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Irish Emigrant Book Review, No.85 (Aug 2002)
The Liberator’s Birthday
by Jill Blee
- Using the Joycean device of compressing all the action into one day,
Jill Blee has presented a view of life in nineteenth-century Australia
as experienced by a group of Irish immigrants. Clothing fact with a cloak
of fiction, her third novel examines the way in which first- and second-generation
Irishmen and women are affected by the slump in the economy and the increasing
power of the church. The story is told through the eyes of Tommy Farrell,
the son of an immigrant couple who have prospered in the goldfields of
Ballarat, a prosperity that Christy is enjoying but that has left his
wife, Martha, over-ambitious for her family. The day which begins at eight
o’clock for Tommy is a special day in the history of Ballarat for it is
the centenary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell, and the town sets about
celebrating it with some gusto. The action rarely leaves the interior
of the Farrell’s bar, The Globe, where the cast of characters include
the drink-sodden O’Hehir who spends the day ’conversing’ with the Liberator,
his eye fixed on a point between two whiskey bottles high on a shelf.
While some disruption is caused by the workers and the unemployed who
frequent the bar, by far the most disruptive influence is the Dean, the
archetypal late nineteenth- century priest who presumes the right to order
each and every part of the lives of his parishioners. His relentless demand
for donations even manages to alienate the socially ambitious Christy,
but his bigotry has a far graver outcome for other members of the community.
Through dialogue the author contrives to relay the deeds of Daniel O’Connell
and much of the history of Ireland during the nineteenth century, while
at the same time maintaining the thread of the Farrell family story with
its sibling rivalry, conceit, its secret ambitions and disappointments.
An unusual mix of fact and fiction, “The Liberator’s Birthday” succeeds
in portraying the precariousness of life and love in the years following
the Australian gold rush.
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The Road To McCarthy
by Pete McCarthy
- A series of anecdotes, some hilarious, others extraordinary, a few deeply
moving, have been gathered by the author during a journey in search of
Irishmen which led him from Gibraltar to Morocco and on to New York, from
Tasmania to Montserrat and Butte, Montana, arriving back in Ireland after
a sojourn in Alaska. Much of the narrative concerns members of his own
clan, in particular the McCarthy Mor, a man from Dunmurry in Belfast now
living in Morocco who has managed to alienate the Irish government and
has been relieved of his title of clan chief. While his descriptions of
both places and people are rich with humour, McCarthy does not baulk at
introducing a serious note and this is particularly apparent in his search
for the Tasmanian sites associated with Francis Meagher and William Smith
O’Brien. Even more solemn is his decision to refrain from describing the
most recent horror to be associated with the island, the massacre of thirty-five
people in 1996. In his peregrinations Pete McCarthy intertwines his interest
in the McCarthy name with his admiration for the Young Irelanders in a
way which unifies what might otherwise seem to be a rather unstructured
series of impressions and character sketches. Thus on his way to Alaska
he stops off in Montana to pay tribute to Meagher, whose career after
his escape from Tasmania led him to the position of governor of that State.
Similarly a further journey leads him to the courthouse in which Meagher,
John Mitchel and Smith O’Brien received their sentences. While McCarthys
both living and dead crop up in all kinds of different places, there is
only one town on his itinerary that bears the name, and this a remote
settlement at the end of a disused railway track in Alaska where a flourishing
mining town once stood. Here the author eventually discovers a photograph
of the McCarthy for whom the town was named, a James McCarthy who had
mined in the area in the early years of the twentieth century. And again
Pete McCarthy unites two far distant locations by returning to the Beara
peninsula in West Cork from where so many of the copper miners emigrated,
to try to trace the origins of this man who left his mark on a dot on
the Alaskan map. Although at times there seems to be a formlessness about
this work, lacking as it does the unifying theme of “McCarthy’s Bar”,
the author’s powers of observation of both landscape and character maintain
the levels of interest and enjoyment and, as with his first book, Pete
McCarthy can still make me laugh out loud.
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Riverdance, The Phenomenon
by Barra =D3 Cinn=C9ide
- Barra =D3 Cinn=E9ide, who has published a number of papers on the Riverdance
factor, has here set out to examine its origins, the influences that led
to its conception and growth, and its significance in the expansion of
both the Irish economy and the perception of Ireland on the international
stage. Beginning with an examination of the differences between tradition
and culture, the author moves on to an overview of the role of dance in
Irish society before focusing on the incredible explosion of interest
in dance following the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. =D3 Cinn=E9ide sees
the roots of the Riverdance phenomenon in both the Seville Suite, composed
by Bill Whelan for the World Fair held in Seville in 1992, and the “Mayo
5000” event, which again featured a Bill Whelan composition and in which
both Michael Flatley and Jean Butler featured, though they were not dancing
together on that occasion. When Moya Doherty, therefore, was given the
task of providing the interval entertainment during the 1994 Eurovision
Song Contest and chose the innovative route of a dance sequence, she knew
immediately that Whelan, Flatley and Butler were the people she wanted
to work with. The author describes the seven-minute dance routine as “an
entertainment version of a free sample being sent to millions of people”,
and gives credit to Moya Doherty and John McColgan, neither of whom had
much experience of live theatrical performance, for their courage in taking
the financial and professional risk associated with the extended stage
version. He expresses his admiration for their enterprise in not only
managing to expand a seven-minute presentation into a two-hour show, but
also in adapting it to suit an international audience. Not least of their
achievements was the later survival of the show when both Michael Flatley
and Jean Butler left the cast. The effect on the world of traditional
Irish dance was immediate, with some traditionalists condemning the new
sexuality and freedom of movement apparent in Riverdance while dancing
teachers suddenly found themselves inundated with new pupils. Dancing
suddenly acquired an entirely new image and opened up a professional career
other than in teaching. The entrepreneurial aspects of Riverdance, with
its spin-offs Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flame and Dancing on Dangerous
Ground, have given, according to =D3 Cinn=E9ide, enormous potential for
Ireland’s future. He talks of the way in which the dance shows have helped
to establish a “brand” for Ireland and cites the opportunities for incorporating
dance into tourism ventures, emphasising that the worlds of culture and
commercialism are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Although there is
one reference to a 2001 article, =D3 Cinn=E9ide’s work has a curiously
dated air, as though the text, with its references to the Celtic Tiger
and the now defunct Boyzone, was completed some time before publication.
This, and the over-use of exclamation marks, detracts only slightly from
a far-reaching and interesting study of an Irish success story which has
been universally acclaimed.
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Mr Right For The Night
by Marisa Mackle
- It is difficult not to be immediately aware how this story will end,
but the author has made the telling sufficiently interesting and entertaining
to offset this fact. Marisa Mackle’s first novel is in the “Bridget Jones”
genre, dealing as it does with the trials of a thirty-year-old Dubliner
in the world of romance. But what Anna is seeking is not primarily a life-partner,
though he would also be acceptable. No, her immediate need is for a man
to bring to a school reunion, a man who will measure up to what she feels
will be the standard set by the school bully, who is throwing the party,
but who is not so attractive that he will be lured away by one of the
other guests. This scenario gives the author the opportunity to lead Anna
through a series of romantic or just plain sexual adventures with a variety
of men, none of whom seems to fit the bill exactly. Her adventures are
contrasted with the humdrum life of her friend Claire, who has gone the
path of early marriage and a baby and is feeling increasingly depressed
about her situation. Marisa Mackle has a greater facility for rounding
out her female characters, a certain inconsistency being apparent among
the males, particularly Claire’s husband, Simon, whose “road to Damascus”
conversion from ambition-driven executive to conventional family man seems
a touch unlikely. In the time-honoured tradition of so many romances,
the heroine travels far and looks further, but finds her true love on
her own doorstep. The author has nicely captured the limbo in which Anna
is perceived to be living by her own family, with her grandfather telling
her she’s no “spring chicken” and her mother being disconcerted when she
arrives home unannounced, and seems familiar with the milieu in which
Anna’s story takes place. Marisa Mackle has joined the growing ranks of
Irish women writers who have made the 21st century Irish social scene
their own.
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In A CAF=C9 by Mary Lavin
- TownHouse have reissued their 1995 collection of the stories of Mary
Lavin, chosen by her daughter Elizabeth Walsh Peavoy. In his foreword
Thomas Kilroy acknowledges the debt he owed to the author when, as a young
man setting out on a career as a writer, he began to visit her home in
Bective. He pinpoints her recurrent theme of materialism versus passion,
acted out against a backdrop of family and small community in Ireland,
and admits that his own favourites from the collection are those which
deal with Mary Lavin’s widowhood, the time when he first met her. The
author’s daughter sheds light on the autobiographical aspect of the stories,
leading us through the life of her mother from her arrival in Ireland
from the States to her widowhood “In the Middle of the Fields”. And then
we are left to savour the stories themselves, all more or less familiar
except for one previously unpublished work, “The Girders”, which captures
the paradox of an emigrant’s yearning for home while knowing that his
adopted home has become just as precious. “In the Middle of the Fields”
portrays the young widow whose house is an island surrounded by a sea
of grass, an island of loneliness which is momentarily invaded by another
lonely person. The tension within families is a subject with which Mary
Lavin has a sure touch; Sophie and her mother in “A Cup of Tea” have a
relationship coloured by their different attitudes to Sophie’s father;
the antagonism between sisters Agatha and Rose in “A Gentle Soul” is paralleled
in the greater depth of understanding between Veronica and Mabel in “Chamois
Gloves”. Beyond all, this theme is evident in “The Will”, the story which
Thomas Kilroy tells us Mary Lavin felt was “the finest expression of her
art”. This is small-town Ireland revealed, family members agree to help
the dispossessed sister who is deemed to have lowered the family tone
and has been left out of her mother’s will. The recalcitrant Lally refuses
the help offered by her siblings but is convulsed by the thought that
she might be the cause of her mother’s suffering. Inheritance problems
also permeate “The Little Prince”, in which Mary Lavin’s expertise in
delineating character is perhaps most strongly shown. Here also the older
member of the family tries to order the life of a younger sibling, and
the author combines manipulation with a softness in the character of Bedelia
which makes her completely credible. To those of us familiar with the
short stories of Mary Lavin this collection will give renewed pleasure,
while those who have encountered her work only as an exam text have a
wealth of enjoyment before them.
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St Anne’s, The Story
Of A Guinness Estste - Joan Ussher Sharkey
- The land comprising St Anne’s estate in Raheny/Clontarf area of north
Dublin was acquired by members of the Guinness family and at its height
the estate covered an impressive five hundred acres. Joan Ussher Sharkey
has set out to chart the history of the estate from its beginnings when
Benjamin Lee Guiness built a new house on land acquired by himself and
his brother Arthur Lee Guinness in Clontarf. This she has accomplished
with a commendable thoroughness, giving details of the numerous acquisitions
of land and property and paying due credit to the major part played by
Sir Arthur Guinness, later Lord Ardilaun, in the development of St Anne’s.
The house and estate reached its highest point under his guardianship
and after his death and that of his wife, Lady Olive, St Anne’s passed
to his nephew, Benjamin J. Plunket, Bishop of Meath. At some time in the
1930s and ’40s, and here the author’s research proved inconclusive, the
estate was acquired by Dublin Corporation. The house itself was damaged
by two fires but the Corporation set aside more than two hundred acres
for what is now known as St Anne’s Park, with its Arboretum and Rose Garden,
the latter perhaps its best-known feature. Joan Ussher Sharkey’s work,
amply illustrated, is very obviously the result of intensive research
and attention to detail which has not prevented her from bringing to life
the members of the Guinness family who left such a legacy to the people
of Dublin.
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Glencolmcille, A Parish
History by Conall Mac Ciunneag=c1in
- When at the end of Chapter Two of this work we have only reached the
period of the megalithic tombs the reader might well be daunted by the
material still to be covered to bring the story of Glencolmcille up to
the present day. However the pace quickens thereafter as we are introduced
to the saints associated with the area, no less than five, and we move
into the many territorial and clan battles that characterised the Middle
Ages in Ireland. Less than halfway through Conall Mac Cuinneag=E1in’s
detailed study we enter the nineteenth century and the arrival of the
first government officials to Glencolmcille. The author chronicles the
improvement in lifestyle brought about by the gradual provision of roads
and bridges and the establishment of the first national school in the
parish. Interestingly his account of famine covers a great deal more than
the Great Famine, though in telling this part of the parish’s history
he pays due tribute to the work carried out over many years by James Hack
Tuke of the Society of Friends. A striking aspect of this history is the
proprietorial use of the phrase “our area” and “our parish”, underlining
the author’s love for the corner of Ireland which is the subject of this
book. He continues the story up to the time of Father McDyer, the pioneering
priest who fought beauracracy to stem the flow of emigration from his
parish. On the way Mac Cuinneag=E1in covers the turbulent years of the
War of Independence and the Civil War, giving brief portraits of some
of those from the area who were heavily involved. This history, which
has been thirty years in progress, includes a wealth of detail as well
as a number of atmospheric photographs, both colour and black and white,
and a series of maps of south-west Donegal from earliest times. Although
confined to a small part of the country it can stand for many parts of
Ireland in giving an insight into how life was lived, or endured, in Ireland
through the centuries.
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Irish Folk And Fairy
Tales ed. Gordon Jarvie
- The imaginative illustration by Barbara Brown on the cover of this collection
is enough to spark the imagination of any child and the selection of William
Allingham’s “Up the Aery Mountain” as the first item is a fitting introduction.
Familiar names will be encountered among the thirty-seven stories and
poems, including Thomas Crofton Croker (Daniel O’Rourke), William Carleton
(Frank Martin and the Fairies) and Standish O’Grady (The Coming of Finn).
The first six sections have been categorised by type, whether they be
leprechauns, witches or the sidhe, while the final section is a collection
of Celtic legends and traditional stories so old that their origins have
been lost in pre-history.
The Complete Guide To
Ireland’s Birds by Dempsey & O’Clery
- Eric Dempsey and Michael O’Clery first published their guide to the
bird population of Ireland nine years ago and this new edition, which
will be issued on September 17, has maintained the high standard in presentation
and detail set by its predecessor. Every single bird with a presence in
this country is included, with photographs and drawings, details of habitat,
call and diet, and a map indicating where and in which season each species
may be sighted. A separate section lists those species which are rare
visitors to Ireland, including the Little Crake, the Honey Buzzard and
the Stone Curlew, and a series of useful addresses for the bird enthusiast
is also included.
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