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Irish Emigrant Book Review, No.59 (June 2000)
Collected Short
Stories by James Plunkett
- Reissued to coincide with the author’s eightieth birthday, many of the
stories in this collection will be familiar, not least to those who sat
state examinations in Ireland in the 1980s. The majority are set in Plunkett’s
own city of Dublin, the stories reflecting the many facets of life in
the capital, from the drudgery of office life, the poverty of so many
of its citizens, the narrowness of rural life and the fight for freedom
impinging on many lives. “Janey Mary” and “Weep for our Pride” reveal
in different ways the effects of poverty on childhood; Janey Mary is deprived
of love, sustenance and education and the author draws an analogy between
her physical suffering and that of the crucified Christ. The hurt suffered
by young Peter Farrell is both the physical punishment meted out at school
and the pain of humiliation, of being laughed at for his unconventional
footwear. Poverty of a lesser kind leads young Michael Kavanagh to steal
money from a small child, money that ultimately leads to feelings of shame
and unworthiness.
Poverty of spirit permeates the story of schoolmaster Purcell in “The
Wearin’ of the Green”. Here we have the essence of the Irish small town,
jointly run by the clergy and the patriot turned businessman, who jealously
guard their positions of power from Purcell the intruder. Eventually his
efforts to involve the young people in musical activities beings him into
conflict with the narrow minds of the powerful, and he leaves the town.
It is in the final lines, as in so many of Plunkett’s stories, that the
author’s mastery of his craft is confirmed, for always there is the twist
which takes the reader one step beyond the obvious. Betrayal and human
weakness, pride and trust, are shown through the characters portrayed
in this fine collection from the author’s keen observation of his fellowmen,
and in particular his fellow Dubliners.
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The Gatemaker
by Christine Dwyer Hickey
- Although I have approached this book from the wrong end, since I have
not yet encountered the other books in the trilogy, Ms Dwyer Hickey’s
wonderfully evocative language makes this a work to savour in its own
right. Covering the war years and after in both Dublin and Belfast, the
narrative gives a true flavour of what it was to live through that time
in two contrasting societies and it is George, the middle son of The Dancer
and Greta, who moves between the two cities in a series of events that
leads to destruction for those with whom he comes into contact. Perhaps
the two most telling indications of the meaning of war are the German
airman’s view of Belfast before it is bombed, and Greta’s delight in and
determination to acquire the first oranges seen in Moore Street since
the 1930s. The lyrical description of Belfast from the air contrasts painfully
with the aftermath of the bombing, the reality of death and destruction,
and makes a mockery of the importance Greta attaches to a mere piece of
fruit.
The narrative is presented through the perspective of a number of characters,
notably the three brothers Herbert, George and Charlie, whose lives are
affected directly or indirectly by the actions of George. The final destruction
is the result of a fight that goes wrong, and the more innocent Herbert,
the Gatemaker of the title, bears the full brunt of the punishment meted
out. A wonderful cast of characters set in the faithfully reproduced atmosphere
of wartime Ireland and, above all, the beauty of the writing, has provided
a memorable reading experience and a determination to read both “The Dancer”
and “The Gambler”, to complete the trilogy.
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McCarthy’s Bar
by Pete McCarthy
- I can never resist an author who makes me laugh out loud, and Pete McCarthy’s
account of his rambles around Ireland in search of an identity falls easily
into this category. In a situation to which I can easily relate, this
son of an Irish mother and an English father has spent many years trying
to determine whether he is English or Irish, since he is seen as something
of a foreigner in both countries. McCarthy’s sense of belonging in Ireland
is grounded in the summers he spent in his mother’s home place in West
Cork, but he is enough of a realist to know that, while he may feel Irish,
it is an entirely different thing to be accepted as Irish. His journey
of discovery, with each step of the way annotated with the impressions
of William Thackeray during a similar tour, takes him from Cork to Dingle,
through Killarney to Bunratty. At the castle the security man, having
observed him on the video trying to break in over the eight-foot wall,
invites him in and arranges for the manager to usher him personally into
the banqueting hall. On to Galway then, to Dara Molloy on Inishmore and
to the Quiet Man-ery of Cong in Co. Mayo. The entire journey is the prelude
to a pilgrimage to Lough Derg where McCarthy is struck, as so many other
pilgrims have been struck, by the variations in the human foot, “calloused,
varnished, varicosed, tattooed and mucky”. One pair, belonging to an old
lady, had protuberances which prompt him to remark, “I thought I was ready
for anything, but I hadn’t expected feet with antlers”.
Underlying the humour is a genuine desire to discover where he really
belongs, and the nearest he comes is in a conversation with Fr Dara Molloy
on Aran who talks of the special magic that some places hold for each
one of us, a kind of energy or spirit that cannot be put into words. According
to Fr Molloy, the Celts called this special place our “place of resurrection”.
However Pete McCarthy cannot remain serious for long, and he concludes
with a conversation he held with an elderly swimmer at the Forty Foot
in Dublin who told him simply, “This’d be a place for you to live”.
The Black Widow
by Niamh O’Connor
- This is one of two books recently published on the trial and conviction
of Catherine Nevin for the murder of her husband Tom at Jack White’s pub
in Brittas Bay, Co. Wicklow. The author has gathered together all the
facts of the case and has also attempted to reveal the woman behind the
carefully-groomed image presented to the press and public each day. We
are given an insight into Catherine Nevin’s motives for the murder, essentially
greed and a desire for power, and Ms O’Connor also chronicles the increasing
labyrinth of lies with which Ms Nevin endeavoured to exonerate herself
from complicity by blackening her husband’s reputation. It seems to be
universally accepted that Tom Nevin was essentially an easy going man
who was intimidated by his more forceful wife. With one marriage annulment
already behind him, he had no wish to burden his elderly mother with the
shame of a second failure, and so stayed with Catherine against his better
judgement. While laying the foundation for saving her own skin, by setting
up a situation in which the local gardai could be suspected of harassing
herself and her staff, Catherine was also astonishingly profligate with
statements of her intention to get rid of her husband, statements which
were remembered and used in evidence against her at the trial. While there
was considerable antagonism between herself and some members of the local
gardai, she had close relationships with retired Inspector Tom Kennedy
and Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla, both of whom were regular visitors to
the pub in Brittas Bay.
Ms O’Connor’s account of Catherine Nevin’s story is well-researched and
gives us a feeling for the Kildare woman’s character as it is now. What
it lacks, however, is any reference to her past, to what might have been
the contributing factors to the ruthlessness with which she pursued her
goal, complete ownership of all the properties owned by herself and her
husband. While there are a few lines devoted to her childhood, schooling
and early career, there is no attempt to convey how she was seen by others
in her early years, or what might have happened to turn her into the sociopath
who could plot and see to fruition a cold-blooded murder.
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Division and
Consensus
- The Politics of Cross-Border Relations in Ireland, 1925-1969 by Michael
Kennedy - The author’s credentials as a researcher are well in evidence
in this useful book. While he refers to the overall political activities
of the period, this is largely to put in context the main theme; the waxing
and waning of the relationship between the two jurisdictions in terms
of realpolitik. For example, he makes clear the background to the scramble
on both sides to resolve the dispute over the Boundary Commission. In
spite of the nationalistic rhetoric on both sides, both governments feared
the potential for instability in the South arising from the Commission’s
failure to emasculate the six county statelet and both moved quickly to
avoid this. Mr Kennedy refers to the good relationship which existed between
Craig and Cosgrave and to the attempts both made to foster better relations.
While this personal empathy led to no really concrete developments, (the
War of Independence and Civil War were simply too fresh in everyone’s
mind), nevertheless the atmosphere was not always mutually antagonistic.
However, the author is clear in his view that De Valera’s arrival in power
in 1932 led to a distinct deterioration in relations. He then goes on
to describe the tentative and tangled moves to establish more formal links
when Lemass took command.
Mr Kennedy shows the various “unofficial” contacts which developed between
civil servants and which were used by their political masters to avoid
public identification with cross-border co-operation. He also points out
that such co-operation occurred only when there were matters of pressing
mutual interest involved. Even then, it could take many years to make
progress. Political courage was obviously in short supply in those years
also. While Mr Kennedy says that the main thrust of his book covers co-operation
on electricity generation, control of Lough Foyle, and cross-border railways,
among other subjects, he is very clear on the wider political issues also.
For example, although the story has been covered in depth before, his
treatment of the development of the Northern “troubles” is very good and
shows clearly the inexorable slide into chaos during the 1960s. It is
obvious that the politicians on all sides were simply unable to visualise
the outcome of developments. They were continually optimistic (or foolhardy)
and seemed almost afraid to contemplate the ugly reality. However he does
make the point that the Wilson government had made preparations for military
intervention as early as February 1969, a Bill providing for direct rule
from London had been drafted and printed, and there had even been discussions
about expelling Northern Ireland from the UK!
Overall this is a well-written and interesting contribution to the study
of relations between North and South and provides a perspective other
than the usual direct political one.
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Ways of Old
by Olive Sharkey
- One of the authors drawn on by Olive Sharkey in her look at traditional
life in Ireland, first published in 1985, was Kevin Danaher, but many
of the drawings in this intriguing book were produced by the author following
visits to a number of museums on both sides of the Irish sea. “Ways of
Old” is a trip down memory lane for anyone who has had any contact with
farming ways up to the mid-20th century, and some of the implements featured
have delightful names. I particularly like wooden noggins and piggins
(used for holding milk and porridge), the gurry-but, a farmyard cart,
and the implement used by spinners for winding wool, known as the wooden
niddy-noddy. Explanatory text accompanies the drawings, interspersed with
the author’s own reminiscences of life in the midlands of Ireland in her
parents’ and grandparents’ time.
The Unfortunate
Fursey by Mervyn Wall
- This seems to be the season for reissues of favourite books, with Wolfhound
Press also republishing Mervyn Wall’s satirical novel. While chronicling
the life of this humble ex-monk from Clonmacnoise, the author manages
to take a sideswipe at a number of groups in the Ireland of 1946, being
particularly critical of the literary world when he puts into the mouth
of Cuthbert, the sorcerer sexton, the aspiration of making a gargoyle
“...half-human. I hope to pass him off as a minor man of letters”. Wall’s
condemnation of the Irish people is modified by the Devil’s statement
that “...the country and most of the people are all right; what’s wrong
with this land is the hard-fisted few that have and hold it”, a statement
that surely has contemporary echoes. Also applicable now as then is the
belief of the clergy that “the Native Irish demons...are far superior
to the foreign brands. The chastity of the Irish demon is well-known and
everywhere admitted”. The clergy themselves do not escape censure; the
Devil finally makes terms with the clergy of Ireland and confirms his
part of the bargain by saying, “I will stamp the foreheads of your priesthood
with my own particular seal - the seal of pride”. The unfortunate Fursey
finally triumphs over his enemies by becoming one of Ireland’s first emigrants.
In Search of
the Living God by Roy Warke
- Roy Warke, the former Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross,
is the author of a series of Biblical reflections entitled “In Search
of the Living God”. Taking his texts in chronological order from the Books
of the Bible, the author’s stated aim is to examine what the word of God
means in our lives today. The 63 reflections were originally the subject
of sermons given by the former bishop both in his Dublin parish and in
his diocese.
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Political Ideas
in Eighteenth-Century Ireland ed. S. J. Connolly
- This collection of eight essays, examining the range of political thought
in Ireland in the 18th century, originally formed a series of lectures
in 1998 at the Folger Institute in Washington DC. Covering the political
thought of the Anglo-Irish, the Ulster Presbyterian and Catholic traditions,
and the interaction between these differing ideas, the essays explore
the topics of conservatism, republicanism and nationalism from the arrival
of William of Orange in England in 1688 to the Irish rising of 1798. Among
the historians who contributed are Jacqueline Hill of NUI, Maynooth, Professor
J.G.A. Pocock of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Ian McBride of
Durham University and James Kelly of St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra.
An overview of the variety of political thought in the chosen period is
given in the introduction by the editor, who is Professor of Irish History
at Queen’s University Belfast.
Decoding Samara
by Patrick Deeley
- Taking as his theme the forces of nature, and trees in particular, Patrick
Deeley looks at our relationship past and present with our environment.
His opening poem, “Rathgar Pastoral”, imagines a ghostly presence of the
farm woman who once inhabited what has become a suburban garden, while
“By Cruagh Wood” looks to the future when a newly hatched grub will be
encased
“...in an amber bead,
to be discovered by a child
as yet unborn.......”
In “Yard Sticks” the poet recalls his relationship with the trees he used
for balancing or climbing, seeing them as purely practical in intent,
when “each tree implied furniture”. The further possibilities only came
to him
“...when, one day, I shelved a pencil behind my ear, blood and imagery
whispered to each other, slowly decoding samara, the keys.”
Patrick Deeley’s fourth collection of poems is marked by a tangible sense
of the woods, rivers and creatures that make up our living world.
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Oliver Cromwell
by Helen Litton
- The fifth in the Illustrated History series by this author endeavours
to separate the man from the myth, to reveal both the good and the bad
in the man who eventually became king in all but name. Cromwell’s reputation
in this country has no doubt suffered from some exaggeration, but there
is little doubt that he made little effort to halt the atrocities carried
out by his soldiers in both Drogheda and Wexford. His strategy of banishing
the native Irish “to Hell or Connaught” was necessary to release sufficient
land to recompense the soldiers who had fought for him in Ireland. Connaught
was chosen more for its isolating location between the Atlantic and the
Shannon than for the poor quality of its land; in fact the land in the
western province was in some cases superior to that in Ulster. As well
as a selection of illustrations, Ms Litton’s book is enlivened by the
inclusion of extracts from contemporary letters and memoirs.
The Song of
Amergin by Jan De Fouw
- Jan de Fouw takes as his starting point the mythical Song of Amergin,
said to have been chanted by the legendary poet when he first set foot
in Ireland in time beyond memory. For each assertion of “I am....”, he
adds his own reflection, linking the ancient words with an attempt to
find our own place in the universe. Each reflection is in turn accompanied
by the author’s own illustration, so that the words following the statement,
“I am a stag: of seven times”, bear a painting of a seven-branched set
of antlers dominating a much smaller depiction of a stag. De Fouw’s fascination
with initial letters is also reflected in the inclusion of a capital B
in one corner. In other examples the letter is incorporated into the painting,
as is the letter C in the illustration to “I am a salmon: in a pool”.
(Wolfhound Press, ISBN 0-86327-791-8, pp32, IR8.99) TOCCATA AND FUGUE
by JOHN F. DEANE- The poems in this collection address a variety of themes,
the brutality of life for both man and beast, the tradition and reality
of death, man’s relationship with nature. His encounter with an urban
fox in “A Real Presence” recalls him to his early life in Achill, while
the long poem, “Reynolds”, again links the past and the present; Reynolds,
the former labourer at the monastery whose lands have been taken over
by suburbia, finds himself a misfit in the new world, the only relic of
those who still remember the monks. Deane has sustained in this volume
the lyricism of language so evident in both his prose and poetry.
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The Aftermath
of Revolution, Sligo 1921-23 by Michael Farry
- Based on a doctoral dissertation, Michael Farry’s book sets out to examine
why the county of Sligo, which played a relatively minor part in the fight
for Independence, became a significant centre of hostilities during the
Civil War that followed it. In doing so he has cited the growing strength
of the IRA in the region at the time of the Truce, and the threat posed
to this body by the Treaty which led them to increased action. His study
takes in an analysis of the social effects of the Civil War on the region,
with regard to employment, sport, communications and the economy in general,
as well as focusing on the effects on society as a whole of the breakdown
in the system of policing and justice. The minority Protestant population,
many of whom left the county during these years, though those living within
the towns were more likely to remain. “The Aftermath of Revolution” brings
the subject of the Civil War in Ireland into focus for the general reader
by concentrating on one particular area of the country and looking at
all aspects of life during that turbulent period.
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