Ed. Kevin Barry, Tom Dunne, Richard Kearney and Edna Longley

CONTENTS

Hubert Butler, ‘The Children of Drancy’, pp. 1-6. Discusses to the lack of detailed information relating to the murder of 4,051 Jewish children in Poland under Nazi domination and the part played by science in the pogrom; quarrels C. P. Snow’s theory of two cultures, siding wth F. R. Leavis; contrasts the treatment of W. B. Yeats and Ezra Pound as Fascists with that meted out the principals of the Siemens Corporation, who were never brought to book for their complicity in Nazi slavery; cites from the diary of Francois Mauriac.

A. M. Gallagher, ‘Identity and Idealogy in Northern Ireland: a psychological perspective’, pp.7-14. Discusses the impact of violence in Northern Ireland on youth culture among Catholics and Protestants, using Social Identity Theory, as well as Micheal Billig and Antonio Gramsci on ideology to outline possible problems associated with integrating communities in conflict; argues that Northern Ireland has never had liberal democratic leadership and therefore lacks an accepted pattern of social behaviour, the primary goal being ‘simply to win’.

Ronan Fanning, et al., ‘Nationalist Perspectives on the Past: A Symposium’ Pt. [I]: The U.C.D. Debate, (a) Ronan Fanning, ‘The Meaning of Revisionism’, pp.15-19. Defines ‘revisionism’ as the modern method of historical analysis; sees opponents of revisionism as wishing to retain existing historical myths and thus a hinderance to progress; draws support from Roy Foster, ‘We are all revisionists now’ [Irish Review, No.1 1986], and refers to David Beresford, ‘Ten Dead Men’ and Margaret O’Callaghan’, ‘Irish Nationalism and Cultural Identity’; also quotes W. B. Yeats ‘Leader of the Crowd’. (b) Desmond Fennell, ‘Against Revisionism’, pp. 20-26. Acknowledges the role of new historical methods in reading Irish history but regards Irish historical revisionism as a ‘new moral interpretation’ of already documented facts resulting in the exculpation of the British in the Northern Ireland crisis; refers specifically to F. S. L. Lyons’s radio lecture in 1971; criticises Fanning’s assumption that anti-revisionist historians fear, not a revision of facts, but a revision of their faith; believes Irish Nationality is not a faith but a practical moral standing.

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Arthur Green, ‘Nationalist Perspectives on the Past: a symposium’, [Pt. II]: ‘Unionist Horizons’, pp.27-32. Condemns the logocentric viewpoint of Irish Nationalisms, alluding to the separatist ideals of Daniel O’Connell, Arthur Griffith, Erskine Childers and de Valera; claims that Irish cultural nationalism has caused hardship in both communities; expresses approval of the unionists acceptance of the fundamental distinct traditions of identity in Ulster in comparison with essentially more conservative belief in a united Irish people held by Nationalist intellectuals; admits the growing affinities with Europe but regards the rejection of Britain as childish and provincial; quotes in conclusion Chaudhuri’s reflection on the choice between ‘revolving round ourselves to die or of revolving round a sun to live’.

Stefan Collini, ‘Nationalist Perspectives on the Past: a symposium’, [III]: ‘British Historians and their Nationalist Past’, pp. 32-39. Contrasts the reception given by French politician and the French public commemorating the bicentennial of 1789 with the equivalent tribute paid to the Conservative revolution of 1688 in Britain, noting that the French historians enjoy more attention than their British counterparts; sees this situation in terms of the closer relationship between French political present and its historical reference points; expresses a desire for a identification of past and present in British historical tradition.

Micheal D. Higgins, ‘Regional Policy: Rhetoric, illusion or socialist strategy?’, pp.40-45. Discusses objectives in the Draft Theory of the Single European Act regarding ‘the progressive elimination of the existing imbalances between the Regions’; enlarges on the challenge to ‘give away advantages that make us richer and them poorer’; questions the amount of genuine commitment to regionalism and outlines the real possibility of failure to meet the aforesaid challenge within an Internal European Market; expresses hopes that socialist aspirations will be realised.

John A. Murphy, ‘A Catholic College: U.C.C. in the 1940s and 1950s, Part II’, pp.46-51. Draws attention to the continuing Catholic ethos in U.C.C., paying particular attention to the period from 1945 onwards; considers the influential role of Catholicism in students’ lives; notes a contradiction between the professedly non-denominational charter of the University and the dominant educational philosophy, i.e., that knowledge, faith and life should all be integrated; highlights the achievements of Alfred O’Rahilly and Professor James Hogan during their periods at the university, remarking the impressive eclecticism of their multi-disciplinary interests.

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Shaun Richards, ‘To Bind the Northern and the Southern Stars: Field Day in Derry and Dublin’, pp.52-58. Speculates on the inherent messages, political and personal, in Stewart Parker’s ‘Pentecost’ premiered in the Guildhall in 1987; finds the emotional perspective of the individual, which involves themes of loss and suffering, affecting; less impressed with the nostalgic portrayal of a political way forward; includes remarks on Frank McGuinness’s ‘Carthaginians’ and Graham Reid’s ‘Ties of Blood’.

David Lloyd, ‘Writing in the Shit: Nationalism and the Colonial Subject’, pp.59-65. Discusses the ‘ethics of subjectivity’ in the post-colonial stance of Nationalist Ireland; proposes that the Irish writer should reflect the collective identity of the Irish people on the basis that only national literature is true literature; believes the ‘normalising’ effect of national literature is needed to balance instabilities in Irish culture exacerbated by the departure of Irish writers overseas and also the influx of English culture on the Irish scene.

Kevin Horan, ‘Refloating the Ark: figural motifs in the writing of Francis Stuart’, pp.66-72. Evaluates works by Francis Stuart involving themes of loss and redemption, exile and homecoming, and his underlying hopeful perspective; studies the increasing self-determination of language in Stuart’s exploratory works and focuses on the biblical analogies and notions of moral conscience; compliments the quality of his efforts in redeeming mythology without fortifying any single interpretation.

Michelle O’Riordan, ‘Historical Perspectives on the Gaelic Poetry of The Hidden Ireland ‘, pp.73-81. Expresses concern about a lack of detailed study of eighteenth-century Gaelic poetry and notes disproportionate attention to other periods of literature in Irish; criticises account of the decline of the Irish language; emphasises the importance of understanding the social and political stance of the Bardic poets, the clergymen and the elite, as well as insight into land management, secret societies and political outrages of the period.

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Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, ‘Four Poems’, pp.82-85. ‘Caitlín’, ‘Hotline’, ‘An Slad’, ‘Titim i ngrá’ [poems].

Tom MacIntyre, ‘Vae Victis’, pp.86 [poem].

Brendan Donnelly, ‘Orange’; ‘North’, pp.87 [poems].

John Kelly, ‘Girl with a Double Bass’; ‘The Saint Gabriel’s Day Massacre’, pp.87-88 [poems].

Ciarán Carson, ‘Schoolboys and Idlers of Pompeii’, pp.89-91 [poem].

Peter McDonald, ‘Jump or Get Pushed’, pp.92-97; review of Tom Paulin, Fivemiletown, (London: Faber and Faber); and The Hillsborough Script: A Dramatic Satire, (London: Faber and Faber). Outlines the fundamental storylines, themes and caricatures of both books and analyses Paulin’s attitudes towards provincialism, politics and identity in Protestant Ulster; traces the progress within Paulin’s own work and includes an extract from Louis MacNeice’s, The Strings are False.

Tom Dunne, ‘Some Nationalist and Internationalist dimensions of Anglo-Irish literature’, pp.98-101, review of David Lloyd, Nationalism and minor literature, James Clarence Mangan and the emergence of Irish culture nationalism, (California UP 1987).

Barry Sloan, The pioneers of Anglo-Irish fiction 1800-1850, (Colin Smythe: Gerard’s Cross 1986); Richard Davis, The Young Ireland movement, (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan 1987); Wolfgang Zach and Heinz Kosok eds., Literary interrelations: Ireland, England and the world, Vol. I. Reception and Translation, Vol. II. Comparison and impact, Vol.III. National images and stereotypes, (Tubingen: Guntar Narr Verlag 1987). Reviewer rates Lloyd as most sophisticated student of nineteenth-century nationalist literature and particularly the complex texts of Mangan.

George O’Brien, ‘The Revival’s Prose and Cons’, review of John Wilson Foster, Fictions of the Irish Literary Revival: A Changeling Art, (New York: Syracuse Univ. Press, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan), pp.102-04. Commends the intellectual range in this piece and feels the reintroduction of texts, which have been long overlooked, is a worthy addition; remarks on omitted writers such as AE and John Ervine, and presumes this text to be Foster’s own final word on the revival.

Clare O’Halloran, ‘Image Systems and National Identity’, review of Joseph Th. Leersson, Mere Irish and Fior-Ghael: Studies in the idea of Irish nationality, its literary expression and development, (John Benjamins Publishing Company: Amsterdam and Philadelphia), pp.104-06. Leersson charts the evolution of Irish nationalism, highlighting various areas of significance; O’Halloran is critical of his limited treatment of certain points such as the English representation of Ireland though his section on Gaelic poetry is more satisfactory; honours Leersson’s own scholarly credits but faults his accounts for their over simplistic nature.

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Peter McDonald, ‘Home and Away’, review of Paul Durcan, Going Home to Russia, (Belfast: Blackstaff Press); Bernard O’Donoghue, Poaching Rights, (Dublin: The Gallery Press), pp.106-09. Admires the unique quality of Durcan’s poetry and finds his theme of the ‘relocation of home’ fresh and intriguing; praises the lack of sentimentality in O’Donoghue’s treatment of his home town as well as his realistic accounting of the economic and social position of life in rural Ireland.

Edna Longley, ‘Missing Links’, review of Alan Heuser ed., Selected Literary Criticism of Louis MacNeice, (Oxford: Clarendon Press); Daniel Murphy, Imagination and Religion in Anglo-Irish Literature 1930-1980, (Dublin: Irish Academic Press), pp.109-12. Acclaims Heuser’s adept selection of reviews and articles but , however, is captious of the publishing restrictions which limit the text in areas such as his relationships with his contemporaries.

Richard Pine, ‘Revised Version’, review of Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde, (London: Hamish Hamilton), pp.112-16. Reckons that the reader may have expected too much from Ellmann’s book based on his prior achievements as he finds fault with his attempts at synthesizing an analysis of the man and his works; however, he is excited by the detailed and perceptive viewpoint as well as the inclusion of some, otherwise unknown or disregarded, letters and articles, all of which add to this impressive account.

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