When taken together, two new communiques from Peter Fallon, poet and publisher of The Gallery Press, prompt reflection about both Fallon's work and the state of poetry and poetry publishing in Ireland. They are News Of The World, a volume of selected old and new verse, and an essay, "Notes On A History Of Publishing Poetry" in the most recent issue of Princeton University Library Chronicle, which this spring was devoted solely to Irish poetry.
Both poetry collection and essay are unusual in their own ways, but both remind of Fallon's unusual, indeed unique position as poet, then poet and publisher, in Ireland for some 30 years. It is unusual for one voice to offer views from both sides of the literary parapet, just as it has undoubtedly been difficult at times for Fallon to balance there. The first clue lies in the book blurb of News Of The World which states that the first part of the collection comes from three out of print collections. This is not unusual in itself, as collections go out of print all the time, yet it is more unusual when the poet is also a publisher and is, moreover, a publisher not known for letting his authors go out of print.
"I probably wouldn't do it with anybody else's work. I haven't really worked that one out yet, but I think it must involve my unwillingness to promote Fallon-the-author too strongly," he muses. He found he was increasingly labelling his two roles like this - Fallon the author, Fallon the publisher - a categorisation that started out for clarity's sake in the office. "I found myself describing myself in the third party and actually it's a useful kind of division." He adds that it's not always a good idea to re-print things, a qualitative statement he makes about the work of others and strictly applies to his own work as well.
Certainly News Of The World has a pared-down quality that is usually the hallmark of a healthy application of self-criticism as well as the clarity of distance. Stretching right back to two poems from The Speaking Stones, a 1978 collection, the first part of the work revolves around country cadences, idioms and labels; almost a litany of habits and practices. In later work, more personal concerns start to intrude but still, place is predominant; place and belonging. This is brought out by a sabbatical year spent in Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts in 1997 which resulted in the extended Deerfield Series composed on the occasion of the college's bicentenary.
"I was quite surprised by my response to the occasion. I originally thought I would write a very light piece of rhyme but it took on a life of its own as I began to ask the question `What does it mean to live in a place?' "
The essay, "Notes On A History Of Publishing Poetry", is a very different kettle of fish to the collection of poetry, and Fallon says he hated writing it. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating discussion about not only the forebears and current status of the Gallery Press, but also the state of Irish poetry and the literary community in Ireland.
Fallon pays tribute to the Cuala Press, which issued marvellous, hand-printed volumes under the care of Yeats's sisters, Elizabeth Corbet and Susan Mary Yeats, from 1908. Tribute is also paid to Liam Miller and the Dolmen Press which was established in 1951 and published high-quality books by authors such as Thomas Kinsella, John Montague and Austin Clarke.
Fallon started The Gallery Press in 1970, aged 18. He felt there was no book publisher in Ireland that was particularly receptive to new work by young poets, and he he knew poets who, he felt, deserved to be published. It was an enterprise that started small and without a far-reaching agenda but, like Topsy, just grew, and The Gallery Press now publishes work by Derek Mahon, Paul Muldoon, Brian Friel, Tom Kilroy, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and many more.
In "Notes On A History Of Publishing", Fallon describes the development of the press and also expresses some concerns about the Irish literary establishment. Some of these are personal - he describes with some irritation the "distortion of literary history" by Dermot Bolger who claimed in InCognito literary journal (1997) that when he set up the Raven Arts Press in 1978 there was "a big vacuum in relation to Irish writing".
"I just don't see why Dermot said that when at that time I was publishing people that he admired and went on to publish himself in the Raven Press. You do wonder whether it's born out of some kind of competitiveness."
Fallon himself seems to genuinely welcome new quality publishers that have arrived on the scene since he first started publishing, describing situations in the past when he could see the strength in a manuscript but would decide not to publish it himself. "I used to wonder what on earth would happen to it, but there are more possibilities now and that's good."
However, he is not completely universal in his praise for other publishers - he doesn't name names, but says darkly: "I just don't think that some of them are good enough. Not everything should be published, you know, and many publishers just don't show a full or true belief in their authors."
It is a criticism that seems born of a sense of responsibility for literature and the body of poetry rather than out of economic jealousy or a battle for prestige. When Fallon, who has been accused of not publishing enough new, young poets, describes the discussion and development that led to the publication of poet David Wheatley's first collection last year, it seems a most painstaking project. Such prolonged personal involvement is a far cry from the idea of the publisher as one who gives advances and sets deadlines.
IN the Princeton University Library Chronicle essay, Fallon also calls for an authoritative literary magazine or periodical with the stature of The Bell, the early Dublin Magazine or the first issues of Krino. Again, Fallon sees this as an inevitable complication that comes from being part of a small literary community. "For example," he laughs, "when it came to sending this collection out for review, most of the reviewers were either people I publish or people I have rejected." The same double-edged sword would hold true for many Irish poets who are also fine critics, but Fallon insists the two activities need not be mutually exclusive.
"If someone can sustain the energy to think in the third person and be objective, it is completely possible, but it can be a thankless task. We do all sorts of things in this life for which we are never thanked, but nothing should ever be a thankless task."
At times his own double role as poet and publisher must have seemed perilously close to a thankless task, but he muses that the one desire never obscured the other. "Sometimes I may have exhausted the energies that might have been put into my own work. That is a price I may have paid." Ultimately though, his love is poetry and he speaks fondly of the craft of poetry in all its shapes and forms. "John Cheever once said about readers and writers: `Writing is like a kiss - you can't do it alone'. I've been thinking about that a lot lately."
Peter Fallon will read from News Of The World in the River Club, Dublin, on June 14th at 4 p.m. as part of the Dublin Writers' Festival