'I wanted to speak to that sense of bitter drama, a sort of eternal battle between self and soil and family,’ says Lisa McInerney on Instrument of the Law, her new story for Spoken Stories– listen above.
Spoken Stories 2: Creatures of the Earth is a brand-new collection of 12 themed radio half-hour stories on RTÉ Radio 1, commissioned by RTÉ Arts and Culture from eminent Irish and Irish-based writers.
The title of the series - Creatures of the Earth - comes from a short story, as well as a short story collection by John McGahern.
In Law of the Instrument, a young man has dug his heels into an incessant conflict with his father, that stops him from leaving home because he is so committed to that conflict.
The story is read by actor Stephen O'Leary, well known to so many as Fair City’s Zak Dillon.
Says Lisa McInerney of Law of the Instrument: ‘What I react to in John McGahern’s stories, like those in Creatures of the Earth, is the sense of fullness in the Irish everyday, by which I mean the good, the bad and the ugly, specifically McGahern’s recognition of the kind of brusque horror, what was hopeless and inevitable and cyclical which adds, I think, to a sense of the mythic to the mundane. With Law of the Instrument I wanted to speak to that sense of bitter drama, a sort of eternal battle between self and soil and family.’ .
Spoken Stories 2: Creatures of the Earth, Sunday at 7.30pm on RTÉ Radio 1 or wherever you get your podcasts - listen to more from Spoken Stories here.
