The Miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly
The Miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: The Diary of a Schools Rugby Player is a 2000 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the first in the best-selling Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series. It was adapted from a series of columns by Howard in the Sunday Tribune.[1][2][3]
| Author | Paul Howard |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | D. Gorman |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ross O'Carroll-Kelly |
| Genre | Comic novel, satire |
| Set in | Dublin, 1998–1999 |
| Publisher | Sunday Tribune |
Publication date | 2000 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Pages | 127 |
| ISBN | 0-9526035-8-6 |
| 823.92 | |
| Followed by | Roysh Here, Roysh Now… The Teenage Dirtbag Years |
The title refers to the Lauryn Hill album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which refers in turn to Carter G. Woodson's book The Mis-Education of the Negro.
Background
The novel has many allusions to American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, from the many prolonged descriptions of the clothes worn by the characters to specific scenes such as Ross dispensing advice on the appropriate type of shoe to wear with chinos, which is taken almost word-for-word from a similar passage in Ellis's work. Several details were altered from the newspaper column; in the newspaper, Simon was the captain of the rugby team and lifted the trophy with the words "For Mom! For Dad! For Rock! For God!" — in the novel, Ross is captain. Howard observed that "in the early days I was trying to make the character [of Ross] as hateful as possible."[4]
Plot
Ross O'Carroll-Kelly attends Castlerock College (a portmanteau of Castleknock College and Blackrock College), a prestigious South Dublin private secondary school, where academe takes a back seat to rugby union. He aims to lead the school to the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup.
Release
Howard self-published the novel after several rejections, printing 5,000 copies and driving around Dublin selling copies to shops himself.[5][6] It was launched at Blackrock College RFC, where some members complained about the release of an "anti-rugby" book.[7]
The Miseducation Years
 | |
| Author | Paul Howard |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Alan Clarke |
| Cover artist | Alan Clarke |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ross O'Carroll-Kelly |
| Genre | Comic novel, satire |
| Set in | Dublin, 1998–1999 |
| Publisher | The O'Brien Press |
Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Pages | 246 |
| ISBN | 0-86278-852-8 |
| 823.92 | |
| Followed by | The Teenage Dirtbag Years |
In 2004, a revised and expanded edition, titled The Miseducation Years, was published.[8][9]
References
- Howard, Paul (August 17, 2000). "The miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly /". Sunday Tribune.
- Carey, Tim (November 3, 2016). Dublin since 1922. Hachette Books Ireland. ISBN 9781473620018 – via Google Books.
- Maher, Eamon; O'Brien, Eugene (November 1, 2015). From Prosperity to Austerity: A socio-cultural critique of the Celtic Tiger and its aftermath. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781526101471 – via Google Books.
- Howard, Paul. "20 years of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: Paul Howard's top 20 moments". The Irish Times.
- Kelly, Adam (August 24, 2017). "The Re-education of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly". Éire-Ireland. 52 (1): 49–77. doi:10.1353/eir.2017.0003.
- Tyaransen, Olaf. "Paul Howard opens up about Ross O'Carroll and Irish aristocrats". Hotpress.
- Siggins, Gerard. "How Ross O'Carroll-Kelly was born". The Irish Times.
- O'Carroll-Kelly, Ross (September 14, 2012). Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, The Miseducation Years. The O'Brien Press. ISBN 9781847174406 – via Google Books.
- Gorman, Clare (June 1, 2015). The Undecidable: Jacques Derrida and Paul Howard. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443883597 – via Google Books.