Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know

<p><b>An intimate study of three of Ireland's greatest writers from one of its best-loved contemporary voices, Colm </b><b>Tóibín</b><br>__________________<br><br>In <i>Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know</i> Colm Tóibín takes three of Ireland's greatest writers - Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce - and examines their earliest influences: their fathers. <br><br>With his inimitable wit and sensitivity, Tóibín introduces us to Wilde Senior, the philandering doctor whose libel case prefigured that of his son; the elder Yeats, an impoverished artist who never finished a painting; and to John Stanislaus Joyce, the hard-drinking, storytelling father of James, who couldn't feed his own family. <br><br><b> This is an illuminating study of how each of these men cast a long shadow not only over the lives of their famous sons, but over the works for which they are celebrated and cherished.<br></b>__________________<br><br><b>'Astonishing to read. Tóibín has a hawk-like eye for literary subtleties, and a generosity towards his subjects that is warm'</b> <i>Sunday Times</i><br><br><b>'Funny, exciting, illuminating, wonderful, so engaging. Tells us more than a little about our own selves along the way'</b><i> Irish Times</i><br><br><b>'There is something interesting and insightful on almost every page'</b> <i>Observer</i><br><br><b>'Sparkling, subtle, witty and often deeply moving . . . A classic'</b> Fintan O'Toole, <i>New Statesman</i><br><br><b>'Scintillating, imaginative, enlightening and powerfully moving throughout'</b> Roy Foster, <i>Spectator</i></p> <p><b>An intimate study of three of Ireland's greatest writers from one of its best-loved contemporary voices, Colm </b><b>Tóibín</b><br>__________________<br><br>In <i>Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know</i> Colm Tóibín takes three of Ireland's greatest writers - Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce - and examines their earliest influences: their fathers. <br><br>With his inimitable wit and sensitivity, Tóibín introduces us to Wilde Senior, the philandering doctor whose libel case prefigured that of his son; the elder Yeats, an impoverished artist who never finished a painting; and to John Stanislaus Joyce, the hard-drinking, storytelling father of James, who couldn't feed his own family. <br><br><b> This is an illuminating study of how each of these men cast a long shadow not only over the lives of their famous sons, but over the works for which they are celebrated and cherished.<br></b>__________________<br><br><b>'Astonishing to read. Tóibín has a hawk-like eye for literary subtleties, and a generosity towards his subjects that is warm'</b> <i>Sunday Times</i><br><br><b>'Funny, exciting, illuminating, wonderful, so engaging. Tells us more than a little about our own selves along the way'</b><i> Irish Times</i><br><br><b>'There is something interesting and insightful on almost every page'</b> <i>Observer</i><br><br><b>'Sparkling, subtle, witty and often deeply moving . . . A classic'</b> Fintan O'Toole, <i>New Statesman</i><br><br><b>'Scintillating, imaginative, enlightening and powerfully moving throughout'</b> Roy Foster, <i>Spectator</i></p>