The Projectionist
The Projectionist
by Carlo Gébler
In The Projectionist, Carlo Gébler draws on a rich archive of previously undiscovered autobiographical notes, as well as his own personal memories. He explores and interprets his Ernest's life in the hope of understanding a father he barely knew, a life he didn’t share, and a man who was both fascinating and fearful.
Trade, Hardback | 416pp | ISBN 9781848404571 | Release Date September 2015
‘Projection (Psychoanalysis). The unconscious process or fact of projecting one’s fears, feelings, desires or fantasies onto other persons, things or situations, in order to avoid recognizing them as one’s own and so as to justify one’s behaviour.’
Ernest Gébler, writer of such international bestsellers as The Plymouth Adventure and Call Me Daddy, which became the film Hoffman, led a turbulent and fascinating life. At the helm of one of Ireland’s best-known literary families, his life was one of staggering complexity, elusiveness and immense talent that spanned a tumultuous century. In a book that is both biography and memoir, Carlo Gébler, Ernest’s estranged son, tells the enthralling story of his father’s life, covering his strange and alienated childhood, his disastrous family relationships, his marriage to writer Edna O’Brien, his staunch socialism and uncompromising disciplinary attitude, and his final heartbreaking struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Had the subject been given a choice, he would never have allowed the writer to tell his story. In The Projectionist, Carlo Gébler draws on a rich archive of previously undiscovered autobiographical notes, as well as his own personal memories. He explores and interprets his Ernest's life in the hope of understanding a father he barely knew, a life he didn’t share, and a man who was both fascinating and fearful.
About the Author Carlo Gébler is the author of several novels, most recently The Dead Eight, which was published by New Island in 2011, and was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. He is a prolific talent, having written novels for children, as well as several plays for both radio and stage. He has written extensively in publications such as the Irish Independent, the Guardian, the Financial Times and The Dublin Review.
Reviews
“The Projectionist is simply a great read.”
“It grabbed me from the word go and I found it a wonderful, wonderful read, an extroadinary piece of work’. - Gay Byrne ‘a poignant endnote to a complicated and compelling life.”
“When Ernest died, in 1998, Carlo Gébler inherited his father’s chaotic archive, and from it he has fashioned a fascinating depiction of Ernest’s enigmatic and troubled personality. And because he has such a zest for narrative this is also a rare picture of the social history of 20th-century Ireland...The Projectionist is simply a great read.”
“Gébler is an overlooked novelist. The Dead Eight is one of the truest, least flashy, most human novels I have read for a long time.”
“Gébler has already proved himself a master at transmuting historical facts into compelling fiction…And in this new novel he’s just as adroit at creating psychological and dramatic suspense out of known facts … a book so rich in characterisation, so expertly paced and so well written that it works equally well as absorbing social history and page-turning thriller.”
Praise for Carlo Gébler
“The picture that Gébler paints of the entire Irish establishment – from police to courts to priest to public opinion – is as damning as anything his mother (Edna O’Brien) has ever produced about her homeland.”
