John Maxwell O’Brien – Aloysius the Great Excerpt V

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John Maxwell O’Brien is an emeritus professor of history (Queens College, CUNY)) who has written numerous articles on ancient history, medieval history, and the history of alcoholism. His best-selling biography, Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy (Routledge), has been translated into Greek and Italian and he authored the article on alcoholism in the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Professor O’Brien’s second life has been devoted to his first love, creative writing. His poems have appeared or will appear shortly in Literary Yard, Hedgehog Poetry Press (where his poem was shortlisted in the Cupid’s Arrow contest), IthacaLit, The Southwest Poetry Review, and the Irish Poetry Corner of Irish Arts & Entertainment.

Aloysius the Great is a seriocomic tale of an alcoholic professor who becomes resident director of an American study abroad program in England during the 1960s and finds himself on a runaway roller coaster of rebellious students, drugs, sex, liquor, and academic politics. This picaresque novel is a treasure trove for admirers of James Joyce. Its chapters parallel episodes in Joyce’s Ulysses. Many of its characters come from Ulysses and/or individuals significant in Joyce’s life. Words and phrases from Ulysses are sprinkled harmoniously throughout the text and Joyce aficionados are invited to detect vestiges of the master in the excerpt that follows…

Aloysius the Great by John Maxwell O’Brien is being published by Propertius Press and is due out shortly. http://www.propertiuspress.com/.


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© John Maxwell O’Brien/Propertius Press