Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know

The Fathers of Wilde, Yeats and Joyce

By: Colm Toibin

Narrated by: Colm Toibin

From the multiple award-winning author of The Master and Brooklyn, an illuminating look at Irish culture, history, and literature through the lives of the fathers of three of Ireland’s greatest writers—Oscar Wilde's father, William Butler Yeats's father, and James Joyce's father—“Thrilling, wise, and resonant, this book aptly unites Tóibín’s novelistic gifts for psychology and emotional nuance with his talents as a reader and critic, in incomparably elegant prose” (The New York Times Book Review).

Colm Tóibín begins his incisive, revelatory Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know with a walk through the Dublin streets where he went to university and where three Irish literary giants came of age. Oscar Wilde, writing about his relationship with his father stated: “Whenever there is hatred between two people there is bond or brotherhood of some kind…you loathed each other not because you were so different but because you were so alike.” W.B. Yeats wrote of his father, a painter: “It is this infirmity of will which has prevented him from finishing his pictures. The qualities I think necessary to success in art or life seemed to him egotism.” James’s father was perhaps the most quintessentially Irish, widely loved, garrulous, a singer, and drinker with a volatile temper, who drove his son from Ireland.

“An entertaining and revelatory book about the vexed relationships between these three pairs of difficult fathers and their difficult sons” (The Wall Street Journal), Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illustrates the surprising ways these fathers surface in the work of their sons. “As charming as [they are] illuminating, these stories of fathers and sons provide a singular look at an extraordi­nary confluence of genius” (Bookpage). Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors. “This immersive book holds literary scholarship to be a heartfelt, heavenly pursuit” (The Washington Post).

Mad, bad, dangerous to know.

This is an excellent book, and the author’s narration makes it even better. The first chapter is a brilliant tour through Dublin. All three authors’ fathers are interesting, but if you are into Ulysses or James Joyce, this is a wonderful book to have.

Men behind the men.

Excellent narrative, thorough, and informative. The only problem is technical. When the reader’s voice drops to a whisper, it is very difficult to understand, even at full volume.

Beyond expectations

I entered this book without prejudice and I ended it with something rich, rewarding. I have the highest regard for this author as well as for his subject.

Eminently re-readable

Beautiful, compelling, and glowing throughout with the brilliance and humanity of the author and his subjects. I will reread (i.e., re-listen to) this book and also return to the works of Wilde, Yeats, and, particularly, Joyce, whose father—I now know—lives and breathes in the pages of his novels.

Breathless

Why did the author go from a quiet whisper almost as if out of breath to full volume. The sound engineer really earned his pay on this one.

I wish there had been more depth in each of the portraits and comparisons and contrasts, which were excellent. What the author presented was marvelous and insightful, though. Recommended.