Boluisce Press, the new imprint from the Journal of Music dedicated to culture and ideas, has announced that it will publish The Radical Thinking of Desmond Fennell this June.
The book is edited by Toner Quinn, editor of the Journal of Music, and Jerry White, Professor of English at the University of Saskatchewan.
Desmond Fennell, who died in 2021, was one of Ireland's great independent thinkers. A writer, essayist and public intellectual, he brought a fresh perspective to debates on Irish identity, language, media, politics and the wider world. He also contributed to the Journal of Music in its early years.
In a lifetime of thinking and writing – 19 books and 13 pamphlets – Fennell addressed some of the most important questions facing Irish society and his prescient writing anticipated many of the major global events of recent years. This hardback curated collection brings together his most important writings.
The Radical Thinking of Desmond Fennell includes a range of key writings – from his celebrated essay on the Irish language, Revival or Not?, to his analysis of the media in Ireland, Getting to Know Dublin 4, and from his probing exploration of Irish cultural and intellectual life, Intellect and National Welfare, to his prescient analysis of the world today, The Postwestern Condition.
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Listen: Sunday With Miriam remembers Desmond Fennell
Commenting on the publication, Toner Quinn said:
"We established Boluisce Press to encourage a deeper discussion about our society, not only in music but across culture and ideas more broadly. Public discourse is increasingly algorithmically distorted, corporatised and trivialised. We often know more about the dramas of the Oval Office than about matters in our own country. It is essential that we resist this narrowing of the public conversation.
"Fennell’s writing is a brilliant stimulus for discussion. Why is his work relevant today? Because it compels us to think more deeply about our society, to question why we think the way we do, and to consider how our thinking is shaped by historical and contemporary influences. More than that, his work is empowering: it demonstrates that we are not passive observers of the world but participants who can rethink and reshape it."
The book will be launched at the Desmond Fennell Summer Seminar at the Sandymount Hotel in Dublin on Friday 6th June, and is available to pre-order now. Find out more here.
