-perspectiveness. We see this particular comedy of errors from a variety of angles, be it that of the professors, the neophyte-journalist who started the ball rolling, or the the sixteen-year old boy he bumps into in Donegall Place. This school boy's perspective on things becomes quite central to the novel as a whole, because -the author will confide- it is based very much on his own experiences -not so much with dinosaurs, but with growing up in a place where fossilzed thinking seemed to be the norm.
What is it like to grow up in Northern Ireland?
What was it like to grow up in Belfast in the 1970s?
These are questions to which the novel offers answers. People want to know about Belfast because of its extremely complicated, terrible and tragic past. People want to re-see Belfast through the lens of their own memories and feelings, and, hopefully, through the eyes and ears of others who lived at that time. Everyone knows that there is a multiplicity of views about what went on, and what, to some extent, is still going on. This novel does not disappoint on that score. It is chock-full of references to (or incidents involving) all things iconically Belfast: The Crown Bar, Queen's University, the Albert Clock, black taxis, Titanic, the Cave Hill, funny characters who talk nine to the dozen, bombscares and British soldiers patrolling the streets, on foot or in their dinosaur-esque armoured vehicles... Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is the book for Belfast-lovers. This novel puts Belfast squarely on the literary map.
If Dublin has Ulysses,
Belfast has...
Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979.
This unholy error affects others, too, most immediately the professors at Queen's University in charge of studying the fossils and digging for others. One is local, an archaeologist; the other very much not local -a legendary German palaeontologist.
The various characters in this book are what gives the novel its multi-perspectiveness. We see this particular comedy of errors from a variety of angles, be it that of the professors, the neophyte-journalist who started the ball rolling, or the the sixteen-year old boy he bumps into in Donegall Place. This school boy's perspective on things becomes quite central to the novel as a whole, because -the author will confide- it is based very much on his own experiences -not so much with dinosaurs, but with growing up in a place where fossilzed thinking seemed to be the norm.
What is it like to grow up in Northern Ireland?
What was it like to grow up in Belfast in the 1970s?
These are questions to which the novel offers answers. People want to know about Belfast because of its extremely complicated, terrible and tragic past. People want to re-see Belfast through the lens of their own memories and feelings, and, hopefully, through the eyes and ears of others who lived at that time. Everyone knows that there is a multiplicity of views about what went on, and what, to some extent, is still going on. This novel does not disappoint on that score. It is chock-full of references to (or incidents involving) all things iconically Belfast: The Crown Bar, Queen's University, the Albert Clock, black taxis, Titanic, the Cave Hill, funny characters who talk nine to the dozen, bombscares and British soldiers patrolling the streets, on foot or in their dinosaur-esque armoured vehicles... Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is the book for Belfast-lovers. This novel puts Belfast squarely on the literary map.
If Dublin has Ulysses,
Belfast has...
Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979.
About the author
Martin Connolly was born in Liverpool but from the age of five moved with his family back to his parents' Belfast -or, near enough, Glengormley. He states that 'autobiographies are great things IF you're famous -otherwise, who wants to know?' Hence, he has concocted a kind of novelized autobiography, or a novelized autobiography is what tended to emerge from the construct of the other narratives. The degree to which the author was in control (he states) about what should go where and why was highly variable, dependent on how engaging or how innovative some particular piece of the jigsaw -true or not true- might fit in. Be that as it may, the novelization of one's experience dramatizes it and makes even the most banal incident come alive and jump out at the reader. This technique craftily allows a non-famous person to tell the world about his or her life.
Martin lives in Japan, and has done so since 1991. He is a Professor of literature at Tsurumi University in Yokohama. He has published in peer-reviewed literature on late medieval Arthurian romance poetry, medieval religious poetry, Joyce's Chamber Music, Ulysses, and the artistic influence of Joyce on The Beatles. He has also written extensively on a number of Irish writers: Seamus Heaney, Claire Keegan and Maeve Kelly. Martin has written papers on matters far beyond the shores of Irish literature, too: the Original Star Trek and The Pirates of the Carribean film series. (The latter paper was praised by the film's director, Gore Verbinski, who sent him a signed poster in appreciation.) Martin is very happily married and has two sons. He has published poetry, short stories and a novel previously under his own imprint, Snowchild Press. Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is Martin's first publication with a regular publisher.
While Martin owes much to Joyce, and is renowned as a Joycean scholar,
he confides that his novel likely owes more to Jonathan Swift than it does to James Joyce.
Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is satire and hyperreal satire, after all.
There be monsters and strange beasts in this story!
Martin lives in Japan, and has done so since 1991. He is a Professor of literature at Tsurumi University in Yokohama. He has published in peer-reviewed literature on late medieval Arthurian romance poetry, medieval religious poetry, Joyce's Chamber Music, Ulysses, and the artistic influence of Joyce on The Beatles. He has also written extensively on a number of Irish writers: Seamus Heaney, Claire Keegan and Maeve Kelly. Martin has written papers on matters far beyond the shores of Irish literature, too: the Original Star Trek and The Pirates of the Carribean film series. (The latter paper was praised by the film's director, Gore Verbinski, who sent him a signed poster in appreciation.) Martin is very happily married and has two sons. He has published poetry, short stories and a novel previously under his own imprint, Snowchild Press. Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is Martin's first publication with a regular publisher.
While Martin owes much to Joyce, and is renowned as a Joycean scholar,
he confides that his novel likely owes more to Jonathan Swift than it does to James Joyce.
Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 is satire and hyperreal satire, after all.
There be monsters and strange beasts in this story!
Book launch: Aug 9, 2022. Belfast BlackBox some pics
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A hearty thanks to all who came to the Book Launch!
