Irish Emigrant Book Review, No. 31 (February 1998)

Arthur Griffith by Brian Maye
- “Arthur Griffith”, Brian Maye’s very interesting major biography of the statesman, is timely. While negotiations continue on the North, it is appropriate to review the life and work of the man who led the 1921 negotiations with the British. For it was not Collins who led the negotiating team, but Griffith, the man who believed that moral and passive force were more effective than physical force. The author deals with his subject thematically, rather than chronologically. This assumes that the reader knows something about the man and his times already and on that assumption, the approach works very well indeed.
It is apparent that Griffith was ahead of his time in many respects. Today, for example, it is noteworthy that he regarded men and women as equal and he took practical steps to show this, rather than simply making grandiose statements about it. The author is exceptionally good in making so clear Griffith’s true contribution and worth to the Irish cause. He actually tried to avoid a leadership role; he was more at ease acting in a supporting capacity. In these days of Tribunals to investigate the wrongdoings of political leaders, the contrast with Griffith’s attitude is remarkable. He was never even comfortably off, let alone rich. In circumstances where he could easily, and with justification, have accumulated enough to be well off, he always refused to do so. For example, he even refused to accept a salary as a Minister in the Dail. How times, and people, have changed. On the other hand, Mayes deals in a relatively straightforward manner with Griffith’s faults. He was not a saint. In particular, his harsh statements about the Jews have given rise to controversy. Yet his solicitor was a Jew, and indeed was also a friend. It is reminiscent of present day attitudes in the North where it is not unusual to hear strong condemnation of “the other side” as a tribe, yet sincere statements of regard for individuals. Human nature has always been thus.
Griffith’s role and intentions in the negotiations with the British are very well covered and make clear that he was not hood-winked by the clever Lloyd George. Indeed, the point is made that both the Irish and the British genuinely expected the Boundary Commission to make the Northern state unviable. Unfortunately, because of the Civil War, conditions had changed by the time the Commission eventually met. The point is also well made that Griffith died at the age of only 51. He was simply worn out by work on behalf of the Irish people. He had always been healthy but the huge burdens which were placed upon him were intolerable even for a man of his obvious strength. And his work was truly selfless. He was always concerned for the underprivileged of society, particularly with the Dublin poor whose conditions he knew intimately. His proposals over many years for the alleviation of their plight were imaginative but practical. In truth, he might be regarded as the urban Davitt. Both men were truly concerned with the condition of the lowest of their fellow-humans in their immediate surroundings. This biography is an excellent and welcome reminder of the nature of true patriotism. It can be highly recommended. - Reviewed by John McAvoy.

[ top ]

Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
- On first delving into Marian Keyes’ latest blockbuster, “Rachel’s Holiday”, I found myself becoming irritated with the eponymous Rachel and her flippant attitude to life and its problems. It was only as the narrative developed that it became apparent that this attitude was part of the problem which led to her drug addiction. Her denial is strong and her rationalisation of her “holiday” in a drug treatment centre is realistically portrayed. The novel ranges back and forth between the centre in Wicklow and Rachel’s previous life in New York, and the two locations are linked by her flatmate Brigit and her boyfriend Luke, who travel to Wicklow to assist, somewhat painfully, in her rehabilitation. In this they are guided by Josephine, the group leader who is herself a ’clean’ drug addict. The other inmates of Cloisters, with addictions to drink, drugs, food and gambling, provide both a deeper insight into the world of addiction, and some comic relief. Although this is in many ways a lighthearted read, the very real anguish caused to family and friends by drug addiction is vividly presented and some of the possible causes of a predilection to drug dependence are examined. Rachel’s conflict with her mother has to be resolved and, above all, she has to learn to deal with pain, both physical and emotional, without recourse to mind-numbing opiates. One reservation I would have is the “happy ever after” Epilogue, which came as something of a disappointment, since the parting between Rachel and Luke in the final chapter was by far the more credible outcome of their painful relationship.

Dying in Style by Michael Carson
- “Dying in Style” is a curious book, a thriller within a thriller whose characters begin to die off in real life in precisely the manner described by the fictitious author. Michael Carson examines the effect of bad reviews on the sensitivities of a reclusive author, who fights back by concocting a murder mystery in which all the victims belong to the literary world. Arthur Whitworth had a disturbed childhood and has had a failed teaching career. When his career as a writer also appears to have failed he makes an unsuccessful attempt at suicide and takes refuge in the isolated cottage of a former colleague. The deaths of his various associates from the publishing world begin to accumulate, Detective Inspector Dyer is assigned to the case and the hunt is on for Whitworth as the obvious suspect. Life is never that neat, however, and we are led through a labyrinth of possibilities before the truth is revealed, and again Carson focuses on the adverse effects of publicity, this time directed at Timmy Dyer’s bisexuality.
The novel is in turns full of suspense and wit, with an underlying thread of horror clothed in genteel respectability in the shape of Arthur’s two aunts, Win and Anne. The cover illustration is particularly eyecatching and is a fitting reflection of the black humour of “Dying in Style”.

A Final Fling by Bryan MacMahon
- Reading Bryan MacMahon’s prophetically titled, “A Final Fling”, serves to increase the sense of loss felt at his death earlier in the month, and brings home the realisation that we will no longer be able to look forward to the imaginative and lyrical writing of this legendary storyteller. “A Final Fling”, subtitled “Conversations Between Men and Women”, explores a variety of different relationships which owe their unique properties to the situations as much as to the characters involved. Each, as the subtitle suggests, records a conversation between a man and a woman, and the breadth of MacMahon’s imagination spans the entire history of man. In “First” the dialogue between Adam and Eve includes Adam’s wonderful line, “We’re starting something noble on this planet. We’ll be mentioned in a bestseller called Genesis”, while in the stark tragedy of “The Wheels”, we hear a wife springing to the protection of her troubled husband after his involvement in a train accident. Relationships can be strictly practical, as in Mary Hannigan’s proposition to Dr Aylmer in “The Clock”, that he should father the child she has always craved, or full of innocence as instanced by seven-year-old Stanny in “The Far Land”, who acts as matchmaker between her widowed father and her favourite teacher.
Each of the nineteen short stories is a delight but if I had to choose one overall then it would be the conversation between the ailing priest and his elderly housekeeper in “Egg-timer”. The conversation of Father O’Driscoll and Mrs Prendergast reflects the unspoken affection underlying their fifteen-year battle of words, and their decision to stay together for their last few years is, in its way, just another kind of marriage.

[ top ]

Seanchas Annie Bhan - The Lore of Annie Bhan by Anna Nic Grianna
- “Seanchas Annie Bhan - The Lore of Annie Bhan” is a bilingual collection of the stories of Donegal woman Anna Nic Grianna, on which the noted Celtic scholar Gordon W. MacLennan, first holder of the Chair of Celtic Studies at the University of Ottawa, was working at the time of his death. Translated and edited by Alan Harrison and Mairi Elena Crook, the stories and the embellishments which give a view of life in Donegal earlier in this century, provide a wealth of interest. In addition, the manner in which the book is set makes it a perfect text for those trying to improve their knowledge of the written language. Each page of Irish script is mirrored by the English translation so that it is possible even for someone with very little Irish to glance across and immediately find the corresponding text. (The Seanchas Annie Bhan Publication Committee, ISBN 1-898473-84-6, pp270, IR15.00)
- The Book of Irish Families Great and Small is the first volume in a series and is a lavish production. Including 20,000 surnames and 1,000 family histories, it would seem to be an exhaustive study of the subject, though on a personal note I was somewhat disappointed to find only two lines accorded to the Ferry name, linking it to Co. Donegal. However to be fair, this is the first volume of a series and the author claims nothing more for it than a starting point for those interested in investigating their families; more detailed information is given in the later books, based on the 32 counties. It is set out in an easy-to-understand format and includes many coats-of-arms, an index of locations for the various family names and a number of maps.

Writings from Prison by Bobby Sands
- Bobby Sands’ “Writings from Prison” has been re-issued with a new foreword by Gerry Adams, though it also includes the original from the late Sean McBride. The book is divided into three sections, the first being a harrowing account of life ’on the blanket’ in the H-Blocks, while the second comprises some poetry and a series of short articles inspired by political events and random memories of the author’s former life. Like many a prisoner before him, Sands cultivated his interest in ornithology while in the Maze, and his description of wagtails in “A Twilight Ballet” is particularly effective. Though the poetry is of uneven quality, the long “Trilogy” includes some wonderfully vivid lines. For example he tells us that in Castlereagh where he underwent interrogation,
“Each dirty brick holds some black trick, Each door’s a door to pain.”
The third and final section is a diary of the first 17 days of Sands’ hunger strike, which led to his death at the age of 27, and here a certain calm seems to have settled over him, and we are shown the first signs of a sense of humour. Perhaps the weakening of the body led to a diminution of the intense anger apparent throughout the other sections.

[ top ]

The Women of 1798 by Daire Keogh and Nicholas Furlong
- dealing with the bicentenary of the 1798 rising have concentrated on differing aspects. “The Women of 1798”, edited by Daire Keogh and Nicholas Furlong, contains ten essays from a number of academics including John Gray, the librarian at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast; Associate Professor of History at Boston College Kevin O’Neill; and Eleanor Burgess, Council Member of the British Association for Irish Studies and editor of the Journal of the Butler Society. As well as prominent names such as Mary Anne McCracken and Matilda Tone, subjects covered include the evidence given by females in contemporary courts martial, United Irish images of women, and the place of women in relevant folk memory and ballads.

Rebellion in Kildare by Liam Chambers
- Liam Chambers’ “Rebellion in Kildare” covers the years 1790-1803, years which the author describes as being “of unprecedented political activity and disaffection” in the county. He begins by examining the social and political structure of the county at the beginning of this period and the fortunes of the United Irishmen within Kildare, while the rebellion itself is dealt with in two separate chapters. The first concentrates on the period at the end of May, 1798, at which time the insurgents controlled a large area in the south of the county. The second period, the months of June and July, deals with activity in the north of the county and includes the eventual surrender of the Kildare rebels.

The Dictionary of Irish Family Names by Ida Grehan
- The Dictionary of Irish Family Names, by Ida Grehan, is another volume in which content does not live up to the quality of production. While it deals with more than 550 names, some fairly common ones such as Gillespie and Henihan appear to have been omitted. However the author does give plenty of detail on the names which have been selected, including all possible derivations and locations, the links to variants of the name and a list of notable members of the family. Thus with the name Newell we are told that it probably translates as ’envy valour’, is most numerous in Ulster (though there are a sizeable number here in Galway), notable members include an American painter by the name of Hugh Newell, and variants of the name include Knowles and Neville. This attractively-produced book makes interesting reading for those embarking on a search for Irish ancestors, or those simply interested in the byways of Irish history. I suppose I should note that in this book there is no mention of the Ferry name either.

[ top ]

The Tellings & Mad Sweeney by Lucy Brennan
- Dublin-born Lucy Brennan, who emigrated to Canada many years ago, has produced a CD of her own stories and poems under the title “The Tellings & Mad Sweeney”. The first fifteen stories, with themes both traditional and modern and related in a voice which never lost its Irish accent, run seamlessly into each other, each one taking between two and three minutes to relate. The second collection is centred on the character of Mad Sweeney, whom Seamus Heaney traced back to the Battle of Moira in 637AD, in his work “Sweeney Astray”. Some of these latter works have already been published, Sweeney Per Se in the Irish University Review and “Sweeney’s Shadow” in The Salmon.

[ top ]