An Dantomine Eerly

“But now this,” I thought, “now there’s this, . . . a truly novel occurrence, a mind! Of mine, of mine!” Phenomenal, petrified.

You are invited to witness Dallin’s passage into death. The ailing poet distantly recalls his own life in the language of a damaged psyche and the symbols of a spirit upended by violent transformation. In this, memories abound: an old, wind beaten house where a palpable absence suggests a past but somehow still-looming tragedy; vacancy permeates a ghostly barroom and the campus of a condemned university; city streets and desolated forests are populated by no one except the changing formulations of Dallin’s own mind. His inner conflict reigns, and the geography takes on the disorientation and divisiveness at the center of us all. Along with his wife Aìsling, the two flee an obscure political persecution which leads to her graphic, methodically planned murder. The impact of her death afflicts a lone Dallin in ways he cannot comprehend, spiraling him headlong into his meeting with the mythic celestial escort, An Dantomine Eerly.

This intensely original novel is a skillful retelling of the old Irish poetic form the aìsling, literally meaning “dream vision” or “vision-poem.” As reader you are personally addressed, called to the role of interpreter and revelator, allowing the story to unfold towards its strange, genre-defying conclusion. Through you, this story affords its telling; Dallin sends his regards.

JARRET RICHARD DEVLIN MIDDLETON was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1985. He has studied writing at Concordia University and the University of New Hampshire, and written on the road in the U.S. while living in Boston, Montréal, Philadelphia, New York City, and New Hampshire. An Dantomine Eerly is his debut novel.

Cover painting by Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, Le Rêve; 1883Cover design by Blake Marquis

Text design by Third Day Design

Illustrated text by Rachel Dorothy Blowen

An Dantomine Eerly follows the last recollections of the Irish-American poet Dallin, as the mythic celestial escort, An Dantomine Eerly, ushers him into death.  Written in dazzling poetic prose, current readers of fiction will appreciate an engaging, original read and the rewards of a visionary debut author.

An Dantomine Eerly follows the last recollections of the Irish-American poet Dallin, as the mythic celestial escort, An Dantomine Eerly, ushers him into death.  Written in dazzling poetic prose, current readers of fiction will appreciate an engaging, original read and the rewards of a visionary debut author.

A skillful re-conception of the old poetic form the aisling,—literally meaning “dream vision” or “vision-poem”—An Dantomine Eerly follows the recollections of the Irish-American poet Dallin as he makes his passage into death.  Along with his wife Aìsling, the two flee an obscure political persecution which leads to her graphic, planned murder.  His inner conflict reigns, and the impact of  Aìsling’s death afflicts a lone Dallin in ways he cannot comprehend, spiraling him headlong into his own death and his meeting with the mythic celestial escort, An Dantomine Eerly.

“But now this,” I thought, “now there’s this, . . . a truly novel occurrence, a mind! Of mine, of mine!” Phenomenal, petrified.

You are invited to witness Dallin’s passage into death. The ailing poet distantly recalls his own life in the language of a damaged psyche and the symbols of a spirit upended by violent transformation. In this, memories abound: an old, wind beaten house where a palpable absence suggests a past but somehow still-looming tragedy; vacancy permeates a ghostly barroom and the campus of a condemned university; city streets and desolated forests are populated by no one except the changing formulations of Dallin’s own mind. His inner conflict reigns, and the geography takes on the disorientation and divisiveness at the center of us all. Along with his wife Aìsling, the two flee an obscure political persecution which leads to her graphic, methodically planned murder. The impact of her death afflicts a lone Dallin in ways he cannot comprehend, spiraling him headlong into his meeting with the mythic celestial escort, An Dantomine Eerly.

This intensely original novel is a skillful retelling of the old Irish poetic form the aìsling, literally meaning “dream vision” or “vision-poem.” As reader you are personally addressed, called to the role of interpreter and revelator, allowing the story to unfold towards its strange, genre-defying conclusion. Through you, this story affords its telling; Dallin sends his regards.

JARRET RICHARD DEVLIN MIDDLETON was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1985. He has studied writing at Concordia University and the University of New Hampshire, and written on the road in the U.S. while living in Boston, Montréal, Philadelphia, New York City, and New Hampshire. An Dantomine Eerly is his debut novel.

Cover painting by Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, Le Rêve; 1883Cover design by Blake Marquis

Text design by Third Day Design

Illustrated text by Rachel Dorothy Blowen

As the Irish-American poet Dallin lay dying he recalls the surreal geography and traumatic events that lead to his end.  An absence in a wind-beaten house suggests a past but somehow still-looming tragedy; vacancy fills a ghostly barroom and the campus of a condemned university; city streets and desolated forests are populated by no one except the formulations of Dallin’s own mind.  The ailed poet and his beautiful, haunting wife Aìsling flee an obscure political persecution that culminates in her planned murder.  The impact of her death afflicts Dallin in ways he cannot comprehend and spirals him into his meeting with the mythic celestial escort, An Dantomine Eerly.

An Dantomine Eerly is fine experimental writing, using narrative techniques, dream-world symbolism, and a poetic style of prose that takes up John Banville’s admittance “to blend poetry and fiction into some new form.”  The novel itself is a re-conception of the 17th century Irish poetic form of the aisling, meaning “dream vision” or “vision poem.”  As Dallin confronts his moment of death, the book assembles itself as a collage of the affinities, falsehoods, and absurdities of memory and reality. 

Comparisons to pre-discovery Chuck Palahnuik (Fight Club) and early David Foster Wallace (The Broom Of The System) have been made, as well as the influence of older, experimental works.  The result is a stylized exploration of the infinite world through the microscope of Middleton’s ill-fated narrator, and above all, a promising debut.

JARRET RICHARD DEVLIN MIDDLETON was born in Boston, Massachussetts in 1985, and spent most his life at his home in seacoast New Hampshire.

His first novel, An Dantomine Eerly, is an unorthodox narrative that follows the last self-revealing thoughts of the Irish-American poet Dallin as he passes into death.  The book was released in March of 2010 by Dark Coast Press in Seattle.

From 2002–2005 Jarret acted as organizer, spokesperson, and editor for many radical left groups.  His essay, An Open Letter Concerning The Student Left, was his last political piece from that time and was published in Slingshot Magazine (#87, Summer 2005) and released in a large print-run booklet.

Jarret studied writing at Concordia University and the University of New Hampshire, leaving college after two years to travel the U.S. and write.  His early works include: Station Wagon Nightmares, a travel chronicle of six months on the road, and the chapbooks Misery State Veterans and I-LXIV, along with screenplay collaborations in New York. Middleton’s work is lyrical, abstract, erudite and playful, strictly adhering to a belief that literature is best not when it is "about" experience, but is experience itself.  He lives in Seattle, WA.