From: Matthew Barlow
Subject: Irish cultural revival

Hi all,
I'm working on my PhD dissertation at present, on the Irish community in
Montréal, and find myself interested in the revival of Irish culture
throughout the diaspora over the past decade or two. I'm wondering,
therefore, if anyone could direct me to some studies on this phenomenon
throughout the diaspora. I would imagine that the most relevant points of
comparison to Montréal would be the rest of Canada, the United States, and
Australia.

Cheers,
Matthew Barlow

PhD Candidate
Department of History
Concordia University
Montréal (QC)

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Over the weekend, our web site
http://www.irishdiaspora.net
was successfully moved to its new home. The move was more or less trouble
free - and brings home, yet again, what extraordinary things the Web and the
Internet are. My thanks to Stephen Sobol, of the University of Leeds, for
piloting the move.

The web site is still powered by Papersonline, Mark 1, as designed by
Stephen Sobol and Catherine Stones - working in the Cold Fusion database
system.

But the web site now lives and is hosted by Fresh Look, in Scotland.

All existing procedures and passwords work, so Folder Editors can now
continue to add material to their Folders, as before. And there is plenty
of room for more Folders and Papers - even though the current design is a
bit fussy.

And Ir-D members can make use of the DIRDA database, our Ir-D archives.
Some people have reported that irishdiaspora.net seems to work more quickly,
in its new home. I think that the DIRDA database is still a bit slow to
load - but it has become a very big thing, which is part of its usefulness.

Note that irishdiaspora.net will now be much more visible to the Search
Engines. And some important Search Engines rank the importance of a web
site by measuring how many web links point to it. In other words, links are
a way of making your web site more visible to the Search Engines.

I have been looking at our irishdiaspora.net Links section, and thinking
through our policy - our policy is, basically, Chums and Hubs... I don't
want to get too besotted with this - but suggestions about Links can be sent
to links[at]irishdiaspora.net.

OK, right, now... On to the next problem...

Paddy

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Just noting a New Issue, Irish University Review, Autumn/Winter 2003 - no
TOC available, of course. So, I have given up on that...

In fact not a great deal to interest Irish Diaspora Studies here - perhaps
Spurgeon Thompson's reading of Burke, Reflections, adopting what might be
called an 'Orientalism' approach...

Plus 2 Review essays of Field Day, Volumes 4 and 5, by Elva Johnston and
Roisin Higgins - ,

Elva Johnston, 'Review Essay: The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vols
4 and 5 and the invention of medieval women',

Roisin Higgins, 'Rebiew Essay: a Drift of Chosen Females?' The Field Day
Anthology of Irish Writing, Vols 4 and 5.

Both worth reading, as thinking about anthologising. I note, by the way,
that this is the second time in a short time that the name of Elva Johnston
has come to attention. A search of Findarticles for that name turns up a
number of items - a hard working and brave reviewer.

With this issue of IUR comes a separate volume, an Index to all back issues,
Volume 1 (1970) to Volume 30 (2000). Very interesting and useful - in
showing what 'Irish Studies' has been interested in, over those decades.
BUT... somewhere along the line a bad decision got made, or a decision got
left out. Writers and other main entries are listed in alphabetical order,
and entries within those sections are listed in alphabetical order. And
there is no indication, either through typography or layout, when a main
entry begins or ends. So, at first sight, the pages look like a random
jumble, and the Index remains hard to use... These things happen. But...
Sad...

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

...And they say nothing ever happens in Bradford...

Must at least send Greetings and good wishes...

Paddy


- -----Original Message-----


COBBLES at THE FOUNTAIN

James & Craig would like to invite you & your partner/friend to help launch
our new Restaurant

Bradford's first(and only)

Irish Resturant

Cuisine with one eye on the past & the other fixed firmly on the future

On Friday 28th June, 2004

from 7.30 onwards.

Irish Food & Music

RSVP at Cobbles4[at]aol.com

Cead Mile Failte !

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

On a train of thought...

I much enjoyed the TV Series, In Search of Ancient Ireland - which I have
now seen on DVD.

There are web sites...

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ancientireland/index.html

http://www.rte.ie/tv/ancientireland/

and web searches will no doubt uncover more mentions...

There are two things that are particularly attractive about the series...
One we have often touched on in our discussions of scholarship on television
- - it is good to actually see the scholars, put a face to a name, and hear
the most up to date arguments and research. And the visuals are very good,
and often very informative - especially nowadays when archaeology so much
stresses the placing of monuments in a landscape. So, good use of
helicopter shots.

Sometimes, too, you see a famous name, struggling through undergrowth to
reach a famous site - I suppose that neglect protects, sort of, and
undergrowth might be better than all those gravel paths... But it does make
you wonder...

Carmel McCaffrey acted as advisor to the project. And - and I hope this is
not speaking out of turn - I have much enjoyed and appreciated Carmel's
private emails to me, reporting on her time amongst the television folk...
Talk about learning on the job... But it sounds to me as if this tv project
benefitted from the presence of a scholar who was willing to go to the
meetings, and fight for scholarship... Makes me feel guilty, really...

Paddy


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

We have received the following news from Yale University Press...

Our congratulations to Brian Lalor, the Editor who, grittily, saw the
Encylopaedia of Ireland project through to completion.

Patrick O'Sullivan


________________________________

Subject: THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF IRELAND, US AWARDS

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF IRELAND HAS
RECIEVED TWO PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMIC AWARDS IN THE UNITED STATES:

BEST SINGLE-VOLUME REFERENCE IN THE HUMANITIES, 2003, IN THE PROFESSIONAL /
SCHOLARLY DIVISION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PRESSES,

BEST REFERENCE RESOURCE FOR 2003, LIBRARY JOURNAL.

From: MICHAEL CURRAN
michaeljcurran[at]btinternet.com

A Phadraig
greetings from Belfast.
Just to inform you that a special edition of the Irish Journal of Psychology
(Vol 23, Nos. 3-4) has been now belatedly published.

The special edition entitled "The Irish Diaspora" has Prof. Michael D. Roe
from Seattle Pacific University and Dr. Christopher Lewis from the
Department of Psychology at University of Ulster, as guest editors.

There is a wide ranging list of interesting articles - mainly on
psychosocial dimensions of the Irish in both parts of Ireland, and on the
emigres in the UK, and in north and south America. There are also 7 book
reviews on publications dealing with Irish migration matters.

Copies and further details from:

The Psychological Society of Ireland
CX House
2A, Corn Exchange Place
Dublin 2

Cumann Síceolaithe Éireann,
CX House, 2A Corn Exchange Place,
Poolbeg Street, Dublin 2.

Phone: 01 4749160

Web Contact point...

http://www.psihq.org/default.asp

http://www.psihq.org/COMMS_IRISHJOURNAL.ASP

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Forwarded on behalf of
Gisela.Holfter
Gisela.Holfter[at]ul.ie

- -----Original Message-----

Subject: German-speaking exiles in Ireland 33-45; 10-12 June 2004, 7th
Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies

7th Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies

German-speaking Exiles in Ireland 1933-1945 International Colloquium
10-12. June 2004 Centre for Irish-German Studies, University of
Limerick
Organiser: Dr. Gisela Holfter, Head of German, Senior Lecturer

Programme
Thursday 10. June 2004
2-3pm Registration
Plassey House, University of Limerick

3.15pm Official opening Prof Noel Whelan, Vice President External
Affairs

3.30-4.45pm Prof Wolfgang Benz, Berlin Keynote address

4.45-5.15pm Tea & coffee

5.15-6.30pm
Raphael Siev, Jewish Museum (Dublin) Admission of Refugees to Ireland
Dr Wolfgang Muchitsch (Graz) Austrian Refugees in Ireland 1933-1945

6.30pm Wine Reception sponsored by German Embassy

7pm Conference Dinner Plassey House

8.30pm Irish Music Mícheál Ó' Súilleabháin & BA Traditional Irish
Music (in conjunction with "Nursing & Midwifery in the Holocaust"
conference) Castletroy Park Hotel



Friday 11. June 2004
9.15-10.30am Prof Dermot Keogh (Cork) Keynote address

10.30-11am Tea & coffee

11-12.45pm
Dr Colin Walker (Belfast) Robert Weil
Dr Gisela Holfter (Limerick) Dr Ernst Scheyer Dr Horst Dickel
(Wiesbaden) & John Cooke (London) Dr Hans Sachs

1-2.15pm Lunch

2.15-4pm Personal Reflections
Eva Gross (Belfast)
Ruth Braunizer (Alpbach)
Monica Schefold (Bremen)

4-4.30pm Tea & coffee

4.30-5.45pm
Birte Schulz (Limerick) Questions of Identity Siobhán O' Connor
(Limerick) "The Obliviousness of the Fortunate"- Policy and Public
Opinion towards the Refugees 1933-1945

6.30pm Buffet Dinner & Music, Stables Courtyard

8.30pm Film
No More Blooms,
Producer Louis Lentin, Ireland 1997
CSIS Building, CSG01


Saturday 12 June 2004, Location - Dromroe village
9.30-10.45am
Heidi Tomitz (Limerick) The Strunz Family Dr Hermann Rasche (Galway)
Dr Ludwig Bieler

10.45-11.15am Tea & coffee

11.15-12.30pm Roundtable discussion
Dr Deborah Vietor-Engländer (Darmstadt/London); Prof Anthony
McElligott (Limerick); Dr Pól Ó Dochartaigh (Coleraine); Prof Hamish
Ritchie (Sheffield/London)

End of conference

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Wolfgang Benz is President of the German Society for Exile
Research and Director of the Centre for Anti-Semitism Research. Among
his numerous seminal publications are: Flucht aus Deutschland - Zum
Exil im 20. Jahrhundert, München: dtv 2001, Das Exil der kleinen Leute.
Alltagserfahrung deutscher Juden in der Emigration, München: C.H. Beck
1998; (with Marion Neiss): Die Erfahrung des Exils. Exemplarische
Reflexionen, Berlin: Metropol 1997.

Professor Dermot Keogh, Head of the History Department University
College Cork is one of the foremost historians of Ireland. His
extensive publications include: Ireland and Europe 1919-1989, Cork &
Dublin:
Hibernian University Press 1989; Twentieth Century Ireland, Dublin:
Gill & Macmillan 1994; Jews in Twentieth-Century Ireland: Refugees,
Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, Cork: Cork University Press 1998;
Ireland: a Journal of History and Society (1995).

To avail of reduced conference fee return your booking form by 21st
May, 2004
For further information and booking form please go to
http://www.ul.ie/~lcs/irish-german.html or contact:
Siobhan O'Connor, Conference Secretary: siobhan.oconnor[at]ul.ie; fax:
061/202556

The Centre for Irish-German Studies gratefully acknowledges the
support of the Austrian Embassy, German Embassy, Goethe-Institut,
College of Humanities, Irish Research Council for Humanities and
Social Sciences, University of Limerick Research Funding, Failte
Ireland, Rodopi, Beyond the Pale Publications, Cork University
Press/Attic Press and all those individuals who assisted along the way
with queries, advice and reassurances

From: Carmel McCaffrey
Subject: Re: Ir-D TV Series, In Search of Ancient Ireland

Thanks Paddy for these nice comments. Yes, I did learn that frequently the
content becomes secondary to what the production team thinks important -
aesthetics take priority over subject matter. But I also discovered that
battling this philosophy also works and we eventually ended up with what I
think is a credible rendition of the current state of Irish scholarship on
early historic and pre-historic times.

For me it turned out also to be a fascinating exploration, frequently
climbing through hedges and barbed wire to reach some badly neglected but
once powerful centres of Irish life. Leo Eaton - the director- was good to
work with and he decided that instead of interviewing the various scholars
in front of a wall of books we actually took each one to the various sites.
This sometimes felt more like expeditions but the scholars had fun also
moving beyond mere words to actually experiencing the places where the
history took place.

Carmel

irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

>>From Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>On a train of thought...
>
>I much enjoyed the TV Series, In Search of Ancient Ireland - which I have
>now seen on DVD.
>
>There are web sites...
>
>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ancientireland/index.html
>
>http://www.rte.ie/tv/ancientireland/
>
>and web searches will no doubt uncover more mentions...
>

From: Carmel McCaffrey
Subject: Re: Ir-D In Search of Ancient Ireland 3

Maureen,

As Paddy says the DVD is available from Amazon and from PBS and from Barnes
and Noble on line - it is also available in VHS - two tapes- format. I
should also add that the book - which expands some of the scholar's points
made in the programme - is also available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and
Borders and most bookstores.

Thanks,

Carmel

irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk wrote:

>From: ""
>
>
>Congratulations to Carmel McCaffrey, Leo Eaton, & all, on this big &
>important achievement.
> I surely enjoyed & benefited from the "Ancient Ireland" website,
>but I haven't found a copy of the documentary on DVD here in the States
>-- at least, not as yet. Any suggestions or information?
> Most appreciatively & with my very best wishes, MEM.
>
>Maureen E. Mulvihill, PhD
>Fellow, Princeton Research Forum
>Princeton, New Jersey
>mulvihill[at]nyc.rr.com
>

From: Kerby Miller
Subject: Re: Ir-D In Search of Ancient Ireland 3

My history dept. purchased it from PBS and I used it quite successfully in
my Irish history class that covers from the Ice Age to the Famine. Not
being at all expert in early Irish history (most of that class focuses on
the 1500s to the Famine), I found it very helpful to read Carmel's and Leo's
accompanying book, from which I constructed descriptive chronologies as
handouts for the students, to accompany the three different parts of the
film.

Kerby

>From: ""
>
>
>Congratulations to Carmel McCaffrey, Leo Eaton, & all, on this big &
>important achievement.
> I surely enjoyed & benefited from the "Ancient Ireland" website,
>but I haven't found a copy of the documentary on DVD here in the States
>-- at least, not as yet. Any suggestions or information?
> Most appreciatively & with my very best wishes, MEM.
>
>Maureen E. Mulvihill, PhD
>Fellow, Princeton Research Forum
>Princeton, New Jersey
>mulvihill[at]nyc.rr.com
>

From: "Maureen Mulvihill"
To:
Subject: Re: Ir-D In Search of Ancient Ireland



thanks everyone for this, shall check it out this wk/end -- appreciatively,
mem

From: ""


Congratulations to Carmel McCaffrey, Leo Eaton, & all, on this big &
important achievement.
I surely enjoyed & benefited from the "Ancient Ireland" website, but I
haven't found a copy of the documentary on DVD here in the States -- at
least, not as yet. Any suggestions or information?
Most appreciatively & with my very best wishes, MEM.

Maureen E. Mulvihill, PhD
Fellow, Princeton Research Forum
Princeton, New Jersey
mulvihill[at]nyc.rr.com


[Moderator's Note:
The DVDs can be bought through Shop PBS...
http://www.shoppbs.org/home/index.jsp

And through Amazon.Com. Bit cheaper at Amazon.
P.O'S.]

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan


Forwarded on behalf of
National Portrait Gallery
Publications
St Martin's Place
London WC2H 0HE

- -----Original Message-----

The Irish Face
Redefining the Irish Portrait
Fintan Cullen

The relationship between art and national identity is a recurring theme in
modern history. Is it possible to define a 'national' school of art? How far
does culture inspire or reflect social and political change? The Irish Face
tackles these questions head-on with a bold and original analysis of three
centuries of portraiture.

Starting with a discussion of what makes a portrait particular to one
country or region, Fintan Cullen explores the contradictions within existing
definitions of national art. Politics, geography, religion, commerce, class,
gender and the affiliations of artists and sitters all play a part in how we
read and respond to portraiture. But the history of Ireland and the
experience of the Irish diaspora present the need for a redefinition of
Irish portraiture.

The Irish Face includes chapters on the production of portraiture both in
and about Ireland, the political portrait, the family and the biographical
portrait, and the relationship between portraiture and success. Featuring
over 100 illustrations, from Jonathan Swift, Charles Stewart Parnell and
Seamus Heaney, to Bono and Mary Robinson, this ambitious study by Fintan
Cullen brings a refreshing and important perspective to our understanding of
art, history and national culture.

Fintan Cullen is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art History at the
University of Nottingham and author of Visual Politics: The Representation
of Ireland 1750-1930 and Sources in Irish Art: A Reader.

Contact details
For further information about The Irish Face book please contact Pallavi
Vadhia, Sales and Marketing Officer, T 020 7312 2482 National Portrait
Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE E pvadhia[at]npg.org.uk

For all other National Portrait Gallery press enquiries please contact Hazel
Sutherland, Press Officer, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place,
London, WC2H
0HE T 020 7312 2452 E hsutherland[at]npg.org.uk

National Portrait Gallery
Publications
St Martin's Place
London WC2H 0HE

T 020 7312 2482
F 020 7306 0092
E pvadhia[at]npg.org.uk

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Two mammoth projects on the History of the Book are wending their way,
forwards, ever forward...

1.
One volume of The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain was published
some time ago - and we are beginning to see reviews of another, Volume 4...

The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain
Volume 4, 1557-1695
Edited by John Barnard, D. F. McKenzie, Assisted by Maureen Bell
920 pages 32 half-tones 7 graphs 4 figures
Hardback | ISBN: 052166182X

Info at...

http://books.cambridge.org/052166182X.htm

2.
Meanwhile A History of the Irish Book seems to be taking shape. There is a
web site, a sub directory of the web site of the Academy of Irish Cultural
Heritages - and the book outlines there are worth a read in themselves...

A History of the Irish Book
http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/academy/hib/hibindexpage.htm

The train of thought that connects these 2 items is that in The Cambridge
History of the Book in Britain
Volume 4, 1557-1695, there is a chapter, 'The book in Ireland from the Tudor
re-conquest to the Battle of the Boyne' by Robert Welch.

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Cumann Seanchais na Banndan (Bandon Local History Association) has created a
web site...

http://www.bandonhistory.com/

From the web site...
EXTRACT BEGINS...

Welcome to the Cumann Seanchais na Banndan Website.

Cumann Seanchais na Banndan (Bandon Local History Association) is a group
based in Bandon in West Cork, Ireland whose aim is to encourage and promote
the local history of the area. The aim of the website is to provide details
on upcoming events and contacts for members of the association as well as an
overview of the publications of the association. Any
comments/queries/suggestions can be sent to cumannseanchais[at]eircom.net

Next Event
Wednesday 19 May 2004
"English Roots and Irish Growth".
Parish Centre 8pm
The historical and cultural background to the development of Bandon.
Speaker: Murt Ó Sulleabháin

EXTRACT ENDS...

For those of us who live a little distance from Bandon, and cannot hear Murt
Ó Sulleabháin... Note that on the web site, under Publications, the Bandon
Local History Association has placed pictures of the covers of every issue
of the Bandon Historical Journal. AND the Tables of Contents... Well done,
Bandon...

If Bandon can do it...

One of the things the Bandon Historical Journal reminded me of was the work
of James Vincent Murphy, the official translator into English of the works
of Adolf Hitler. There is a book
James Vincent Murphy: Translator and Interpreter of Fascist Europe 1880-1946
by James J. Barnes, Patience P. Barnes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (March 1987)

P.O'S.


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit

Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Personal Fax 0044 (0) 709 236 9050

Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
Irish Diaspora Net Archive http://www.irishdiaspora.net

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: "Sarah Morgan"
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Migration - British Council seminar in Cork

This sounds interesting - and I see that Ir-D list members, Mary J. Hickman
and Piaras Mac Éinrí are involved...

Sarah Morgan

-----------------------------------

Forthcoming British Council Seminar

Migration: philosophies and practices of integration
20-25 June 2004
Cork, Republic of Ireland


This seminar will explore the challenges of managing migration and promoting
integration. Some of the key questions to be addressed are as follows:

* What type of unity or cohesion is required in democratic societies?
* Are we witnessing the end of multiculturalism and the return of the
'melting pot'?
* How can long-term integration of new migrants be achieved?
* What are the challenges for native majorities in adjusting to new
forms of integration?

Participant profile: Practitioners, policy officials and influencers,
academics, media representatives, members of NGOs and representatives of
migrant communities. This event will be of particular interest to European
countries but will welcome the opportunity to share experience from
elsewhere.

For more information or to make an application please see:
http://www2.britishcouncil.org/seminars-governance-0444.htm

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: FW: IR-D: approval required (0E7764E2)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

From: "Patrick Pinder"
To: IR-D[at]JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Test from Hotmail
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 08:22:53 +0000
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Message-ID:
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 17 May 2004 08:22:54.0232 (UTC)
FILETIME=[26C82980:01C43BE8]
X-CCLRC-SPAM-report: -4.9 : BAYES_00
X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.38

Modified by Moderator...

Test from Hotmail...

SD

From: patrick maume
Sender: P.Maume[at]Queens-Belfast.AC.UK
To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Ir-D Wilde's speech from the dock

From: patrick Maume
I wonder if the parallel with the "speech from the dock" genre could be
re-stated? Irish patriots on trial (especially constitutional nationalists)
often devoted a great deal of effort to disputing that the state's case
against them constituted legal proof; the "speech from the dock" openly
avowing oneself to be a rebel was usually made (if made at all) after the
verdict had been reached and when there was no point in further obfuscation.
(Even then, it often included complaints that aspects of the prosecution
case - such as informer evidence - had been fabricated.)
A better parallel for what Wilde was doing, then, might not be Emmet's
speech from the dock but something like Whiteside's final speech as defense
counsel for William Smith O'Brien in 1848, which devotes considerable effort
to arguing that O'Brien might simply have been attempting to avoid arrest
rather than to start a rising, that his respect for private property &c was
not the behaviour of a revolutionist, that his speeches were not proof of
the offence for others had said similar things without being prosecuted,
that the prosecutors had sought evidence in an ungentlemanly manner by
breaking open his suitcase to read his letters etc. [One difference in that
particular case is that O'Brien himself did not - indeed as the law then
stood could not - go into the witness box and make these claims - his lawyer
simply put them forward as a plausible explanation of his behaviour without
claiming directly that this was the true explanation.]
Best wishes,
Patrick
On Tue, 18 May 2004 05:00:00 irish-diaspora[at]bradford.ac.uk wrote:

>
> >From Email Patrick O'Sullivan
>
> Interesting approach to Wilde's 'speech from the dock...'
>
> P.O'S.
>
> Textual Practice
> Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
> Issue: Volume 15, Number 3 / November 1, 2001
> Pages: 447 - 466
>
>
> Oscar Wilde's speech from the dock
>
> Lucy McDiarmid
>

From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Interesting approach to Wilde's 'speech from the dock...'

P.O'S.

Textual Practice
Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
Issue: Volume 15, Number 3 / November 1, 2001
Pages: 447 - 466


Oscar Wilde's speech from the dock

Lucy McDiarmid

Abstract:

Current orthodoxy holds that Oscar Wilde's deportment during and after his
trial fits the paradigm embodied in the lives of Irish nationalist martyrs.
Without examining closely what precisely Wilde said in the dock and what
Irish martyrs say in the dock, those who write on the subject assume that
Wilde defended homosexuality as patriots defended Irish independence, and
that he was eager to speak openly and proudly on behalf of his 'cause'. Such
was not the case: in the spring of 1895 Wilde had not yet theorized his
sexuality as a political issue. Nor did he wish to be a martyr. Like Byron
and Wilfrid Blunt, and indeed like his own mother Speranza, Wilde was an
oppositional celebrity, for whom politics was a continuing public
performance that, with luck, led in the long run to some kind of interesting
immortality.Fully accepting Wilde'sIrish nationalist politics and the Irish
literary traditions that inform his work, appreciating all the recent
scholarship that rehibernicizes Wilde, I have no wish to dehibernicize him.
Simply to set the record straight on Wilde' s speech about 'the love that
dare not speak its name', this article analyses the genealogy of that speech
and comments on other aspects of Wilde's defence. Finally, it looks at the
slow, gradual way Wilde came to frame his sexuality in 'The Ballad of
Reading Gaol' and in letters written after he had served his sentence.

Keywords:

OSCAR WILDE - TRIAL OSCAR WILDE - WRITINGS HOMOSEXUALITY AND CULTURE IRISH
HISTORY IRISH PATRIOTS - TRIALS CULTURE - POLITICAL ASPECTS