by Frank West
The future is golden for our Irish literary heritage.
Irish people have always had great respect for the beauty, power, and nuances of words.
In recent years, more and more people have made the commitment to become an author. There is a great flowering of books written by Irish Americans and by Irish authors.
This wasn’t the case when I began this column in 1977. I had to get books from libraries and from used book stores. Not now!
Here’s a sampling of recent books.
The West of Ireland: A Photographer’s Journey
All my relatives came from the west of Ireland. So when I saw this book of photographs of there, I was captivated.
I quickly became passionate when I saw the statement on the cover that it contains striking images like “majestic Ben Bulfen in Sligo.” This is near where my grandparents came from (and where I have visited many times.)
To make these gorgeous photos, the author, Carsten Krieger, must have travelled many times and in many seasons to Ireland’s west.
Included is a picture of Lough Easkey in Sligo. When I was a boy I heard my grandfather praise that magical place.
The exquisite beauty of the landscape shouldn’t lead us to forget the hardships endured by our ancestors. It must have been very hard to raise crops to feed a family and to pay that rent. The landscape is beautiful, but the fertile topsoil is very shallow. The best land was taken in the mid 1600s, to pay Cromwell’s soldiers. The poorest land was left to the Irish.
Even the bottoms of rivers and lakes were owned by these rude soldiers and their descendants. Any Irish who fished there were punished as poachers!
When the Great Famine occurred (1845-1850), the British government even took the food (it having been paid as rent) out of the country, and left the rotting potatoes for the Irish.
Thanks to our bold, and brave, and lucky ancestors, we are alive today. We must not forget the reasons we are here, and not in Ireland’s exquisitely beautiful landscape.
The West of Ireland: A Photographer’s Journey by Carsten Krieger. The Collins Press and DuFour Editions; Chester Springs, PA; 2010. 160 pages; $49.95.
Richard Mulcahy’s Vision of Ireland
The young Richard Mulcahy, later General of the Irish Republican Army, visited the West Cork Gaelteacht in the early 1900s. The vivid experiences influenced him for life.
This is a description of those experiences. “Here he met Irish pets and scholars, seanachai and singers, teachers and language revived enthusiasts. But most of all he met… the local Irish population, still unaffected by the insidious approach of materialism; they were generous, hospitable and most in their needs, and living days steeped in their native culture…”
This biography of Richard Mulcahy was written by his son, a medical doctor, with a keen interest in modern Irish history. He used his father’s writings, both public and private, and his father’s personal and intimate tape recordings.
As a young man, Mulcahy trained to be an engineer. An ardent Irish nationalist, with valuable engineering experience. He quickly came to the attention of the Irish Republican Army.
His bravery, and brilliant organizing and planning skills permitted him to rise rapidly in the IRA. He became Commandant of the Dublin Brigade. Then, during Ireland’s War of Independence, he become Chief of Staff of the IRA. He worked closely with Michael Collins, and supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
After Collins was murdered by de Valera’s soldiers, Mulcahy became leader of the Provisional Government’s army.
He represented Fine Gael in both the lower and upper houses of the Dail.
Mulcahy was a kind and generous man who devoted his life to Ireland’s deep desire for freedom, to its language and to its culture.
My Father, The General: Richard Mulcahy and the Military History of the Revolution by Risteard Mulcahy. Liberties Press and DuFour Editions; Dublin; 2010. 263 pages; $31.95.
Sabu And Me
How creative and imaginative this young author is. She is Maura Lane, and is in second grade here in Chicago.
Sabu is her pet dog, and they adore each other. How do you show a close relation like that? Maura does this by how her dog relates to her as she grows: first, when as a baby, she comes home from the hospital, then when she begins to crawl, then when she learns to eat at a table, etc.
Maura Lane lives in a nurturing home, and is well loved. She is aware of her Irish heritage, and has both American and Irish citizenship.
The book is illustrated with bright, cheerful pictures of her and her developing relation with Sabu.
Those lovely illustrations were drawn by Hazel Mitchell. Mitchell has illustrated many children’s books, and has clients worldwide.
Another nice feature of Sabu And Me is that all profits from on-line sales of this outstanding book will be donated to Paws Chicago.
I want to thank Maura’s proud dad, Jeff, who I met at a party. He told me about this unique book.
I enjoyed reading Sabu And Me because it shows the innocent outlook of a very observant young person.
Sabu And Me by Maura Lane. Alton Road Publsihing; Miami, FL; 2009. 21 pages; $14.95. www.sabuandme.com.
Where is Home?
The Yellow House, by Patricia Falvey, shows the reader the intense pressure the nationalist people of Northern Ireland had to live with. Religious intolerance, and the resulting economic discrimination, has been part of life in the North for generations.
These harsh facts of life are changing slowly in our time.
They were the cause of the recent war there, called “the Troubles.” The war lasted from 1969 to 1998. The Provisional IRA, or Provos, fought the unionists, and the British police and army to a standstill. It only ended in 1998, with a peace agreement among the unionists, the British government, and Sinn Fein (the party allied with the IRA.)
The shared government that resulted with the unionists and Sinn Fein is working. People from both heritages don’t like each other (maybe never will), but they are learning to live in peace.
This is the background to The Yellow House. Not only is the book powerfully written, but for me it is also personally intimate. Why? Because I have relatives who live in the North, and relatives who live in Sligo, near the border.
You can often tell where a book’s plot and characters are going. But so many times, I was astonished to find that what I expected on the next page was a complete surprise. Falvey held my close attention with suspenseful events that constantly amazed me.
Here are information and observations about Patricia Falvey. She was born in Neury, Northern Ireland. She lived for a while in England, and as a young women came to the United States—with only $200 in her pocket!
She achieved the American dream. She became an accountant (specializing in taxation), and ultimately becoming Managing Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the largest financial service company in the world!
However, writing was her first love, and as this book shows, she is a very, very good writer. The Yellow House is a powerful book, full of strongly drawn characters that exemplify vitality, humanity, and passion for life. They are so realistic, I felt like I knew them.
The books asks: Where is home? Is it a place in our hearts? A house? A childhood memory? Is it a real place or a dream we hope to attain? Maybe, it is in the neighborhood where we were born and raised.
The Irish playwright, Brian Friel, asks that question in the play The House Place. The family that owns vast lands in Donegal, still considers their home to be in Kent, in England, where they come from 300 years ago!
On the last page, as the boundary in 1924, creates the artificial boundaries of Northern Ireland, Falvey has her main character answer the question: Where is home? “I, too, have drawn close to me those things that matter—love, family, and home. I have left outside the borders anger, fear, and regret.”
The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey. Hachette Book Group; New York, NY; 2009. 352 pages; $21.99. www.centerstreet.com.
