A sense of the supernatural pervades Conor McPherson’s “The Weir,” “Shining City,” and other plays—and that has a lot to do with where he comes from.
“Perhaps being Irish and Catholic made it inescapable that I would be drawn to the otherwordly,” says the Dublin native, whose new play, “The Night Alive,” at the Atlantic Theater Company, just opened to rapturous reviews.
“We have a strong pagan tradition that predates Christianity and which still lives on in our superstitions. Life is a supernatural experience as far as I am concerned. After all, none of us knows where any of us came from…And while life is often scary and unpredictable, it’s a privilege to be here at all.”
Here are four books that sent shivers down his Irishman’s pine.
I Am Legend
by Richard Matheson
People probably know the movies of it, but none has touched the essence of this extraordinary book. On one level, it’s a story of vampires, but really it’s an existential fable about what it means to be truly alone in the world. I read it at a formative age, and it indelibly entered my personal mythos as a writer.
A Clockwork Orange
by Anthony Burgess
Another book mostly known through a movie, Stanley Kubrick’s controversial adaptation. I recommend the book. There is simply nothing else like it. It’s written in its own language . . . a meditation on violence and how society seeks to control it, but it’s also a sympathetic view of one very flawed person’s struggle to conform. Once read, it’s impossible to dislodge.
The Dead
by James Joyce
This is a ghost story in the most affecting sense. Gabriel and Greta Conroy go to a Christmas party. She hears a song that reminds her of her first love who died years before, and Gabriel realizes she still loves this “ghost.” Anyone intimidated by Joyce’s “difficult” reputation should start here.
The Shining
by Stephen King
I think we take Stephen King for granted, but he revolutionized the horror genre. He dramatizes multi-dimensional characters through the prism of the great unknown mysteries of life and death and does it in a way that grips you by the throat and never lets up. Is Jack Torrance really seeing ghosts or is he losing his mind? Pick up this book.