The Irish Times in association with the James Joyce Centre launches A Novel Choice, in which we invite you to select the greatest Irish novels inthe English language.
Today, we present a shortlist of 50 from which to choose. No list is definitive. However, what each of the 50 chosen novels has undoubtedly contributed, whether through language, innovation, experimentation, or simply in the telling of the tale, is an original thread in the rich and varied tapestry that is the 'Irish Novel'.
The results will be announced on Saturday, October 18th. A lecture series based on the top 10 most voted for novels will be hosted by The James Joyce Centre from October 23rd to November 27th.
Every week two speakers will each take one of the books and examine its place within the tradition of the Irish novel. The final lecture will be an overview of the series and will be given by Declan Kiberd, Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at University College Dublin. The six-week lecture series is sponsored by The English Language Institute and run in association with The Irish Times.
Personal favourites: The experts make their choices
Terry Eagleton academic and critic
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne "A marvellous deconstruction of the novel itself. A carnivalesque riot. He realises that the novel had no rules and really mucks about with it."
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth "Maybe it's an obvious choice, but it is marvellous and original in form. It is one of the earliest examples of what we would now call the unreliable narrator. You cannot be quite sure if they are on the level or not and that allows for a lot of subtlety."
Melmouth The Wanderer by Charles Maturin "A wonderful, spooky, gothic and elaborate novel full of horrors and paranoia. Again, it's very anti-realistic. But as well as spooky, it dramatises the paranoia of the early 19th century gentry in a vivid way."
Maeve Binchy author
Ulysses by James Joyce "I was never afraid of Ulysses. I thought it a great rollicking story of my own home town."
How Many Miles to Babylon by Jennifer Johnston "One of the greatest anti-war stories ever written."
The Dalkey Archive by Flann O Brien "Set in my own area, I loved it and thought rightly that anything could happen in Dalkey; which it did."
John Banville author and critic
Ulysses by James Joyce "First, and obviously, Ulysses, even though it may not be exactly what Tolstoy or George Eliot would have recognised as a proper novel."
Molloy by Samuel Beckett "Molloy is Samuel Beckett's prose masterpiece - although if the list were longer I would want to include Ill Seen Ill Said, a masterpiece of his old age."
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen "Elizabeth Bowen wrote The Last September when she was still in her 20s, but it is her finest achievement - and, incidentally, her own favourite among her novels."
Tom Owens book director, Easons
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce "This made a huge impression when read many years ago . . . made being so ungodly OK, thank you James."
Amongst Women by John McGahern "The most powerful portrait of a flawed man I have ever read."
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore "I could feel the sorrow. Ireland's, Judith's. Great writing."
Declan Kiberd academic and critic
Amongst Women by John McGahern "It's a signature novel for a generation of Irish people who lived through the last century. It takes the energies and trends of the time and gives them back to the reader in a recognisable form."
The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien "Again, it reflects the experience of a lot of people who grew up in the countryside and later moved to the big city. It has a certain freshness to it and it made a big impact at the time."
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis "Children's literature is very under-rated but hugely formative for so many young people and this is one of the best and written by an Irish author. You could speculate that the virtual world is not unconnected to fairy stories of the oral tradition told in the Irish countryside. There would be no Harry Potter without Narnia."
Colum McCann author
Night by Edna O'Brien "With a nod to Joyce and a wink at Beckett, this is a short, brilliant, beautifully-written mediation on the intricacies of an Irish past."
Nothing Happens in Carmincross by Benedict Kiely: "Kiely is at his most nuanced, poignant and masterful in this novel, where an exile returns home for his niece's wedding in Carmincross."
A Curious Street by Desmond Hogan "A fractured mosaic of Irish history told by a British army soldier as he sits in an army barracks in Belfast. Almost single-handedly and with very little fanfare, Hogan has paved the way for today's generation of novelists."
Eve Patten academic and critic
The Emperor of Ice Cream by Brian Moore "Neither experimental nor indeed, particularly innovative, this is simply a beautifully constructed bildungsroman, which draws the ordinary black comedies of adolescence into the extraordinary context of Belfast in the blitz. Small, but perfectly formed."
Dracula by Bram Stoker "Exotic, erotic, cinematic, and of course, more than a little camp. It reads as an extravagant commentary on superstition, sexual transgression and racial paranoia. Not, of course, Irish in setting, but Irish, certainly, in its preoccupations."
Murphy by Samuel Beckett "Effortless brilliance. The wordplay is ingenious, the ludicrous exchanges immaculate, the Irish idiom authentic but restrained."
Patricia Craig writer and editor
Ulysses by James Joyce "All the critical superlatives have been exhausted in relation to this great work; but its impact on the whole field of Irish letters remains as powerful as ever."
The Red Hand of Ulster by George A. Birmingham "For its satirical inventiveness and topsy-turvy approach to the - still fraught - question of loyalist/republican relations."
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen "The ultimate 'Big House' novel, distinguished by the beauty of its style and the subtlety of its evocations."
Cast your vote
To vote online
Log on to www.jamesjoyce.ie. By selecting your top 10, you will contribute to each novel's overall ranking in A Novel Choice.
To vote by post
Send your top 10 to A Novel Choice, The James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great George's Street, D1.
Although your top 10 can be chosen only from the 50 titles presented here, you can in addition present the case for books omitted from the list.
Closing date for entries is Friday, October 10th
The Choice
The Book of Evidence John Banville (1989)
Birchwood John Banville (1973)
The Last September Elizabeth Bowen (1929)
Molloy Samuel Beckett (1951)
Murphy Samuel Beckett (1938)
The Black Prophet William Carleton (1847)
Reading in the Dark Seamus Deane (1996)
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors Roddy Doyle (1996) Castle Rackrent Maria Edgeworth (1800)
The Siege of Krishnapur J.G. Farrell (1973)
December Bride Sam Hanna Bell (1950)
Langrishe, Go Down Aidan Higgins (1966)
How Many Miles to Babylon? Jennifer Johnston (1974)
The Captains and the Kings Jennifer Johnston (1972)
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James
Joyce (1916)
Ulysses James Joyce (1922)
Surrogate City Hugo Hamilton (1990)
Tarry Flynn Patrick Kavanagh (1948)
Good Behaviour Molly Keane (1981)
The Big Chapel Thomas Kilroy (1971)
Uncle Silas Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1864)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis (1950) Death and Nightingales Eugene McCabe (1992)
The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe (1992)
Amongst Women John McGahern (1990)
The Barracks John McGahern (1963)
The Birds of the Innocent Wood Deirdre Madden (1988)
Melmoth the Wanderer Charles Maturin (1820)
The Emperor of Ice Cream Brian Moore (1965)
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Brian Moore (1955)
A Drama in Muslin George Moore (1886)
Esther Waters George Moore (1894)
The Banyan Tree Christopher Nolan (1999)
The Country Girls Edna O'Brien (1960)
The Third Policeman Flann O'Brien (1967)
At Swim-Two-Birds Flann O'Brien (1939)
The Land of Spices Kate O'Brien (1941)
Love and Sleep Sean O'Reilly (2002)
Strumpet City James Plunkett (1969)
The Parts Keith Ridgway (2003)
The Real Charlotte Somerville and Ross (1894)
The Charwoman's Daughter James Stephens (1912)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Laurence Sterne (1760)
Dracula Bram Stoker (1897)
Black List, Section H Francis Stuart (1971)
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift (1726)
The South Colm Tóibín (1990)
Felicia's Journey William Trevor (1994)
Fools of Fortune William Trevor (1983)
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde (1891)