Is mise MáIRE*

… “A few words” from Ireland

Welcome to the IFMSS 2024 blog. I, the writer, am Mary Nolan, one of the organizers of the IFMSS 2024 Meeting to be held in Castlemartyr Resort, Co Cork, Ireland. I’m the person ‘on the ground’; I live in Dublin; am an artist, a writer, an occasional lecturer in linguistics; I have also worked as a fitness instructor, translator and tour guide. It’s the latter ‘hat’ that I am putting on for this stint as a blogger: my aim is to introduce you to some aspects of Ireland and the Irish from a personal, anecdotal perspective, so that you may get a feel for the place in advance of what I hope – know ! – will be an informative, innovative and truly enjoyable event. 

*Is mise Máire [ɪsmɪʃəmɑ:jɾə] is the Irish for ‘I am Mary’. Irish is unusual among Indo-European languages in having a verb-first structure, so this literally reads as ‘Be me Mary’.

Ireland Through the Lens

In 1909, the first cinema in Ireland, the Volta, opened in Dublin, the brainchild of no less an entrepreneur than James Joyce. Yes, that James Joyce. Ever since – though probably not because – the Irish have been avid cinema-goers, with one of the highest per-capita attendance worldwide. And we are not just passive cinema buffs; films have been made in Ireland since the early 1900s, many of them to international acclaim, such as Oscar nominees, My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Room, and The Favourite, and Palme d’Or winner, The Wind that Shakes the Barley. 

What’s more, since the appearance of Arracht in 2019, and the Oscar nomination in 2023 for An Cáilín Ciúin, Irish-language films have been making waves and winning awards - quite an achievement for a language with only 170,000 mother-tongue speakers throughout the world. 

So the suggestions that will appear in this post are only a small selection of what’s out there, and have been chosen to provide examples of different themes or genres rather than representing a canon of work. 

Please note, the Irish have a much more ‘accepting’ relationship with strong language than many other nationalities. 

The first item in this list has to be The Quiet Man (1952). A romantic comedy starring John Wayne (yes, really) that created an image of Ireland which we’ve been stuck with for decades…and have sometimes played along with, if truth be told.

A Living Tradition

What is the Irish national emblem?

No, not the shamrock.

The harp.

Every piece of official documentation from the Irish passport to ambassadorial credentials carries this symbol, evidence of the importance of music, and musicians, in Irish society from time immemorial. In pre-Christian times, the harper had special status within a chieftain’s retinue, along with the poet and the historian to the extent that under the law, their nails were protected!

Musical instruments dating back to the early Bronze Age have been found throughout the country: over half the horns from this period in Europe were discovered on the island of Ireland. For many centuries music, along with storytelling, was the main form of entertainment for a population eking a living outside the Pale (the area around Dublin directly under English rule).

Music remains ‘a living tradition’ in Ireland, to quote Shane McGowan, more usually associated with punk. The key word is ‘living’: Irish traditional music has adapted to and been adapted by purveyors of more modern styles, and is embraced by all generations: in 1982, the second year of the Slane concerts (Irish equivalent of Woodstock or Glastonbury), the Rolling Stones were the headline act; the support acts included a group of traditional musicians – none other than the Chieftains. 

The Chieftains are a prime example of Irish syncretism, blending traditional music with other genres, and collaborating with musicians such as Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) and the Decemberists. Other Irish musicians such as the Corrs have followed in their footsteps, integrating Irish traditional tropes and instruments into modern modes. 

While Irish traditional music is not played in every Irish pub every night – sorry, but that’s just a myth – there are many opportunities throughout the country and throughout the year to experience it in its many forms, from organized festivals such as the O’Carolan Harp Festival in Roscommon to an impromptu ‘seisiúin’ [session] in a country pub where you’d be very welcome to join in!

Quark

I read somewhere that if the Irish are not talking, they’re writing. In my view, the one is just an extension of the other – if there’s no listening audience available, then you may as well write it down for a later reading one. 

To talk about Ireland and writers is to open a bottomless bookbag, whose contents go back centuries. In its illuminated manuscripts Ireland has a written record of a nation’s history unequalled within Europe. We have four Nobel Prizewinners for Literature, and contemporary winners of prizes such as the Booker Prize (UK) and the Windham-Campbell Prize (US). There are writing events galore and over a dozen national awards in various categories, as well as the International Dublin Literary Award, which at €100,000 euro is one of the richest in the world.

To put together a reading list of Irish literature, then, is an impossible task. You can start with the obvious, Joyce, but that’s like starting your medical training with, say, fetal surgery. A more rational approach might be to imagine what the reader would like to read, but I’ve learned from experience that that can end up indulging in stereotyping. Once, at the gym, I asked a six-foot-plus body builder and bouncer what his favourite book was – I’m embarrassed to admit, I did not expect him to say, “Wuthering Heights”. 

The selection I’ve put together therefore, is, simply, mine. I’ve tried to cover a range of categories, of times, of topics. I have also, where possible, indicated if a title is available in translation. I don’t expect anyone to read every item on the list (I haven’t), but if even one of my selection introduces you to Irish writing, or an unfamiliar aspect of Irish writing, I’d be, well, joyceful.  

My first suggestion is a writer from Co Cork, William Trevor (1928-2016), who worked as a teacher and sculptor before taking up writing fulltime. Considered a master of the short story, his posthumous collection, Last Stories, could be a good place to start.

My second author, also from Cork, is one of many young contemporary Irish writers who are making their mark internationally. To say that Sara Baume’s novel Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither (also available in Czech) is about and a man and his dog is accurate but wholly inadequate to describe the lyrical use of language and extraordinary empathy and imagination in Baume’s work.