Christopher Nolan (author)
Encyclopedia
Christopher Nolan was an Irish
poet
and author
, son of Joseph and Bernadette Nolan. He grew up in Mullingar
, Ireland, but later moved to Dublin to attend college. He was educated at the Central Remedial Clinic School, Mount Temple Comprehensive School
and at Trinity College, Dublin
. His first book was published when he was fifteen. He won the Whitbread Book Award, for his autobiography in 1988. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in the UK, the medal of excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers, and a Person of the Year award in Ireland.
. Due to asphyxiation at birth, Christopher was born with permanent impairment of his "nerve-signaling system, a condition he says is now labelled dystonia
." Because of these complications, Nolan was born with cerebral palsy
, and could only move his head and eyes. Due to the severity of the cerebral palsy
, he used a wheelchair. In an interview, his father, Joseph, explained how, at the age of 10, he was placed on medication that "relaxed him so he could use a pointer attached to his head to type." To write, Nolan used a special computer and keyboard; in order to help him type, his mother, Bernadette Nolan, held his head in her cupped hands while Christopher painstakingly picked out each word, letter by letter, with a pointer attached to his forehead.
He communicated with others by moving his eyes, using a signal system. When he was young, his father told him stories and read passages from James Joyce
, Samuel Beckett
and D.H. Lawrence to keep his mind stimulated. His mother strung up letters of the alphabet in the kitchen, where she kept up a stream of conversation. His sister, Yvonne, sang songs and acted out skits. His mother stated that "he wrote extensively since the age of 11 and went on to write many poems, short stories and two plays, many of which were published."
, Mount Temple Comprehensive School
and at Trinity College, Dublin
. His first book was published when he was fifteen; he was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in the UK, the medal of excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers
, and a Person of the Year award in Ireland. At the age of fifteen, he published his collection of poems titled "Dam-Burst of Dreams." He wrote an account of his childhood, Under the Eye of the Clock, published by St. Martin's Press, which won him England's Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 1987 at the age of 21. He soon dropped out of Trinity College to write a novel entitled The Banyan Tree (1999).
Nolan spent more than a decade writing The Banyan Tree. According to The New York Times
the book is a multigenerational story of a dairy-farming family in Nolan’s native county of Westmeath. The story is seen through the eyes of the aging mother. It was inspired, he told Publisher’s Weekly, by the image of "an old woman holding up her skirts as she made ready to jump a rut in a field." A review of the book was done in The New York Times by Maghan O’Rourke. She reviews the book and relates it to James Joyce
's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, in the story the protagonist leaves his mother in Ireland while he moves on to travel the world. Nolan however, gives the reader a version of the mother’s story. "And so, in the end, one suspects that he wants Minnie's good-natured, commonplace ways to stand as their own achievement, reminding us that life continues in the places left behind."
While working on his new novel, suddenly on February 20, 2009, Nolan abruptly died at 43. However, nothing has been released from the book since his death.
in Dublin at 2:30 am February 20, 2009. He died after a piece of salmon became trapped in his airway. Irish president Mary McAleese
, upon hearing the news, said:
Minister for Arts Martin Cullen
TD reflected that people should draw inspiration from Nolan's life. “With grace and courage, and with the support of his family, he never gave up and he never gave in [...] His bold creativity has ensured a written legacy."
Nolan wrote The Banyan Tree (published 1999), in perspective of a country woman, Minnie O’Brien. The novel spans 80 years of Minnie’s life, cutting from present to past to show the individuality of a woman and a mother who is determined to save the family’s farm. The Philadelphia Inquirer appreciated "Nolan's soaring language and lilting alliterative style suffuse [...] much of the book with a sense of the miraculous" and the New York Times Book Review found it
"richly-evenly baroquely-told [...] Nolan writes with verve."
Dam Burst of Dreams (published 1981), provided Nolan critical acclaim that compared him to the works of William Butler Yeats
and James Joyce
. The collection was published four years after Nolan was administered Lioresal but some of the poems were written when Nolan was just 12 years old. The title of the collection emphasized the theme surrounding most of the poems, the overflow and release of his mental intellect. His poems in the collection are heavy with alliteration, and incorporate words invented by Nolan utilizing the combination of pre-existing root words.
, Samuel Beckett
, and D.H. Lawrence. Every night his father would read him several passages from Joyce's Ulysses
and other poetic works. Listening to such pieces not only kept Nolan stimulated but piqued his interest in writing his own poetry.
In a poetry competition hosted by the British Spastics Society, Nolan received praise from writer Edna Healey
, wife of then Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey
. As a judge of the competition she was one of the early recognizers of Nolan's writing abilities. Healey was later invited as a guest on the BBC
program titled "The World this Weekend." On the broadcast in response to the question "what was the most impressive moment," she remarked that reading Nolan's work: "Was the highspot of my year."
When enrolling for secondary school, Nolan's family struggled to convince educators that Nolan would be able to function in a regular class setting. Mount Temple Comprehensive School
headmaster John Medleycott, believed it was possible to devise a set-up to accommodate Nolan:
Thanks to Medleycott, Nolan was accepted into Mount Temple and later was received by Trinity College, Dublin
after Medleycott provided a personal recommendation.
, whose members attended school with Nolan, wrote their song "Miracle Drug
" (from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
) about him.
Bono
said of Nolan:
On R.E.M.
's 1988 Green album, the song "The Wrong Child" was inspired by Nolan's memoir Under the Eye of the Clock. The song deals with a child who wishes play with his peers outside but is instead laughed at. Throughout the song the refrain "I'm not supposed to be like this / But it's okay" is repeated several times.
Nolan was once approached by a Los Angeles film producer who was interested in making his biography into a movie. Nolan declined the offer and responded:
holds an award show in his honour.
The "Eye Of The Clock Awards" are hosted in the last week of school for all students.
These awards are given to students for extraordinary efforts in school and are inspired by Nolan's efforts in school.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, son of Joseph and Bernadette Nolan. He grew up in Mullingar
Mullingar
Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...
, Ireland, but later moved to Dublin to attend college. He was educated at the Central Remedial Clinic School, Mount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school located in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, originally notable as the first multi-denominational public school under Protestant management to open in Dublin....
and at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. His first book was published when he was fifteen. He won the Whitbread Book Award, for his autobiography in 1988. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in the UK, the medal of excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers, and a Person of the Year award in Ireland.
Early life
Christopher Nolan was born to parents Joseph and Bernadette Nolan. He grew up in Mullingar, IrelandMullingar
Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...
. Due to asphyxiation at birth, Christopher was born with permanent impairment of his "nerve-signaling system, a condition he says is now labelled dystonia
Dystonia
Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder, in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. The disorder may be hereditary or caused by other factors such as birth-related or other physical trauma, infection, poisoning or reaction to...
." Because of these complications, Nolan was born with cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
, and could only move his head and eyes. Due to the severity of the cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
, he used a wheelchair. In an interview, his father, Joseph, explained how, at the age of 10, he was placed on medication that "relaxed him so he could use a pointer attached to his head to type." To write, Nolan used a special computer and keyboard; in order to help him type, his mother, Bernadette Nolan, held his head in her cupped hands while Christopher painstakingly picked out each word, letter by letter, with a pointer attached to his forehead.
He communicated with others by moving his eyes, using a signal system. When he was young, his father told him stories and read passages from James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
and D.H. Lawrence to keep his mind stimulated. His mother strung up letters of the alphabet in the kitchen, where she kept up a stream of conversation. His sister, Yvonne, sang songs and acted out skits. His mother stated that "he wrote extensively since the age of 11 and went on to write many poems, short stories and two plays, many of which were published."
Mature work
Upon becoming a teenager, Nolan received his education from the Central Remedial Clinic SchoolCentral Remedial Clinic
The Central Remedial Clinic is a non-residential national centre for the care, treatment and development of children and adults with physical disabilities in Ireland...
, Mount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school located in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, originally notable as the first multi-denominational public school under Protestant management to open in Dublin....
and at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. His first book was published when he was fifteen; he was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in the UK, the medal of excellence from the United Nations Society of Writers
United Nations Society of Writers
The United Nations Society of Writers is a club for United Nations staff registered with the United Nations Staff Socio Cultural Commission in Geneva, and is known under the acronyms UNSW and SENU, corresponding to Societé des écrivains des Nations Unies...
, and a Person of the Year award in Ireland. At the age of fifteen, he published his collection of poems titled "Dam-Burst of Dreams." He wrote an account of his childhood, Under the Eye of the Clock, published by St. Martin's Press, which won him England's Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 1987 at the age of 21. He soon dropped out of Trinity College to write a novel entitled The Banyan Tree (1999).
Nolan spent more than a decade writing The Banyan Tree. According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
the book is a multigenerational story of a dairy-farming family in Nolan’s native county of Westmeath. The story is seen through the eyes of the aging mother. It was inspired, he told Publisher’s Weekly, by the image of "an old woman holding up her skirts as she made ready to jump a rut in a field." A review of the book was done in The New York Times by Maghan O’Rourke. She reviews the book and relates it to James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, in the story the protagonist leaves his mother in Ireland while he moves on to travel the world. Nolan however, gives the reader a version of the mother’s story. "And so, in the end, one suspects that he wants Minnie's good-natured, commonplace ways to stand as their own achievement, reminding us that life continues in the places left behind."
While working on his new novel, suddenly on February 20, 2009, Nolan abruptly died at 43. However, nothing has been released from the book since his death.
Death
Christopher Nolan died at age 43 in Beaumont hospitalBeaumont Hospital, Dublin
Beaumont Hospital, is a public hospital located in Beaumont, Dublin, Ireland. It is managed by the Irish Government's Health Service Executive and provides acute-care hospital services, including a 24-hour emergency department, for the population of Dublin. In 2008, the hospital served 149,559...
in Dublin at 2:30 am February 20, 2009. He died after a piece of salmon became trapped in his airway. Irish president Mary McAleese
Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
, upon hearing the news, said:
Minister for Arts Martin Cullen
Martin Cullen
Martin Cullen is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála for the Waterford constituency. Cullen was a member of Seanad Éireann and served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government , Minister for Transport and Minister for Social and Family Affairs and...
TD reflected that people should draw inspiration from Nolan's life. “With grace and courage, and with the support of his family, he never gave up and he never gave in [...] His bold creativity has ensured a written legacy."
Publications
Nolan’s autobiography Under the Eye of the Clock (published 1987), won the Whitbread Award and was named Book of the Year. Although it’s an autobiography it is narrated by a fictional character named Joseph Meehan who details Nolan’s life as a third-person biography. The book reveals the deep relationship between Nolan and his mother, whom he calls Nora. Under the Eye of the Clock shows how Nolan’s parents engaged him in conversation and outdoor activities like hiking and horseback riding. Under the Eye of the Clock was a best seller in Britain and the United States. Nolan’s writing style is often compared to James Joyce, and Dylan Thomas. Critics also point out Nolan’s distinct writing style omits articles and uses participle construction other than relative clauses.Nolan wrote The Banyan Tree (published 1999), in perspective of a country woman, Minnie O’Brien. The novel spans 80 years of Minnie’s life, cutting from present to past to show the individuality of a woman and a mother who is determined to save the family’s farm. The Philadelphia Inquirer appreciated "Nolan's soaring language and lilting alliterative style suffuse [...] much of the book with a sense of the miraculous" and the New York Times Book Review found it
"richly-evenly baroquely-told [...] Nolan writes with verve."
Dam Burst of Dreams (published 1981), provided Nolan critical acclaim that compared him to the works of William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
and James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
. The collection was published four years after Nolan was administered Lioresal but some of the poems were written when Nolan was just 12 years old. The title of the collection emphasized the theme surrounding most of the poems, the overflow and release of his mental intellect. His poems in the collection are heavy with alliteration, and incorporate words invented by Nolan utilizing the combination of pre-existing root words.
Influences and mentors
Nolan often discouraged inquiries about his literary influences. During an interview he once wrote: "Everything is an influence to a person trapped in a nightmare!" Nolan's enthusiasm for literature however was largely attributed to his father's appreciation of James JoyceJames Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, and D.H. Lawrence. Every night his father would read him several passages from Joyce's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
and other poetic works. Listening to such pieces not only kept Nolan stimulated but piqued his interest in writing his own poetry.
In a poetry competition hosted by the British Spastics Society, Nolan received praise from writer Edna Healey
Edna Healey
Edna May Healey, Baroness Healey , née Edmunds, was a British writer, lecturer and filmmaker.-Life and career:...
, wife of then Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey
Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey CH, MBE, PC is a British Labour politician, who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.-Early life:...
. As a judge of the competition she was one of the early recognizers of Nolan's writing abilities. Healey was later invited as a guest on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
program titled "The World this Weekend." On the broadcast in response to the question "what was the most impressive moment," she remarked that reading Nolan's work: "Was the highspot of my year."
When enrolling for secondary school, Nolan's family struggled to convince educators that Nolan would be able to function in a regular class setting. Mount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school located in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, originally notable as the first multi-denominational public school under Protestant management to open in Dublin....
headmaster John Medleycott, believed it was possible to devise a set-up to accommodate Nolan:
Thanks to Medleycott, Nolan was accepted into Mount Temple and later was received by Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
after Medleycott provided a personal recommendation.
Pop culture
Nolan's life story and works have been referenced to in several musical works. Rock band U2U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, whose members attended school with Nolan, wrote their song "Miracle Drug
Miracle Drug
"Miracle Drug" is the second track from U2's 2004 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. It was written about the late Irish writer Christopher Nolan, with whom the band attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School...
" (from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is the eleventh studio album by Irish rock band U2, released in November 2004. Much like their previous album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was commercially successful and critically acclaimed and maintains a more traditional rock...
) about him.
Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
said of Nolan:
On R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
's 1988 Green album, the song "The Wrong Child" was inspired by Nolan's memoir Under the Eye of the Clock. The song deals with a child who wishes play with his peers outside but is instead laughed at. Throughout the song the refrain "I'm not supposed to be like this / But it's okay" is repeated several times.
Nolan was once approached by a Los Angeles film producer who was interested in making his biography into a movie. Nolan declined the offer and responded:
Honours
Every year, his secondary school Mount Temple Comprehensive SchoolMount Temple Comprehensive School
Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school located in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, originally notable as the first multi-denominational public school under Protestant management to open in Dublin....
holds an award show in his honour.
The "Eye Of The Clock Awards" are hosted in the last week of school for all students.
These awards are given to students for extraordinary efforts in school and are inspired by Nolan's efforts in school.