Peter Carey's work is largely based on voice and how to recognise a character through the way they speak. Also central, is an interest, bordering on obsession, with art as a form of telling lies which is very worth exploring.
I met him once and put on a funny accent, which he instantly recognised as being phony and the encounter seemed to have amused him.
Many visitors who do not speak English as their mother tongue wear me out with their problems with my accent.
To myself I sound like an average person speaking Hiberno-English. For some reason they think I'm English although there is no trace of any English accent in the way I speak.
In England, emotional collapse is brought on by the number of times I've been asked "what part of Ireland are you from"?
No Dubliner would ever claim me as I "talk Culchie".
Roddy Doyle is essential reading for anybody truly interested in how Dubliners speak.
Over the sensitive nature of the North/South divide in the city, from housing to linguistics, I draw a veil...
(Dort Speech, an affected way of rounding vowels and much loved by South Dubliners when the Dart (urban rail system) was first built, is out of fashion now. It would be impolite to describe it in detail. Writing a book using its worst excesses would require a reading audience with nerves of steel.)
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I have loved the Peter Carey novels I've read. Too few, actually. I gather from others that he can be a bit cantankerous, so it's as well you amused him.
I don't know how discerning I'd be in distinguishing Irish accents. But I often find it interesting how individual the voices in my own life are and how fast I can distinguish them from the crowd.
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