I had almost forgotten about it, having first written it more than ten years ago. Then, by a happy accident, I was asked by someone in the business had I a screenplay of my novel The Fabulists.
So I went about hunting for it on my computer and found that I had multiple copies - all truncated by about two thirds. Happily my friend Matthew Sweeney was staying with me (he had a reading in Dublin from his new book Black Moon), and helped me go through the boxes of archives that take up so much space in my small house, and there in all its glory was a hard copy from about 2001. It had to be typed in, but again, happily, there is now an open source media editor called Celtx, and as it is also cross platform, I downloaded a Linux copy and typed merrily away.
All of this is to say that I’m grateful for the opportunity to delve into the world of Tess and Mungo again - they’re the main characters. Dublin has changed so much since the novel was written that the streets, and The Winding Stair Cafe, which play a large part in the story, are almost unrecognizable. I don;t know why, but somehow this heightened my enjoyment of re-drafting the screenplay. I loved doing it.
Some of you will know that I am involved in a long-term non-fiction project at the moment. It’s a labour of love, but working with The Fabulists screenplay made me realise how much I miss creative writing. It is in a way another incentive to get down to the long haul of completing the non-fiction project.
If you haven’t read The Fabulists, and I know there are still a few of you out there, it’s available for free download under a Creative Commons licence, or to read online, at its special subsite, or if you want to pop over to The Irish Literary Revival, which I created with poet Patrick Chapman, it’s available there, too, with works from Patrick and other Irish writers. Actually, if you wish, you can also download my last book of poems fromthis site also. See links below.
The Fabulists at Philip Casey’s website
Coolness, Philip. Looking forward to seeing the movie!
Hi Philip. I’m coming late to this particular game - I just finished reading The Fabulists online last week! Thanks for making it available online. I enjoyed dropping into the world of Tess & Mungo. Brought back memories of a Dublin that seems to have slipped dimensions in 2 decades.
The associated decrease in secondhand bookshops in Dublin means that finding out of print Irish books is down to whether they show up in the library (where I just came across Mogue Doyle’s book ‘A Moth at the Glass’ or some other unexpected place. Which is why the literary revival site is such a good idea, IMHO. I’ll be popping over there shortly to check out your poems.
Thanks for that, PJ. That means a lot. I think it’s being downloaded quite a bit, but not so much feedback, at least not in print. Glad you enjoyed it.
Nice to discover your very interesting blog. Will link as soon as I get a minute. I missed the Cronin/Toibin interview too - there were so many literary events on last night, in my case the launch of Mickle Makes Muckle, by my German friend Michael Augustin (translated by his wife Sujata Bhatt).
Enjoy Irish Literary Revival. There’s some nice stuff there and there’ll be more as soon as time allows.
Hi Philip,
I’m beginning to think there should be a special kind of culture award for the work you do here and on the other sites you maintain (makes you sound like a developer I know). Anyway, I hope The Fabulists makes it to the screen. I’m just about to go exploring now (for the umpteenth time) and expect that as usual I’ll find plenty to fascinate me on the links.
All the best,
William
One small point, as an old teacher of mine was inclined to say, the CELTX link doesn’t work. Nor does it work from the Wikipedia page. Is it dead or is it my Mac?
These sums can be quite hard… (9 and 5, for example has always been a blind spot for me).
I eventually downloaded CELTX, through a very roundabout route. I emailed them and they solved the problem. It looks really good. thanks for the tip.