After the Titanic: A Life of Derek Mahon

Over forty-five years have elapsed since Derek Mahon announced his arrival at the forefront of Irish literary life with the release of Night-Crossing, but he remains an elusive figure.

In the first comprehensive biography of Ireland’s greatest living poet, Stephen Enniss uncovers a remarkable personal story. Here he establishes the life circumstances which stimulated or provoked Derek Mahon into poetic response, detailing for the first time his troubled upbringing in Belfast, his youthful suicide attempt and his decades-long struggle with alcoholism. He sets Mahon’s poems against these personal struggles and in doing so reconnects the work to the life while also making a compelling case for the restorative power of art.

Based on extensive archival research, interviews with Mahon himself, his family members, classmates, colleagues and others he is closely associated with, After the Titanic sheds new light on some of Ireland’s best-loved poetry.

While Mahon is the central figure, the book also contributes to our understanding of the other giants of Irish poetry who came of age with him in the 1960s, Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley.

‘Derek Mahon is one of our greatest lyric poets; for all those who love his work, After the Titanic will be required reading.’

Nicholas Grene, Professor of English Literature, School of English, Trinity College, 

‘Mahon is the most elegant yet daring poet of his generation, as this book reveals.’

John Montague