Diptych Before Dying
Thomas McGonigle
April 22, 2025
ISBN 9798218628567 / Paperback / 116 pages / $16.99

Following the death of his mother in the early 1970s, Thomas McGonigle embarked on two journeys with his elderly father: one to Newfoundland, the other to Mexico City. This memoir, which the author terms a "memory novel," is his reflection on his relationship with his father and the inevitably shifting bonds between parent and child. A translation of Diptych Before Dying appeared in 2020 in the Bulgarian literary magazine Syvremennik (Contemporary). This is the first publication of the original English version.

"There aren't many left who are willing—able—to read work like this, work that's high, thoughtful, complex, coming from the deep heart and from the great schools. I'm glad this one is in print. And I urge every last person in our dying world who wants to read a real book to pick this one up and dive in. Not many like it are still coming."
  — Eric Larsen (author of I Am Zoë Handke and An American Memory)

"Ever since Virgil pictured Aeneas carrying Anchises on his back, the trope of the father-son agon and journey has held a prominent place in the Western canon. Carrying forward the stylistic promise of the much admired Going to Patchogue, Thomas McGonigle has written a sorrowful and gripping memoir of both the journey and the agon."
  — James McCourt (author of Mawrdew Czgowchwz and Queer Street)

A translation of Diptych Before Dying appeared in 2020 in the Bulgarian literary magazine Syvremennik (Contemporary). This is the first publication of the original English version.