The subtitle of Deep Probings is "The Autobiography of a Genius," a statement of such self-serving proportions as to be hugely refreshing if this really was the autobiography of Ian MacPherson. But no, this is a novel and the genius in question is Fiachra MacFiach, who starts the story of his life with the words "It is not for me to draw parallels between my own life and that of Christ." Convinced of his blessed destiny since birth, MacFiach's only problem is that the rest of the world doesn't seem quite so sure. There is his father, who expects him to go out and work in the fields with the other 16 MacFiach scions, who include in their number Fachtna, Fintan, Fadharta, F.X. and Fats.
Then there are the priests at school who just don't understand that Fiachra's time would be best spent writing his masterpiece, and punish him for such time-saving devices as drawing a map of Ireland without the six northern counties.
MacPherson's is a blackly comic first novel that quite blatantly and cheekily owes a huge debt to Flann O'Brien and to works like An Beal Bocht. Irony is a much-used - some would say over-used - conceit in comic novels and Deep Probings is no exception. "I left Ireland an embittered exile," wails MacFiach, adding: "It was the done thing." But it says a lot for MacPherson's skills at humorous writing that Deep Probings is, for the most part, very funny despite its lack of conceptual originality. Indeed it is often the most obvious parts of the book that are the funniest. But the greatest strength of Deep Probings is the constant playful reference to the work and characters of Irish literature - the passage describing Fiach's encounter with a certain S. Heaney, the "light versifier" who MacFiach finds posing as a Derry fishmonger, is quite brilliant.