RODDY DOYLE (b.1958)
The Snapper. London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1990.
An extensively annotated first edition, with 5,212 words across 210 pages. The Snapper is the second novel in The Barrytown Trilogy, and revolves around the daily life of the Rabbitte family in the fictional suburb of Barrytown, north Dublin. It focuses on the twenty-year-old daughter of the Rabbitte family, Sharon, and explores the challenges of pregnancy outside of marriage in 1980s Ireland and a conservative working-class family. Doyle approaches serious issues with comic warmth and his annotations reflect on the theme of shame with levity – ‘from a fiction writer’s POV, pregnancy is absolute gold.’

Doyle’s extensive marginal notes contain elucidating autobiographical details – ‘I was an English teacher when I wrote this book’ – and highlight moments in the novel inspired by his childhood, including places near where he grew up. Doyle also comments on stylistic choices, with particular focus on his characteristically fast-paced dialogue, noting the rhythm of his language and offering explanations for Irish slang, or ‘Dublin-speak.’ This copy highlights amendments for the screenplay, which Doyle wrote for a 1993 film adaptation of the same name.

Octavo. Original orange cloth, black lettering to the spine, pictorial dust jacket.

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