The Emperor of Ice-Cream (novel)
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Author | Brian Moore |
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Language | English |
Genre | Bildungsroman |
Publisher | McClelland and Stewart (Canada) Viking Press (US) Andre Deutsch (UK) |
Publication date | 1965 |
Publication place | United States |
Pages | 250 |
OCLC | 368948 |
Preceded by | An Answer from Limbo (1962) |
Followed by | I Am Mary Dunne (1968) |
The Emperor of Ice-Cream is a 1965 coming-of-age novel[1] by writer Brian Moore. Set in Belfast during the Second World War, it tells the story of 17-year-old Gavin Burke who, admitting "war was freedom, freedom from futures", defies his nationalist and Catholic family by volunteering as an air raid warden with the largely Protestant ARP.[1] The novel follows Gavin's journey as he realises that there are those on the other side of the city's bitter communal division whose friendships offer a wider horizon.
Based in part on Moore's own wartime experiences,[2][3] he described it as the most autobiographical of his novels.[2] Moore left Belfast in 1943 to join the British Ministry of War Transport and worked himself for a period with the ARP in London.
The book is dedicated, as were all of Moore's subsequent novels, to his partner Jean,[4] who became his second wife two years after its publication. Its title is taken from Wallace Stevens' poem "The Emperor of Ice-Cream".
The book was dramatised by the Northern Irish actor, playwright and theatre director Bill Morrison; the play was performed at Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1977.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Hicks, Patrick (July–December 1999). "History and Masculinity in Brian Moore's 'The Emperor of Ice-Cream'". The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies. 25 (1/2): 400–413. doi:10.2307/25515283. JSTOR 25515283.
- ^ a b Craig, Patricia (2002). Brian Moore: A Biography. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 0-7475-6844-8.
- ^ O'Donoghue, Jo (1991). Brian Moore: A Critical Study. Montreal and Kingston: McGill University Press. pp. xii. ISBN 0-7735-0850-3.
- ^ Craig, Patricia (2002). Brian Moore: A Biography. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 188. ISBN 0-7475-6844-8.
- ^ Craig, Patricia (2002). Brian Moore: A Biography. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 231–232. ISBN 0-7475-6844-8.
- 1939 in Northern Ireland
- 1965 British novels
- 1965 Canadian novels
- André Deutsch books
- Canadian bildungsromans
- Fiction set in 1939
- Irish bildungsromans
- New Canadian Library
- Novels by Brian Moore (novelist)
- Novels set during World War II
- Novels set in Belfast
- Canadian novels adapted into plays
- World War II novel stubs
- 1960s novel stubs
- Canadian novel stubs
- 1960s young adult novel stubs
- Bildungsroman stubs