Estudios Irlandeses (Mar 2014)
An Interview with Roddy Doyle
Abstract
In this interview, Roddy Doyle, one of the most popular contemporary writers in Ireland, provides insightful comments on crucial aspects of his writing career. Doyle speaks about the beginning of his literary adventure, the creative process of his work, and his artistic influences, as well as his feeling of pride in being a native Dubliner. Furthermore, he addresses his experience of the Celtic Tiger era in Ireland and the multicultural reality of the country in the late 1990s. Doyle’s detailed discussion of the female characters in his work is one of the most intriguing parts of the interview. He also gives hints about his latest novel The Guts (2013) and talks about the shift in theme, to the middle-age crisis in men, in his recent work: The Bullfighting (2011), Two Pints (2012), and The Guts (2013). His ideas about the filmic adaptations of his work, his favourite writers and his favourite fictional female characters are other inspiring points of the interview. The interview closes with Doyle’s characterization of the Post-Celtic Tiger period in Ireland and his views about the shifting portraits of Irish men and women.