Abridged, originating in Derry, you’d think we would be more influenced by local writing than something like The Waste Land. It’s not like we have much in common with Thomas Stearns. Maybe he would’ve been as appalled as Philip Larkin apparently was at The Honest Ulsterman. At any rate we prefer to bond with artworks rather than artists so to speak. We were for some reason attracted to the weird synthesis of directness and obliqueness, the obscure references, the mythic quality, the strange changes of tone, and it’s street level grandeur. There was also something music-like about it and also it helped that some of our favourite Leeds based musicians nicked quite a few lines from it. Much as we admire Seamus Heaney’s work, nobody cool in black leather, shades and a really good hat ever quoted his work that much. Though we may be wrong about that. Well, we were young and impressionable. In many ways we still are. And we consider that a good thing. So we thought we’d mark the 100th anniversary of its publication with a ‘The Violet Hour’ issue that’s accessible and esoteric and strangely mythic. Anyhow we hope you cool or uncool people like it. 

Thanks as always to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for their valued support. Also to Verbal and the Golden Thread Gallery and to all our advertisers. Not forgetting our contributors and readers. We couldn’t do it without you. We wouldn’t want to.   

Image by Rima Maroun.

Abridged is Supported by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.