This blog has launched the Restore Coraghessan Campaign — “the official international movement to bring back the beguiling middle name of author T.C. Boyle to all of his dust jackets and book covers.”
This blog has launched the Restore Coraghessan Campaign — “the official international movement to bring back the beguiling middle name of author T.C. Boyle to all of his dust jackets and book covers.”
As undergrads at USC, we used to refer to him as T. Corrosion.
Not, that I can recall, when he was around.
dear ed,
there already IS a pronunciation guide–anf it’s on my Frequently Asked Questions page! 🙂
Q: How do you pronounce Coraghessan and what is its origin?”
TCB: It’s Cor-AG-hessan, accent on second syllable. As you may know, this is an old Gaelic term meaning “Take two and call me in the morning.”
My mother’s maiden name is Post, but her mother was a McDonald. Somewhere on the Irish side of her family originates the name Coraghessan, which may be bastardized (as indeed I myself am). My father, incidentally, was a Boyle, but his father, Dublin born, may have changed his name to Boyle from God only knows what.
I suppose I’ll eventually dispense with it and just be “T.C.”[as he is in the English editions of his books]. In England my publisher thought “Coraghessan” was so aggressively Irish that their constituency would be put off. My friends call me “Tom”. (4/20/88)
I kept thinking Mr.Boyle was an Indian writer. The name sounded Indian/Ceylonnese to me.As well as the way he writes, very precise, like an Indian would, using it as his second language.
“Tom” is a bit disappointing……