Irishness: what???

Oh, isn't nationalism such a big topic? It is a huge issue in all my classes, and it appears to be a highly conflicted one out there in the current messy world. Irish nationalism, and the question of Irishness, is, of course, a big deal because it was so uncool for awhile and now it is cool again. In my literature courses, one is looking at how the Anglo-Irish (people of English descent, generally middle to upper class, protestant) debate how Irish they are because they sure aren't English, but people whose ancestors are from Ireland (working to middle class, catholic) maintain they aren't really Irish. This debate about what makes a person Irish is fascinating. We are reading a number of novels from the the early 20th century where Anglo-Irish authors explore what makes them Irish. I highly recommend one by a person called Kate O'Brien called The Land of Spices which is about an English woman who grew up in Brussels, became a nun, and gets sent to Ireland to be the Mother Superior of a convent school in the 1920's. In this novel, you get the author setting up England vs. Ireland vs. Europe vs. Catholic Church vs. generalized patriarchy. And she does a really compelling job of it all too. And it's funny, in places. This nun is in her early 40's and has these emotional revelations about the place of emotion and control in her life. Maybe I really like the novel because I sort of identified with this character. Kendra, if you haven't already found Kate O'Brien, you might really like her stuff.

The Irish Lit Revival course is about Yeats, Lady Gregory, Synge, O'Casey et alia. My paper that I will present next week is about the evocation of Landscape in Yeats' poetry. I contrast his poetry (Ango-Irish, written in English trying to evoke a new Irishness) with the native Irish poetry of 13th century monks and 17th century poets who wrote in Irish. Poor Yeats was so alienated from the land this is clear in his poetic landscapes. For example, that (in)famous poem 'Innisfree' with the 9 bean rows, the bee-loud glade, and the evening full of linnets' wings: remember that one? Well, if you go back to it, you will see that it all happens in the future tense: in fact, it never happens. The only part of the poem in the present tense that is "real" is his standing on the grey pavement in London dreaming about this place in his 'deep heart's core'. This alienation or inability to connect with nature is clear in all of his stuff. His most real landscapes are the landscapes of the mind, such as in his poignant poem (made me cry the first time I read it) called 'The Desertion of the Circus Animals'. On the other hand, the guys writing in Irish had a very different relationship with nature: intimate and personal. The contrast of Yeats trying so hard to deal with nature and these guys just swimming in it give two equally Irish approaches to evoking landscape in art, and yet such divergent perspectives. The irony is that Yeats, in the literary revival, wanted to revive these very poets, this very sensibility, this 'Celtic Twilight'. He never learned Irish, and he could never really touch the land. Bless him, he's the poet laureat of Ireland. Priscilla, you would love these 13th century poems! Ann, you would recongize what these guys were talking about! I will see if I can get a copy of this text Early Celtic Nature Poetry to bring home to you.

Now the Irish Music class also wonders, "What is Irish about Irish music?" and the conclusion is a geographical definition. They all seem to agree that if it is something that happens through social relationships here on this island, then that qualifies it to be Irish. Thus, Scottish strathspeys played for awhile in Ireland are traditional Irish music. Polkas and mazurkas, same thing. I went to a concert earlier this week where Frankie Gavan, a very famous fiddler, played the 5th Brandenburg concerto in the form of a traditional Irish jig. It was amazing, humourous, and utter technical virtuosity. All the texts I read about 'traditional Irish music' all say the guitar is utterly useless in traditional Irish music. On the other hand, every traditional session I have been to here has had a guitar backing everybody up, not to mention the occaisional bazouki. I guess they are part of the evolution of the 'tradition' (like the mazurkas, strathspeys, and polkas) such that in about 50 years they will be added to the tradition. In my guitar class, the teacher's perspective is, if you have guitar, you can play anything and a soloist of any tradition will want you to back them. He seemed to regard the guitar as the ultimate traditional instrument cuz it can adapt to anything.

So, on one of the mountain walks I went on, up Mount Mangerton in Kerry, I asked one of the Irish guys (who was dating a Polish girl, which makes him a bit of an internationalist, don't you think?) what made him Irish. He said, "Well, I guess I come from a small enough country that we haven't really pissed off a lot of other countries, and we can hang onto a friendly reputation. Yeah, we're known for our friendliness."