Desmond Hogan Biography

Irish writer, born in Co. Galway, educated at University College, Dublin. His first novel, The Ikon Maker (1976), was set in a remote part of Galway and depicted the obsessional relationship between a mother and son. The Leaves on Grey (1980) was a lyrical account of three friends growing up in 1950s' Dublin. This was followed by A Curious Street (1984), in which a young man remembers his father, who has died by his own hand; and A New Shirt (1986), in which the protagonist leaves his native Ireland for America and is overcome with longing for his homeland. In his poetically charged novel A Farewell to Prague (1995), Hogan uses montage, memory, and vignettes in a journey across the cities of Eastern Europe that also refers back to Ireland. Two collections of short stories, The Mourning Thief (1987) and Lebanon Lodge (1988), deal with similar themes of exile and loss, incorporating elements of Irish history and contemporary detail in a richly textured prose. The Edge of the City: A Scrapbook, 1976–1991 (1993) is a collection of travel writings.