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Irish Emigrant Book Review, No.87 (Oct 2002)
Greenspeak
by Paddy Sammon
- Paddy Sammon’s book presents some two thousand words and phrases used
in the context of Ireland, past and present, clothing each in history,
etymology and anecdote, though some to a lesser degree than others. A
selection, such as Lord Denning’s “appalling vista” and Margaret Thatcher’s
“Out, Out, Out” speech, refer to comments on Ireland by people outside
the country. Most, however, impact directly on Ireland and the way its
people express themselves. The author adds his own personal commentary
to some of the definitions; for example he describes the Ascendancy accent
as being referred to in Ireland as an English accent, “however to an English
ear it is an Irish accent, only worse”. My personal favourite is Sammon’s
explanation for the expression “Stop the lights”, the catchphrase of the
“Quicksilver” television show of the 1960s hosted by Bunny Carr in which
contestants competed “for truly pathetic prize-money”. According to the
author, “the show attracted a cult following because of its unbelievably
poor answers. Bunny went on to train politicians how to appear on television
without making fools of themselves”. In addition to individual words and
phrases, space is given to the explanation of bodies and organisations,
both North and South, which underlines the fact that this book will primarily
be of use to those less familiar with life in Ireland. D=E1il =C9ireann
and Northern Ireland fit into this category, as do Fleadh Cheoil and the
Orange Order. Some entries, however, reveal hitherto unknown facts, as
least to this reader. The author tells us that the name Hamlet derives
from a Latin version of Amhlaohh, the Irish form of Olaf, while the cocktail
of Guinness and champagne known as a black velvet is said to have been
the brainchild of Otto von Bismarck, and the Irish word “pl=E1m=E1s” derives
from the French “blanc mange”. Mentioned also are a surprisingly high
number of scientific words deriving their names from their Irish inventors
or discoverers, including Sir William Rowan Hamilton, Robert Boyle and
John Holland. While the major part of this work is devoted to the alphabetical
listing of the words, an explanatory introduction and three indexes assist
in its appreciation and usefulness. The extra information given includes
further details of the people mentioned in the entries and a guide to
abbreviations and acronyms, this latter section being of use to resident
and visitor alike.
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Fire
in the Morning by Niall O’Dowd
- Niall O’Dowd, the editor of the Irish Voice in New York, has concentrated
on a selection of Irish people who were caught up in the events of September
11 and tells of their involvement in their own words. Some of the stories
are harrowing, some infinitely sad, and all serve to give a feel for what
it was like for those intimately tied up with the events. A particularly
interesting perspective, because less familiar, was that given by Denis
Kelleher, a Kerryman who was on one of the flights grounded in the wake
of the terrorist attacks. His description of the six days they spent stranded
in Newfoundland, unsure of what was going on and of when they would be
able to complete their journey, gave a fresh outlook to the entire picture.
In his introductory chapter O’Dowd describes his own visit to Ground Zero
three days after the attacks, and it is interesting that despite many
wars and natural disasters over the last decades he chose to compare the
scene with events from more than fifty years ago, a London smog and London
after the Blitz. However this short introduction does bring home to the
reader the bleakness of the disaster. Some details are particularly affecting;
the ringing of mobile phones from the rubble as people tried to reach
family members they knew had been in the towers, and the crushed fire
engines lined up nearby, in which many of the firemen lost their lives.
One of the men who tells his story remains anonymous, for he was an undocumented
immigrant working on construction within the towers. Interestingly his
story combines two of those which I had believed to be apocryphal, for
there was great talk in the days and weeks following the attacks of a
group of men from Cavan who were injured and taken to hospital, but refused
to give their own names since they were working without papers. This group
is not mentioned, but “A close brush with death” tells a similar story,
and also adds the detail that the construction workers escaped by climbing
down scaffolding from the 23rd floor. To read the personal stories of
those affected and haunted by the events of September 11, 2001 is an eye-opening
experience, and the bravery of the Irish firefighters and policemen is
undoubted. However I was not totally happy with the book’s narrow focus,
since the courage displayed in the face of such horror was so obviously
common to all nationalities.
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Undertow
by John F. Deane
- Set on his native Achill, John F. Deane’s new novel is at one with the
island setting, the influence of the waters surrounding it permeating
the prose in a narrative sequence that flows easily between the 1950s
and the 1990s. The lives of the characters are overshadowed by the conditions
of their time, and foremost among these is Big Bucko, brutalised by the
privations of his life and left to be man of the house and farm after
his father leaves. Eoin Mulligan’s lonely existence with his parents as
the last inhabitants of their offshore island seems about to change, until
the all-too prevalent hand of TB in the middle of the century cuts short
Ruth McTiernan’s life. Danni, a reluctant summer visitor of the 1990s
with her Dublin-based parents, assumes a sophistication when dealing with
two local boys, Marty and Jackie, but it is a sophistication overlying
an innate innocence. An ongoing incestuous relationship, known of but
ignored by the woman of the house, is one of the storylines that reverberates
down through the intervening years to a dramatic and tragic conclusion
and it is in the events common to both eras that the author’s skill with
character is most evident. It is at first difficult to equate the Angelica
of the 1950s with the mature Angie in the later period, though her final
fate brings the story full circle. The sense of subjects never raised
is one of the dominant themes of this tale. The rape and subsequent drowning
of a tinker girl in the 1950s, the hiding away of a daughter conceived
out of wedlock and thought to be “not quite right”, the denial by both
Eoin and Ruth’s parents of the inevitable outcome of her illness, all
belong to an earlier Ireland. The later years are characterised by secrets
revealed, in one instance exposed by the elements, and the consequences
of such revelations, which for some are too much to bear. John F. Deane
has brought the storyline right up to date with fisherman Bendy Finnegan’s
problems with trespassing Spanish trawlers, a problem whose solution also
provides the solution for Marty. This is a powerful novel in which the
undertow of the title is a constant threat to security, the island itself
symbolising the isolation of the characters, though its causeway to the
mainland may in some sense represent the escape route for each of Deane’s
characters.
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The
Sway of Winter by Orla Murphy
- This remarkable debut novel has in common with John F. Deane’s “Undertow”
an island setting and an underlying theme linked to the sea, while the
island of Achill provides a further link. “The Sway of Winter” deals with
the coming to terms with their past of two disparate characters, Birgit
and Geoff, who each have to learn to let go of a part of their former
lives and embrace a new form of living. Each in his and her own way experiences
the love of other people that allows healing to take place. The author,
in vivid language, charts Birgit’s journey from an overwhelming relationship
in her native Scandinavia to her self-discovery as an artist on an island
off the west coast of Ireland. In a similar fashion Geoff has to move
gradually to repair the dislocated relationship he shares with his son,
a relationship which owes its deterioration to his taking refuge in alcohol
after a family tragedy. Minor but no less important characters play their
role in the gradual redemption experienced by Birgit and Geoff, the grounded
islander Margaret who shows Birgit the importance of finding one’s own
place in the world; the sisters Olivia and Jenny with whom Geoff develops
a mutually supportive relationship. Birgit and Geoff take different routes
to self-knowledge, the one travelling to Africa but finding there only
a compulsion to return to her island, while the other revisits the murky
world of the alcoholic until he is rescued by his own instinct and by
the filial instinct of his son Simon. It is no accident that Orla Murphy
chooses to give Geoff his first glimpse of Birgit as she emerges from
the sea, for it was the sea which claimed his wife and daughter twenty
years earlier, and the giving back by the natural element is somehow appropriate
to the theme of redemptive love. The reader is left with a feeling of
hope in the final pages, that each has arrived at a plateau of peace and
that a co-dependence may light their future.
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Fat
God, Thin God by James Kennedy
- What motivates a missionary? What kinds of complications do they face
as they cope with another culture? So many missionaries have left Ireland
over the past decades, even centuries, and yet we in Ireland know so little
of their experiences. “Fat God, Thin God” is one man’s attempt at answering
those questions. James Kennedy was a Columban Father who served for twenty
years in the Philippines before leaving the priesthood, returning to Ireland,
and marrying his Filipino lover, who had been a nun. He acknowledges his
prime motivation for missionary work wasn’t a burning love for God, but
rather that the job suited him. In the 1950s, he notes, it was the most
respectable form of emigration - and, at the age of 18, his childhood
on ten acres in rural Limerick had amply prepared him for a life of poverty,
chastity and obedience. The seeds of his eventual departure from the priesthood
were probably set when he was in training: seven years in the seminary
gave Kennedy no instruction in Third World economics or politics, but
plenty of training in fields like epistemology and metaphysics, which
made little sense at the time. The piety of training is in strong contrast
with the complexities of the religion he would encounter. At times it
is his religion’s very adaptability that disturbs Kennedy, as church ritual
was used as a tool to reinforce the standing social order, and as Church
rituals are used to support a superstitious world view. In frustration,
he says at one point, “I think part of my job here is to get rid of religion”.
Kennedy writes of his difficulties coming to grips with the culture of
the Philippines, and of the loneliness and frustration he and some of
his colleagues in the Columbans felt as they worked with their parishioners
in a place so far from home. At one point, he notes that Ireland is as
far away as Mars, and yet he notes that ’adaptacion total’ (the Spanish
term for ’going native’) is fraught with difficulties. The paradox of
the “Fat God, Thin God” refers to the contrast between the thin Christ
on the crucifix and the fat Buddha that is still a traditional Filipino
gift. It is a paradox that mirrors the faith of the Filipino people themselves,
and it has a profound influence on Kennedy: “Like a Filipino bishop, I
had learned to say yes to two opposing propositions and to feel perfectly
consistent.” It was love that eventually caused Kennedy to leave the priesthood:
although his work was successful, he declares, it was ultimately “shattered
by the blanket celibacy law of the Church we have tried to serve”. He
notes that his situation was not unusual, saying that a survey of priests
in a southern Philippines diocese had found that seventy percent of them
were living with women - and although the Filipino bishops publicly supported
celibacy, they turned a blind eye to uncelibate behaviour at home. Kennedy
himself would possibly have made the same kind of accommodation himself
were it not for the strength of the Filipino woman, Vising, he was in
love with: When they met, Vising was a nun. She refused any half-way compromise:
she would live within her vows as a nun or she would live under marital
vows. The book is not without its irritations: Kennedy’s habit of referring
to his wife only as ’she’ and ’herself’ through most of the book is disconcerting,
and disrespectful to a woman who is clearly very strong. And the author’s
occasional scatological references make this a book best read away from
the breakfast table. But these are minor quibbles. Kennedy’s story is
a powerful insight into the contradictions of love and faith. The author
once mentioned that one of the hardest things about visiting Ireland when
he was a missionary was that there was so little interest in what the
missionaries were doing when they were away. This intriguing book should
begin to redress that. (Review by Noreen Bowden)
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The
Yard by Wilson John Hair
- Opening with a bleak tale of a cold night in the unemployment- ravaged
Belfast of the 1930s, The Yard presents a series of snapshots of daily
activity around the shipyards in the city, spanning from the 1930s to
the 1950s. Family life is hard, and fighting and cruelty compete with
laughter as features of communal life. Work in the shipyards begins for
some as early as 14. The book mirrors the author’s own experiences: Wilson
John Haire, too, began his career in the shipyards as a teen, and like
the protagonist, he moved away from the adversities of shipyard life when
he took a job in a ballroom, setting him on a path that would lead him
eventually to becoming an award-winning playwright. The Yard is an enjoyable,
evocative work that shows how spirit can overcome even the harshest of
circumstances. (Review by Eric Van Der Zee)
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A
Simply Delicious Christmas by Darina Allen
- Darina Allen has reissued “A Simply Delicious Christmas”. It’s a chatty
cookbook, annotated with brief childhood tales of making the pudding and
suggestions for how best to enjoy the food. But it’s also filled with
smart tips, such as a guide to the recipes indicating how long before
the holidays each dish can be prepared, and suggestions for edible gifts,
from truffles to jams. The range of recipes is impressive, with alternate
versions of several recipes provided to accommodate fussier eaters. All
the traditional favorites are here, along with many new ideas for fabulous
holiday entertaining. A treat. (Review by Deirdre McFadden)
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Royal
Roots, Republican Inheritance by Susan Hood
- Susan Hood has here given a very interesting account of the development
of the Office of Arms from a body concentrating on ceremonial and the
heraldic arts to one which became a starting point for visitors to Ireland
who wished to trace their family origins. The period covered, from 1853
to 1943, saw a gradual move from ceremonial duties to that of a genealogical
resource, though the heraldic duties were a constant if fluctuating activity
of the Office. The early years of the 20th century also saw the incident
for which the Office is perhaps best remembered, the disappearance of
the Insignia of the Order of St Patrick, known as the Irish Crown Jewels,
which have never been recovered. It was this event which led to the dismissal
of Arthur Vicars who had taken up the position of Ulster King of Arms
and Principal Herald of Ireland in 1893. Perhaps the most intriguing section
of the book refers to the fact that the Office of Arms was not transferred
from British to Irish rule until 1943, twenty-one years after the Free
State had been declared. The fact that it retained its links with Britain,
with the situation developing that those employed in the Office occupied
one of the most prestigious apartments in Dublin Castle while being paid
by the British government, was largely due to political considerations.
The Office was looked on as a unifying force since it was empowered to
carry out work for those on both sides of the Border as well as Irish
people living overseas. It was also the case that the appointment of the
Ulster King of Arms, at this time Nevile Wilkinson, had been made for
life by royal prerogative and could not be revoked. However during the
1930s efforts were made to bring the Office under the control of the new
State and on April 1, 1943 the transfer took place in the Bedford Tower
in the presence of Eamon de Valera and Sean T. O’Kelly. During the course
of the book Ms Hood also introduces us to a procession of interesting
characters who headed the Office of Arms over the years. Some, like Arthur
Vicars, were totally dedicated to their calling, while Nevile Wilkinson
became something of an absentee Ulster King of Arms, spending much time
either travelling or on sick leave. More recent holders of the office
of Chief Herald of Ireland have included Dr Edward MacLysaght, the first
holder of the office, and Gerard Slevin who was responsible for the design
of the flag of the European Union.
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Galway
GAA in Old Photographs by Jack Mahon
- With a short introduction outlining the history of the GAA in general
and the Galway connection in particular, the greater part of Jack Mahon’s
book comprises a series of photographs of Galway individuals and teams
in football, hurling and camogie. The earliest shows the Dunmore McHales
team who took the Galway Senior Football Championship in 1912, while notable
GAA players featured included the Duggans of College Road, the Connollys
of Ballybrit and the man whom the author believes to be Galway’s greatest
ever player, Sean Purcell. Each photograph has detailed captions, making
it an interesting exercise for any GAA fan or for those familiar with
Galway to pick out the youthful faces of men and women we know in their
more mature years. Jack Mahon was himself a member of the famous three-in-a-row
football team of the 1960s and he has presented a selection of photographs
representing all aspects of GAA life in Galway.
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Dubliners
What’s the Story? By Audrey Healey
- A total of fifty-eight people with Dublin connections are profiled in
Audrey Healy’s book, some like Bertie Ahern having been interviewed specifically
for the purpose. To qualify for entry they had to have made their mark
in public life in ways as diverse as television, insurrection and literature.
The alphabetical arrangement of the entries sees Marty Whelan sandwiched
between the Duke of Wellington and Oscar Wilde, while broadcaster Joe
Duffy is flanked by the Legion of Mary Founder, Frank Duff, and patriot
Robert Emmet. The subject’s claim to be a Dubliner introduces each section,
followed by a short view of his or her life and achievements, and Ms Healy
has included such quintessential Dubliners as Ronnie Drew, Tony Gregory
and James Joyce, the man who made the word his own.
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Balancing
Your Life: A Practical Guide to Work, Time, Money and Happiness by Ann
B. Ryan
- Ann Ryan’s book examines ways to reduce the pressures of time and money
in an Ireland that becoming increasingly stressful. She suggests a careful
re-evaluation of priorities in order to break the cycle of working, earning
and spending, in order to reconnect with essential values and escape frenzied
lifestyles. The author illustrates her suggestions with 17 case studies,
some of them fascinating, involving people who have decided deliberately
to live more simple lives. Some of the suggestions are highly practical,
like keeping a spending record, but the author builds her argument to
a call for a new political paradigm that would prioritise healthy human
development over production and consumption. A refreshing and worthy book.
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The
Wine Guide 2003 ed. Barbara Boyle
- A&A Farmar’s Wine Guide for 2001 was chosen as the Best Wine Guide
in the World at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, and it is not difficult
to see why. The latest edition is invaluable both to wine buffs and those
who know very little about the qualities of the different wines. These
are categorised in several different ways, by country of origin, by colour,
by price and by value for money and there are also useful sections on
matching the appropriate wine to a number of different dishes. For the
reader who wishes to delve further into the business of wine-making a
description of the various types of grapes used in the process is also
included, as is a description of specialist beers to be found in Ireland.
All in all this year’s Wine Guide will provide everything you need to
know about wines in Ireland.
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Ride
on in Song and Story by Jimmy McCarthy
- The life and times of songwriter Jimmy McCarthy are here presented through
the words of his songs accompanied by autobiographical notes. Thus we
learn the starting point and inspiration for each of more than fifty songs;
“As I leave behind N=E9id=EDn” was prompted by a backward glance from
the car at the sign for Kenmare as he left the town after a festival;
“No Frontiers”, while reflecting on his parents and his family life, was
prompted by the differing attitudes of the French and Swiss checkpoints
as McCarthy crossed the border between the two countries. “Ride On”, illustrated
with a series of family photographs, will have most appeal for those already
familiar with McCarthy’s work.
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Five
Alien Elves by Gregory Maguire
- This is one of those delightful children’s books which are just as much
fun for the adult as for the child. The small American community in Vermont
is visited by the wonderfully named group of aliens, the Fixipuddlings,
one of whose number is intent on saving the planet. The five fixipuddlings
are able to transform themselves into any shape including a literal dog’s
dinner, but they have met their match in the pupils of the Josiah Fawcett
Elementary School. With misunderstandings enlivening the plot and providing
much of the humour, this tale also has a number of underlying more serious
themes, examining the concept of immigrants and the relative merits of
gang culture and co-operation. However the overall tone is set by the
outlandish Pimplemuss, the leader of the Fixipuddlings, who manages to
pick up everything just wrongly enough to throw everything into confusion.
A book to appeal to all ages.
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War
Children by Gerard Whelan
- This is a chilling collection of stories based on the years following
the Easter Rising when the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries were active
in Ireland. Narrated by the children who become unwittingly caught up
in the events, the six stories reflect the militant republicanism of 13-year-old
Eily, who has her own plans for her father’s funeral, to the tragic Mrs
Quinn whose fear for her son’s life leads her to become that most dreaded
of Irish characters, the informer. Gerard Whelan has ably communicated
the bewilderment and terror, as well as the excitement of a turbulent
period in Irish history as seen through the eyes of children.
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