Irish Emigrant Book Review, No.76 (Nov 2001)

MAKING MY MARK by James MacIntyre
- One of the delights of this book is that the author has provided his own illustrations, mostly paintings or line drawings with a small number of photographs included, and thus we can follow the progression of his talent. “Making My Mark” is professedly a chronicle of James McIntyre’s life as an artist but it is much more. It gives a wonderfully atmospheric account of life in Belfast before and during the Second World War, at the same time explaining the events that led to his becoming a professional artist. All the familiar landmarks are here, Divis and Cave Hill, the shipyard and York Street, each a background to a particular part of McIntyre’s life. The games he played with his friends, the outings with his family and the excitements and dangers of the war years are evocatively described, none more so than his collaboration with the insect-obsessed Hookey on an illustrated book of specimens found in the area. While his parents didn’t actively discourage James’ interest in art, neither did they offer a great deal of encouragement, though his obvious talent helped them to accept finally that it was as an artist that he would spend his life. This was, however, after a spell spent as a messenger boy for a spinning mill and an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic, a period which almost ended in tragedy. While the young James’ artistic talents were recognized to varying degrees by his parents and his teachers, it was not until he was enrolled in a mechanical engineering class at Belfast College of Technology that he discovered there were classes in art available in the same building. Gradually he became drawn into the artistic circle in Belfast, which included Arthur Armstrong and the brothers George and Arthur Campbell, and equally gradually his paintings began to sell, though he also undertook design work in order to ensure some regularity of income. James McIntyre has presented a portrait of a young boy for whom drawing and painting were a necessary part of life, a boy who went everywhere accompanied by a sketch book and pencil, and a boy who was privileged to have parents who could supply him with the materials he needed to develop his talent. The text is absorbing and the accompanying illustrations add immeasurably to the narrative.

GOODLY BARROW by T.F. O’Sullivan
- First published in 1983, diplomat T.F. O’Sullivan’s tale of a journey down the River Barrow with his son reveals his interest in history and folklore as well as his knowledge and love of the waterways of Ireland. Introducing the reader to the geography, geology and etymology of the Barrow through a description of a walk from its source in the Slieve Bloom mountains, the narrative then embarks from Portnahinch Bridge above Portarlington on its journey to New Ross. The first landmark the voyagers encounter is Lea Castle and the author gives a history of the fortress from its beginnings in the 13th century to its use by Cathair na gCapall, the 18th century horse thief who escaped his pursuers by riding his horse up the steps to the battlements, leaping off and slipping into the Barrow to make his escape. Each town and village on the route travelled is afforded similar attention so that we learn of Monasterevin that Cork writer Frank O’Connor thought it “a horrid little hole”. Renowned tenor John McCormack’s association with the village is also mentioned, which leads the author to muse on the relative merits of McCormack’s appreciation of verse and Yeats’ abilities as a singer. The bridges and locks through which the O’Sullivans passed on their journey are given particular attention, as are the past and present glories of the Grand Canal. So through Athy and Carlow, Leighlinbridge, which boasts the oldest bridge on the river, and Graiguenamanagh, we are regaled with history, tradition and folklore, with tales of characters past and present, until we reach New Ross and journey’s end. It has been an interesting and educational journey, though the “Goodly Barrow” seems at times to take second place to the features on its banks. For those of a mind to re-enact the journey, however, this is remedied with maps and a detailed description of the various hazards to be encountered in negotiating Edmund Spenser’s “goodly Barrow”.

SAINT PATRICK’S CITY - THE STORY OF ARMAGH by Alf McCreary
- Alf McCreary’s book has set out to demonstrate the way in which the story of St Patrick is inextricably woven into the story of the North’s oldest city. He brings us a wonderfully human St Patrick, acknowledging the myths and legends along the way but concentrating on the knowledge gleaned from the saint’s own writings and from the few authenticated histories. Having firmly placed the patron saint within the general area of Armagh, the author takes us through the incredibly troubled history of the city, ravaged by wars and fires through the centuries. He touches on the action of Brian Boru choosing the site as his last resting place, the Battle of the Yellow Ford in which Sir Henry Bagnall lost his life and the Williamite wars of the late 17th century, which all took their toll on the city. However McCreary also deals at length with the clergy who helped to build Armagh, both physically and spiritually, and focuses on Dr James Ussher, Saint Oliver Plunkett and Archbishop Richard Robinson. It was the latter who, consecrated as bishop in the mid-18th century, set about the regeneration of Armagh with the erection of a number of buildings of great architectural merit as well as some of entirely practical application, such as the Shambles market area. The visitor to Armagh will be struck immediately by the two cathedrals facing each other on opposite hills, and the development of both buildings is given ample space in this book. There is a striking contrast between the ancient Church of Ireland site, where rebuilding and restoration has been an ongoing process for centuries, and the soaring Gothic architecture of the Catholic cathedral. The two buildings also symbolize in an easily definable way the subject of much of this book, the divisions and struggle for power between the two churches. However McCreary’s work makes a positive point in the development of the city, its educational and recreational opportunities and the benefits offered by the differing strands of its inhabitants. What is particularly outstanding about this study of Armagh, however is the quality of the many illustrations, the photographs in colour and black and white of people, places and events that have contributed to the present thriving state of St Patrick’s city.

ROUGH RIDES IN DRY PLACES by Gaye Shortland
- An alternative title for this novel, set in West Africa, might be “Lust in the Dust”, dealing as it does with an extraordinary mixture of cross-cultural, not to say cross-species amorous liaisons in Nigeria and Niger. The close encounters are described in some detail, a fact which might deter the more sensitive reader, but Ms Shortland’s novel is redeemed by her manic characters and their even more manic behaviour. The lives of the Western characters centre around the local university where each in his or her own way becomes embroiled in a torrid relationship with members of the indigenous people. Jan’s guilt-ridden obsession with her former lover’s younger brother, Simon’s farcical notion of having a baby with his Yoruba lover, who happens to be another man, and Ned’s attempts to buy a sixteen-year-old Tuareg bride are almost matched by Hetty Coleman’s over-exuberant relationship with her German Shepherd dog. This entire cast, along with a French woman fleeing from a violent husband, sets out on a journey across the border into Niger, for a number of personal reasons, and none seems to have achieved precisely what he or she was seeking. Add to this melange the theft of some priceless artefacts on loan from a Boston museum and the discovery that the party includes both the thief and a member of the secret police, and you have the ingredients for a hilarious novel which never flags from the first encounter between Ned and Jan. Much of the enjoyment stems from the authenticity of the characters and settings, obviously conceived from an intimate knowledge of the country and its people.

UNDER THE EYE OF THE MOON by Carmen Cullen
- Carmel Cullen’s whimsical collection of poetry for children covers a wide range from poetry of nature to poetry of the other world, with one or two character studies in between. The initial poems take the theme of seasonal flowers, and the delights of nature are extolled in a number of others including “Field Well”. Perhaps the most appealing are those categorized as “Truly Strange Poems”. In “A Band of Angels” the poet describes angels who are dissatisfied with a black and white world and “.. .. .. .. .. .. ..dip and paint Fur and feather, an outline rainbow, flowers of bower And glade.” The theme of the rainbow is continued in “Rainbow’s End”, where rainbows are stored “Fifty or more semicircles Leant up against a sky wall, like bicycles in a shed.” And are checked for “colour fade” by an overseer on a flying motorbike. “Granny’s Pet” paints a delightful picture of a traditional granny “soft as a big squeezy toy” who sits “.. .. .. .. .. .. posted for the evening by the fire, Taking a quick swig of tonic wine, trilling out a song; The slow pace of her last years right for the early steps of a child.” This is an unusual collection but it has something that will appeal to the child in all of us.

IRELAND’S HOLY WARS by Marcus Tanner
- This is an exhaustive study of the myriad disagreements, ranging from slight altercation to a fight to the death, which have been a hallmark of the relationship between the churches in Ireland over the past four hundred years. The struggle between Catholic and Protestant the author claims “resulted purely from Ireland’s position as England’s first and oldest colony”. Tanner takes as his starting point the differences between the Irish and the Old English, which were racial rather than theological. He traces the vicissitudes of life under the Tudors and Stuarts, when parts of the country, in an almost farcical fashion, had barely caught up with a change to the Protestant liturgy before being required to return once more to the Catholic practice. There is a certain irreverence in the tone adopted by the author, which can be judged, perhaps, from the description of the Archbishop of Cashel as “the appalling Miler Magrath.. .. a man of no known religious opinions who embezzled the property of all the dioceses and livings he held”, and this contributes greatly to the accessibility of the material. His delineation of the characters of the discord are noteworthy, and here we find many of the same cast members as mentioned by Alf McCreary in his book on Armagh. Bishops Ussher and Robinson feature, as do Oliver Cromwell and Edward Carson, though I think Tanner is a bit hard on Cardinal O Fiach, whom he describes as having “the coarse, fleshy features of a peasant” and who “resembled a prize fighter more than a cleric”. The massacres and wars of the 17th century, and the gradual shift of power from the Protestant to the Catholic hierarchy are treated at length, as is the prominent position of the clergy and religious in education and health during the 20th century, and the author brings us up to the present day, through the scandals of the 1990s, to the reality of a drop in church attendance and a dramatic fall in the number of vocations. A recurring theme is the role of women in the Catholic Church, moving from being totally supportive of the clergy to questioning their own status and demanding greater recognition. All in all, a thought-provoking book.

STEPPING STONES ed. Mark Carruthers & Stephen Douds
- An examination of the arts in Ulster over the last thirty years, this volume follows two earlier collections, “Arts in Ulster”, compiled by Sam Hanna Bell, John Hewitt and Nesca Robb and published in conjunction with the Festival of Britain in 1951, and Michael Longley’s 1971 work, “Causeway”. In “Stepping Stones” the contributors refer necessarily to the turbulence of the last three decades, though this is not the prime focus of the eleven essays. Contributors include Ophelia Byrne, curator of the Linen Hall Library’s Theatre and Performing Arts Archive, Dr Eamonn Hughes of Queen’s University and poet Frank Ormsby.

MAKING SPACE BY Francis Harvey
- Francis Harvey’s verses are redolent of the countryside which reared and nurtured him, and of the characters who people the northerly part of this island. His observation of the small detail, the mushroom’s “accordion-pleated beams” and the heron who is “all wings and no fuselage and probably hollow inside” capture the essence of his preoccupation with the natural world. He is equally at home in commenting on the vagaries of human nature. For the people of the north there is no real need for a gate where a bush or an old bedstead will do, but is “just something to lean on and stare..” There is a reality to the characters observed by Harvey, Old Thady in “Information for Tourists”, “.. .. .. that broken discarded man who totters on sticks between the mountain and the sea” is echoed in the description of Nahor, “.. that dour man with the quarried face and the gnarled hands lumped in his lap like turnips”. A preoccupation with age, with the wild landscape of Donegal and with stone imbue this collection of old and new poems.

IRISH VOLUNTEERS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Richard Doherty
- In his second book on the involvement of Irish people in the Second World War (See review of “Irish Men and Women in the Second World War - October, 1999), Richard Doherty continues the story of the large numbers of Irish who played their part in the conflict. There was no area in which the Irish were not represented and the author covers members of all branches of the armed forces as well as those whose contribution was from a civilian perspective. Sometimes the danger came from Allies rather than the opposition, as when the Irish coaster Kerlogue was mistaken by a Polish air crew for a French vessel, and was bombed in the Bay of Biscay. One particular volunteer who seems to have led a charmed life was Dermot Clarke who managed to escape death despite his association with four different ships which were all attacked. Of Irish people who were involved in the resistance movement perhaps the best known is writer Samual Beckett, but another whose background and skill earned her a Royal commendation was Maureen O’Sullivan, of Irish and German parentage and with an ability to speak French, German and Flemish. The military campaign in the North African desert and in Italy are chronicled, with the deeds of the Irish members of the Artillery, as is the invasion of Europe and the Irish presence in Normandy. Not forgotten are the civilians who helped out in the bombing raids, such as George Cross winner Albert Heming who rescued a priest from the ruins of a church in East London. The missionaries serving in the Far East suffered their own casualties, as did members of support personnel not actively involved at the front. Irishmen in Germany ranged from those forcibly detained as prisoners of war or, in the case of Mary O’Shaughnessy, being sent to concenctration camps, to those who chose to work against the Allies, most notably the infamous William Joyce, Lord Haw-Haw. Doherty concludes with a chapter entitled “Reflections”, detailing the memories of some of the volunteers who survived the war, among them Tyrone man J.J. Doherty. While stationed in Egypt J.J. undertook to write letters to the family of Sister Richard Coyle, a Derry-born member of the Franciscan Order who had a convent nearby. Five years later, while on leave, he married Sister Richard’s sister Anna, who had chosen to answer his letters on behalf of the family.

BY SWERVE OF SHORE by Michael Fewer
- First published in 1998, “By Swerve of Shore” has much in common with T.F. O’Sullivan’s “Goodly Barrow”, though in this instance the author follows the seashore rather than the course of a river. The title gives the clue to the shoreline being that of County Dublin and Michael Fewer sets out on a series of walks which take him from Balbriggan all the way down to the border with County Wicklow. In doing so he treats us to a detailed description of the flora and fauna encountered during the course of his travels, and takes detours down many historical, geological and archaeological byways to give an insight into the area which encompasses both time and place. Of especial interest are the characters he meets along the way, the elderly man from whom he enquires about a ruined building who told him, “I don’t remember it, but the older men around would”; the large woman with a towel worn as a turban who posed for her photograph; and the Traveller woman on the site at Blackrock whose only wish was for a permanent water supply. Fewer closes the book with a wistful look at the coast of Wicklow, wondering about a future journey.

PROTESTANT WOMEN’S NARRATIVES OF THE IRISH REBELLION ed. J. Beatty
- Writing either during or after the events surrounding the 1798 rebellion, this group of Protestant women, which includes novelist Maria Edgeworth, were able to give a different perspective on the rebellion from that offered by the male historians who were its chroniclers. The male members of their families were variously liberal or conservative and this is reflected in their view of these turbulent years. Most of the women were resident in County Wexford, the site of one of the pivotal atrocities against Protestant women, at Scullabogue, and their accounts reflect the threatening atmosphere of the time. Jane Barber, the 15-year-old daughter of a tenant farmer and draper, gives a harrowing account of her family’s fate when rebels overtook the town of Enniscorthy. Harried from pillar to post with little food or shelter, Jane was forced to take charge of her bewildered mother and her siblings after the death of her father. Happily, through the help of family and neighbours, Catholic and Protestant, the Barbers rebuilt their lives and “never afterwards knew what want was”. A very different account is given by Anne, Countess Dowager of Roden, who was persuaded to travel to Belfast and then to Scotland while the trouble raged at home, returning in September when all was quiet to find “all my family safe and in credit, not the least of our property injured or diminished”. Lady Roden laid her good fortune firmly at the door of Heaven, believing it to come from “the strength and spirit it pleased God to give me”, and also praised the goodness of those members of her own persuasion with whom she came into contact. The editor has also included a useful chronology of events for those less familiar with the historical dimension of 18th century Ireland.

THE FAIRY GLEN by Declan Carville & Brendan Ellis
- Declan Carville’s stories and the illustrations of Brendan Ellis have resulted in two new and attractively produced books for children. In helping “The Lost Seagull”, centred around Belfast and Killybegs, the young Brian learns a valuable lesson about his own home, while “The Fairy Glen” is a whimsical tale woven round the real place known by that name near Rostrevor in County Down.