Loose Leaves

A riveting memoir:It's not often that a piece of memoir which was written more than 30 years ago and has lain unpublished since then can rivet as much as ' Matthew, You Cannot be Sick' by Rita Swan, an essay in the new editon of the Dublin Review.

The piece is introduced by Marsha Swan whose parents, Doug and Rita, were Christian Scientists in Detroit, and very active in their church until the illness and death of their 15-month-old son Matthew (below) in 1977. “Our church taught that all disease is caused by sin, fear, or ignorance of its theology. We were afraid to mention disease or think about it,” explains Rita in this account of the tragedy which she wrote in 1979, published now for the first time. It began when Matthew, an early walker, started having trouble with his left leg over a number of weeks. In spite of “metaphysical” treatments – including prayers arguing that God is good and didn’t make disease, and therefore disease is unreal –by Christian Scientist practitioners, their baby grew sicker. “I knew we were shutting off Christian Science if we went to a doctor and there would be no way to return to it if the doctor could not help.”

Though a grieving mother when she wrote this, Rita Swan holds nothing back in describing her child's suffering: the gnashing of his teeth; the fixed, glassy, solemn stare; his expression of excruciating pain. He had not responded for 12 days before the family took him to hospital, where meningitis was diagnosed and treatment undertaken. He died on July 7th, 1977. "We now think Matthew's persistent problem with his left knee was caused by infection, and that his first three severe fevers were evidence of an invasion by Haemophilus influenzaeand an upper- respiratory infection that later caused meningitis," she writes.'

They never set foot in a Christian Science church again, except to ask for their membership to be withdrawn a few days after Matthew’s death. Though there was rhetoric in the aftermath from their church , it missed the point, “which our friends in other faiths could sense immediately: we had lost our son . . . Matthew was the substance of our dreams, and we are incomplete without him.” However, as Marsha makes clear in an endnote, her brother’s legacy was long. Her parents set up Children’s Healthcare is a Legal Duty, childrenshealthcare.org, to advocate laws that require parents to provide necessary medical care for children regardless of their religious beliefs.

This issue also has John Butler recalling being young, gay and in the closet . . . in San Francisco; Nicholas Grene on farming in the 1950s; and new fiction by Neil Burkey and Conor O’Callaghan.

The Dublin Review, No. 37 (Winter 2009-10). €7.50. thedublinreview.com

Classic book club

A reading group devoted to the classics starts at The Gutter bookshop in Cow's Lane Temple Bar, Dublin, next month (Thurs, Jan 14, from 6pm to 7.15pm). The idea is to pick a classic a month to read and discuss . They'll begin with Dickens's A Christmas Carol. After that, books will be picked by a members' vote. Meanwhile, for small fry the shop has a Make a Tree Decoration day today from 1pm to 5pm. It's for five- to 13-year-olds: younger if there is an adult to help, or older if you just want to pretend youre a child. Tel. 01-6799206; gutterbookshop.com

Man Booker judges

The judging panel for next year's Man Booker Prize, announced this week, comprises Rosie Blau, literary editor of the Financial Times; Deborah Bull, writer, broadcaster and creative director of the Royal Opera House; Tom Sutcliffe, journalist, broadcaster and author, and Frances Wilson, biographer and critic. Andrew Motion is chairman. See themanbookerprize.com or follow it on Twitter at twitter.com/ManBookerPrize