Prof Bertrand Cardin is the author of Colum McCann's Intertexts. 'Books Talk to One Another' (Cork University Press, 2016) in which McCann’s work is studied as a mosaic of references to and quotations from other texts. He also guest-edited a special issue of the Journal of the Short Story in English on “The 21st Century Irish Short Story” (N°63, Autumn 2014). With Alexandra Slaby, he co-edited a special issue of Etudes irlandaises: “Contemporary Issues in Irish Studies. In Memoriam Paul Brennan” (N°40-1, Spring-Summer 2015). Bertrand has also published several other books and articles about contemporary Irish novelists and short story writers.

Abstract

Colum McCann's writing has its finger on the pulse of our contemporaries: it deals with the decline of Christian belief, or the challenge to the existence of a God who does not command any fear or respect any more. His texts even relate irreligious attitudes and blasphemous remarks. However, while many Irish writers violently settle their scores with the Catholic Church through their fiction, Colum McCann also highlights the good done by this institution, particularly in these troubled times. In 2010, when his novel Let the Great World Spin had just come out, he said: “Because of what happened with the Catholic Church and the new stories about paedophilia, I wanted to embrace the generosity, the decency that is actually embedded in the faith and in the Church”. 'Faith' is a recurrent theme in McCann’s interviews and written work. He admits: “A lot of my characters deal with faith in one way or another. I suppose I am obsessed by faith. I do have faith, but I disguise it in all sorts of ways”. Not only does the word – but also the notion of faith permeate his work, like the other theological virtues, hope and charity.