Theo Dorgan reads 'Camarade'

Mercier author Theo Dorgan reads the first page from his forthcoming novel Camarade.

‘All things considered, I wonder if shooting that policeman made me the man that I am?’

In this masterful new work, award-winning author Theo Dorgan has written a philosophical thriller of extraordinary depth. An Irishman in Paris considers the weight and impact of a single violent act that forced him to flee Ireland forty years ago. When Vincent, a young Algerian friend, suggests Joseph should write his life story, Joseph embarks on a self-examination that will lay bare, perhaps only to himself, a singular and surprising life.

Set against the evocative backdrops of Paris and Cork, Camarade explores a life shaped by one fateful moment and the quiet violence of self-reckoning. The story unfolds in a dual timeline: Joseph's present-day existence in Paris, with its muted rhythms and introspective solitude, and his youth in 1960s Ireland, raised on his grandfather's stories of the Flying Column and revolution.

After one violent act, Joseph finds himself exiled in France during the turbulent decades of the Algerian Crisis and May '68, where he discovers comradeship, unexpected freedom in careful neutrality.

As Joseph writes, he confronts the central question of his life: did a single act of life-changing violence make him who he is, or was he always destined to become this man?

Written in precise, contemplative prose, Camarade examines how we construct meaning from our past while questioning the nature of authenticity and self-awareness. At once, an intimate character study, a meditation on history, violence and the enduring impact of our choices. This novel asks us to consider the space between who we imagine we are destined to be and who we eventually become. Moving with the tension of a thriller while exploring profound philosophical questions, Camarade confirms Theo Dorgan's place as one of our most thoughtful and elegant literary voices.

 

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Theo Dorgan is an acclaimed Irish poet with ten collections, most recently Once Was a Boy (Cork's One City One Book 2024). His books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Greek, and French. His published works include the prose books Sailing for Home and Time on the Ocean, and the novel Making Way.

He has translated collections from the French by Syrian poet Maram al Masri and Lorca's Romancero Gitano into Irish Gaelic. His honours include the Listowel Poetry Prize, the Irish Times/Poetry Now Award, and the O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. Member of Aosdána, Ireland's academy of the arts.