Mothers and Sons

Mothers and Sons
Mothers and Sons  
First edition cover
Author(s) Colm Tóibín
Country Ireland
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Picador
Publication date 2006
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 256 pp.
ISBN ISBN 0330441825 / 978-1856353496 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC Number 75964519
Dewey Decimal 823/.914 22
LC Classification PR6070.O455 M68 2006

Mothers and Sons is a collection of short stories written by Irish writer Colm Tóibín and published in 2006. The book was published in hardback by Picador, and features nine stories, each of which explores an aspect of the mother-son relationship. The nine stories are as follows:

  1. The Use of Reason
  2. A Song
  3. The Name of the Game
  4. Famous Blue Raincoat
  5. A Priest in the Family
  6. A Journey
  7. Three Friends
  8. A Summer Job
  9. A Long Winter

Mothers and Sons, like other Tóibín fiction, explores homosexuality in Ireland. In addition to mother-son relationships, Tóibín considers gayness alongside Catholicism, and how the two can be compatible in an Irish context.[1]

Most of the nine stories appeared in print elsewhere prior to the book's publication in popular literary periodicals like The Guardian, The London Review of Books, and The Dublin Review.

Tóibín has spoken out about the economic disparity between short story collections and novels, the former being not likely to fetch as much popular interest, or, therefore, money, which is the reason (or so he says) he writes in the first place.[2]

References