Archaeologist Michael O’Kelly (1915 – 1982), known to his friends as “Brian”, will remain best known for leading the excavation and restoration of the Late Stone Age passage tomb of Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, County Meath in Ireland. It was O’Kelly who, on December 21, 1967 – the day of the winter solstice and, therefore, the “shortest day of the year” – discovered that the rays of the sun on the midwinter sunrise pass through a small opening above the tomb’s doorway, lighting up the passage up to the centre of the chamber. This finding confirmed legends in the area which alluded to this phenomenon. It let O’Kelly to comment that “the people who built Newgrange built not just a tomb but a house of the dead, a house in which the spirits of special people were going to live for a long time”.

Colm Tóibín’s short story The Shortest Day is, essentially, a fictionalised account of O’Kelly’s discovery. It alternates between descriptions of the archaeologist’s preparations for his midwinter trip to Newgrange, and dialogues between the spirits inhabiting the tomb who are worried about the potential consequences should their “secret” be discovered. It is a concern which is shared by the locals, who do their best to thwart O’Kelly’s plans through ruses which border on the cartoonish.

I was drawn to this story because its blurb had a folk-horrorish vibe to it, and I am always intrigued when the horror genre is approached by a writer not typically associated with it. The work, however, turned out to be quite different from my expectations: a poetic meditation about life, death and collective memory and about what remains of us, both as individuals and as a community, after we pass on. The story is well-written, and I would not expect less from an author of Tóibín’s calibre. However, I must confess I did not find it particularly memorable.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-shortest-day-by-colm-toibin.html ( )

Confession: I’m not a big fan of short stories. It’s not that I’ve never read a short story I’ve enjoyed, but I haven’t taken the time to determine which qualities the stories I like have in common. I think it might be that they have a clear ironic twist, or that they are short, or both, but I’m not sure. I recently read [b:The Overstory|40180098|The Overstory|Richard Powers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562786502l/40180098._SY75_.jpg|57662223] which begins with nine segments that read as short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed those, but I think that may have been because they were all clearly linked and moving toward a common destination.

[b:The Shortest Day|55203166|The Shortest Day|Colm Tóibín|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1598965505l/55203166._SY75_.jpg|86062416] has been described as a novella, but at 31 pages, an hour on audio, I consider it more of an atmospheric short story, one that for me stopped short of being anything more than just ok. The story felt as if it was just drifting along and never really grabbed me, although the writing was lovely. My guess is that short story enthusiasts, or Colm Toibin followers, would get more from it than I did. ( )

An Amazon Original and Kindle Short Read.

In this story, Professor O’Kelly is an archeologist who has made the ancient burial chamber called Newgrange in County Meath his life’s work. Tóibín has spun quite an interesting tale about the spirits of those buried in the chamber, and the effect on them when the Professor proposes to visit the chamber to view the winter solstice light as it shines through the roof on the shortest day of the year. Great writing that explores deep questions of life and death, time and eternity, science and spirituality. Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NOTE: The Newgrange burial chamber is a real, and quite interesting, thing in and of itself. ( )

An archaeology professor in Ireland takes a trip to a cave he's been studying for years, the site of ancient burials. It's just days before Christmas, which makes it a perfect time for him to go alone and see if he finds anything new without a whole crew around. But the ancient souls in the cave are aware of the professor's intentions and dread him finding out their secret, and the professor's arrival also stirs fear in some local villagers who have been tasked with keeping the secret.
A short story so I'm not counting it. Available on Kindle as an Amazon Original. I thought the story would build to a murder, but it turned out to be rather gentle. ( )

Archaeologist Michael O’Kelly (1915 – 1982), known to his friends as “Brian”, will remain best known for leading the excavation and restoration of the Late Stone Age passage tomb of Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, County Meath in Ireland. It was O’Kelly who, on December 21, 1967 – the day of the winter solstice and, therefore, the “shortest day of the year” – discovered that the rays of the sun on the midwinter sunrise pass through a small opening above the tomb’s doorway, lighting up the passage up to the centre of the chamber. This finding confirmed legends in the area which alluded to this phenomenon. It let O’Kelly to comment that “the people who built Newgrange built not just a tomb but a house of the dead, a house in which the spirits of special people were going to live for a long time”.

Colm Tóibín’s short story The Shortest Day is, essentially, a fictionalised account of O’Kelly’s discovery. It alternates between descriptions of the archaeologist’s preparations for his midwinter trip to Newgrange, and dialogues between the spirits inhabiting the tomb who are worried about the potential consequences should their “secret” be discovered. It is a concern which is shared by the locals, who do their best to thwart O’Kelly’s plans through ruses which border on the cartoonish.

I was drawn to this story because its blurb had a folk-horrorish vibe to it, and I am always intrigued when the horror genre is approached by a writer not typically associated with it. The work, however, turned out to be quite different from my expectations: a poetic meditation about life, death and collective memory and about what remains of us, both as individuals and as a community, after we pass on. The story is well-written, and I would not expect less from an author of Tóibín’s calibre. However, I must confess I did not find it particularly memorable.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-shortest-day-by-colm-toibin.html ( )