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Thank you to those who gave some thought - on list and off list - to
possible themes for my lecture in New York on Thursday March 24.

To the person who said, 'Oh just turn up and tell them how wonderful they
are...' - I can see why you get on so well in the world and my respect for
you has not diminished in the slightest...

We are going to combine my trip to New York with a little family holiday...
When your teenage sons actually say they want to come with you... So... We
will spend the week beginning Monday March 21 in New York City - the
following week we will be in the Catskills...

Whatever they are...

If anyone who wants a copy of our itinerary, I am happy to send it on.

In the week beginning Monday March 21 I will be taking part in a series of
seminars at the Glucksman Ireland House
http://www.nyu.edu/pages/irelandhouse/

This will be very good for me since - as everyone knows - I don't get out
much. I often get asked to comment on matters academical, but I am not now
directly involved in teaching - my standard gag is that I cannot afford to
subsidise the British university system. So it will be good to see and hear
what is happening in one of our flagship centres for Irish Studies and Irish
Diaspora Studies.

My lecture will take place in the evening of Thursday March 24. The working
title of my lecture is...

'Will we wither?'

I am still working on the lecture, which is broadly a look at developments
throughout the Irish Diaspora, as monitored from my attic in Bradford, and
at developments in Irish Diaspora Studies. And at possible relationships
between the two.

But I am still thinking - and any further comments will be welcome.

Of course I regard the coming journey with my usual mixture of total gloom
lightened only by utter despondency.

Paddy O'Sullivan


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

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

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This article has appeared on the web site of
CLCWeb: comparative literature and culture: a WWWeb journal.

It might be of interest to people who want to use - or rescue - the notion
of 'exile'...

Ariel Dorfman likes Sophia A. McCLENNEN's book...

P.O'S.


http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb05-1/mcclennen05.html

Sophia A. McCLENNEN
Exilic Perspectives on "Alien Nations"
Abstract: Sophia A. McClennen's paper, "Exilic Perspectives on 'Alien
Nations'," is an excerpt from her book, The Dialectics of Exile: Nation,
Time, Language and Space in Hispanic Literatures (Purdue UP
, 2004). In the
paper, McClennen summarizes her theory that exile writing is inherently
dialectical. Focusing on writers working in the latter part of the twentieth
century who were exiled during a historical moment of increasing
globalization, transnational economics, and the theoretical shifts of
postmodernism, McClennen proposes that exile literature is best understood
as a series of dialectic tensions about cultural identity. Through a
comparative analysis of Juan Goytisolo (Spain), Ariel Dorfman (Chile) and
Cristina Peri Rossi (Uruguay), McClennen addresses dilemmas central to
debates over cultural identity such as nationalism versus globalization,
time as historical or cyclical, language as representationally accurate or
disconnected from reality, and social space as utopic or dystopic. After
presenting an overview of her book, McClennen then focuses on the ways exile
writers construct what she calls an "Alien Nation" where competing and
contrasting visions of the relationship between the exile and the nation
intersect and contradict.
Sophia A. McCLENNEN

Author's profile: Sophia A. McClennen
teaches comparative
literature, Spanish, inter-American literature, and Women's Studies at the
Pennsylvania State University. Her teaching and research interests further
include media studies and comparative cultural studies. McClennen's first
book, The Dialectics of Exile: Nation, Time Language and Space in Hispanic
Literatures (Purdue UP
, 2004), is a
comparative study of exile literature from Spain and Latin America.

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Nationalist Politics in the West of Ireland
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We have received this friendly message from

Dr Fergus Campbell,
School of Historical Studies,
University of Newcastle,
NE1 7RU.

Anyone within striking distance of Galway (Ireland) or Newcastle (England)
should go along and cheer Fergus on...

I have pasted in below an outline of Fergus' book.

Paddy


________________________________

From: fergusjcam[at]aol.com
To: patrickos[at]irishdiaspora.net

Dr Fergus Campbell,
School of Historical Studies,
University of Newcastle,
NE1 7RU.

10 March.

Dear Patrick,

I have just published a book on the land question and nationalist politics
in the West of Ireland between 1891 and 1921 with Oxford University Press -
the full title and blurb are below - and I was wondering if I could (through
the Irish diaspora site) extend an invite to everyone on the list to one of
two book launches that we are having next week:

1. At Tyneside Irish Centre, Gallowgate, Newcastle at 7.00 on 16 March.
2. At Kenny's Book Shop, High Street, Galway at 6.30 on 18 March.

Although the book is not directly about the diaspora, it examines the nature
of the society from which so many people emigrated and - to a certain extent
- explains why there was so much emigration from the west of Ireland. I can
also guarantee that plenty of members of the diaspora will be attending both
launches!


With many thanks and best wishes, Fergus


Land and Revolution

Nationalist Politics in the West of Ireland 1891-1921 (Oxford University
Press, 2005)
Fergus Campbell

Description

In the 1890s, most of the inhabitants of the west of Ireland experienced
great poverty and hardship, living - as they did - on farms that were too
small to provide them with a reasonable standard of living. By 1921,
however, the living conditions of many of them had been transformed by a
series of Land Acts that revolutionized the system of land holding in
Ireland. This book examines agrarian conflict in Ireland during the
neglected period between the death of Parnell (1891) and the signing of the
Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), and demonstrates that land reform was often
introduced in response to popular protest.


Whereas earlier accounts have tended to examine Irish political history from
the perspective of British governments or nationalist leaders, this book
breaks new ground by providing an account of popular political activity in
late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ireland. For the first time, the
social background, ideas, and activities of grass-roots political activists
are systematically explored, as are the class conflicts that threatened to
fragment the unity of the nationalist movement in rural communities. By
reinserting the activism of ordinary people into the broader historical
record, Dr Campbell suggests new interpretations of a number of critical
developments including the failure of 'constructive unionism', the origins
of Sinn Fein, and the nature and dynamics of the Irish revolution (1916-23).
Using the recently released archives of the Bureau of Military History, the
story of the war of independence in the western county of Galway is told in
the words of both the Irish Republican Army and its enemies.


Land and Revolution transforms our understanding of late nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century Irish history, and also contributes to comparative
studies of nationalism, revolution, and agrarian protest.

Product Details

360 pages; 3 maps & 29 tables; 0-19-927324-3

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From: Gerard Moran
gerard.moran[at]gmail.com
Subject: Re: [IR-D] Will we wither?

Patrick,

I think some comment could be made on the Irish emigrants who went to
Britain in the 1950s and who are now virtually forgotten by the Irish
government and the contribution they made to the Irish economy in the 1950s
and 1960s. I was returned on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Brussels
last Sunday and there was a very interesting article in Cara, the in flight
magazine, on the drop-in centre in Camden for these old Irish people who
have little material wealth and virtually no support. What was most sad was
the fact that most of them feared being buried in Britain. While their
hearts are in Ireland, most are forgotten by the Celtic Tiger. Enjoy the
New York and States.

Gerard Moran,
European School, Uccle,
Brussels

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From: ultancowley[at]eircom.net
Subject: Re: [IR-D] Will we wither? 2


Paddy
I second Gerard's sentiments. In fact, my remittance statistics are
quoted in the Cara article he mentions, and I was prompted by it to write a
piece (unpublished as yet)for the Irish papers on the subject.

Therefore, in support of Gerard's appeal, I will forward an edited version
of this which, by your leave, I would like to share with List members.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and bon voyage.

Ultan

<
< From: Gerard Moran
< gerard.moran[at]gmail.com
< Subject: Re: [IR-D] Will we wither?
<
< Patrick,
<
< I think some comment could be made on the Irish emigrants who went to <
Britain in the 1950s and who are now virtually forgotten by the Irish <
government and the contribution they made to the Irish economy in the 1950s
< and 1960s. I was returned on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to
Brussels < last Sunday and there was a very interesting article in Cara,
the in flight < magazine, on the drop-in centre in Camden for these old
Irish people who < have little material wealth and virtually no support.
What was most sad was < the fact that most of them feared being buried in
Britain. While their < hearts are in Ireland, most are forgotten by the
Celtic Tiger. Enjoy the < New York and States.
<
< Gerard Moran,
< European School, Uccle,
< Brussels
<

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From: ultancowley[at]eircom.net

AN END TO EXILE?

'Its not the money - it's the fact that people back home remembered'. These
words, from a recent client of Cricklewood Homeless Concern quoted in the
current issue of Cara in-flight magazine, speak volumes about the reality of
the Irish emigrant experience in Britain.

For much of the last century the boot was on the other foot; our emigrants
earned money by the sweat of their brows and sent it selflessly to those at
home who badly needed it. 2.2 billion pounds in cheques and money orders
alone came from the Irish in Britain just between 1939 and 1969. It wasn't
for nothing that a railway porter in the Irish midlands used to call out,
'Connaughtmen, and Horned Cattle, to the far platform, please!' in the early
1900s.

The State's education budget in 1960 was #15 million. Emigrants' remittances
that same year totalled #15.5 million! Yet 82% of emigrants to Britain in
1960 had left school by the age of fifteen'

Two hundred thousand Irishmen worked in British construction in the nineteen
sixties. They were indispensable to post-war reconstruction. Sir William
McAlpine told me personally that the contribution of Irish labour to his
industry was 'immeasurable'. Britain's fledgling National Health Service was
staffed mainly by Irish nurses and catering in schools, hotels, and
hospitals depended heavily on Irish labour.

There has always been a tendency in Ireland to take pride in those who went
to the United States, but to be somewhat ashamed of those who went to
England. How many of us remember the practice, once common in the courts, of
giving a young man in trouble the choice to 'Go to gaol, or go to England'.

The negative stereotype of the 'all-brawn, no-brain, drunken Irish navvy' is
one too many Irish people here bought into. What they failed to appreciate
was that, in construction as in other trades, the pub was the labour
exchange ' hence the proliferation of British pubs called 'The Mason's
Arms', 'The Bricklayer's Arms', etc.

Of course, in that all-male macho industry, men were prone to bouts of
drunkenness and fighting - but they also thronged the Irish churches on a
Sunday morning, gave their labour free of charge to build clubs and centres
for their fellow emigrants, and faithfully remitted hard earned money when
they could have spent it to improve their lives or save for their old age.
Few ever benefited directly from their own remittances.

Father Owen Sweeney, chaplain on the Spencer Steelworks project in South
Wales between 1959 and 1964, said of the Irish navvies, 'I came to
appreciate the inestimable value of their contribution to human wellbeing. I
came to regard them as the true nobility of society ' humble, hard-working
men, who rarely complained about their lot'.

John Cox, an Englishman and former chairman of major player Tarmac
Construction, said to me in the firm's head office in Wolverhampton, 'I know
many able Irishmen who could have been behind this desk, instead of me, had
they had an education'.

Now the remnants of the half million Irish men and women who emigrated to
Britain after World War Two are old and, in many instances, isolated, and
alone. Alienated by history from British society, 'they taught us to hate
England, and then they sent us over here', and forgotten or ignored by those
at home.

Teresa Gallagher, Director of Irish Counselling and Psychotherapy, has said
of them: 'We are finding deep wells of sadness in ordinary human lives'.
That sadness is not caused by emigration ' you don't find it amongst the
Irish in Australia or America, for example. These people feel themselves to
be exiles, not emigrants, and their sadness stems from the justifiable
conviction that they have been rejected and forgotten by their own people.

My book, The Men who built Britain, told the story of the Irish in British
construction. I put their lives in context for the first time and, as often
as possible, used their own words to describe their experience. Few of them
could understand why anyone would want to do so and that was the measure of
their humility. But many wrote touching letters later expressing their
appreciation of the book. Here's how one man put it: 'You told it as it was.
It brought back anger, sadness, and tears. It also brought back memories of
pride, joy, and laughter; of men who earned their bread by the sweat of
their brow. God rest those who are gone. PS. I prefer to remain anonymous.'

My aim now is to see these emigrants acknowledged in today's Ireland before
it is too late. Assisted holidays, cultural exchanges, inter-generational
reminiscence projects, personal correspondence, and communication via
dedicated air and print space should all be happening on a daily basis. The
culmination and symbol of this outreach should be a National Emigrants' Day,
La na hImirce, when our emigrants are honoured and included, no matter where
they live, and funds are raised to improve their welfare wherever necessary
including resources for burial in Ireland where so desired.

I call this the End to Exile campaign. I invite everyone in sympathy with
its aims and objectives to contact me at the address below. Exile in Irish
is Deorai, meaning Placelessness and Banishment. A state of mind, as much as
of being, it is corrosive and obscene but it is not imagined. Its time that
we in Ireland ended it.

Ultan Cowley

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From: Carmel McCaffrey
cmc[at]jhu.edu
Subject: Re: [IR-D] From Ultan Cowley, AN END TO EXILE?

Ultan,

Thank you so much for this. This is a very interesting article. Those of
us natives who live abroad, no matter what our circumstances, never forget
the homeland and it is sad when we are forgotten. I have to disagree with
Teresa Gallagher that there is no sadness in America among the native born
Irish. There is - but it is not so socially acceptable to express it here.
Burial in Ireland is a topic that I have discussed with others of all ages.

I would like to add that I hope the Irish government will eventually decide
to give us back our right to vote which we lost when we left.

Carmel

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From: ultancowley[at]eircom.net
Subject: Re: [IR-D] From Ultan Cowley, AN END TO EXILE? 2


Hello Carmel
Thank you for your kind words.

I' d just like to correct the eroneous impression, due no doubt to my poor
syntax, that Teresa Gallagher made any comments about the
emotional/psychological condition of the Irish in America; that was entirely
my own contention. Perhaps it has to do with how such matters are mediated
through the Irish at home?

Anyway, I hope something will come of this initiative and I would welcome
help with this campaign in any shape or form. Do spread the word...

Regards

Ultan
< From: Carmel McCaffrey
< cmc[at]jhu.edu
< Subject: Re: [IR-D] From Ultan Cowley, AN END TO EXILE?
<
< Ultan,
<
< Thank you so much for this. This is a very interesting article. Those
of < us natives who live abroad, no matter what our circumstances, never
forget < the homeland and it is sad when we are forgotten. I have to
disagree with < Teresa Gallagher that there is no sadness in America among
the native born < Irish. There is - but it is not so socially acceptable
to express it here.
< Burial in Ireland is a topic that I have discussed with others of all
ages.
<
< I would like to add that I hope the Irish government will eventually
decide < to give us back our right to vote which we lost when we left.
<
< Carmel
<

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From: Carmel McCaffrey
cmc[at]jhu.edu
Subject: Re: [IR-D] From Ultan Cowley, AN END TO EXILE? 3

>
>
>I' d just like to correct the eroneous impression, due no doubt to my
>poor syntax, that Teresa Gallagher made any comments about the
>emotional/psychological condition of the Irish in America; that was
>entirely my own contention. Perhaps it has to do with how such matters
>are mediated through the Irish at home?
>

Ultan,

Thanks for the clarification. I really do not know how the impression has
been formed but I can say that my own experience here in the States is that
there is a subtle pressure to conform to and appreciate the
"American Dream" and to leave the past behind. However, most native
Irish people that I know do feel a great sense of sadness and loss about
having left Ireland. I know I do. I am not at all sure that this is
understood by later generations of American born.. A very important part of
American culture is success and success does not usually include regret
about a loss that cannot ever be compensated for. I remember my in-laws who
came here from the west of Ireland in the 1920s as pre- teens and settled
here telling me in old age that leaving Ireland was the hardest thing they
ever had to do. Each could re-call in detail the day each left and the
faces of the family they left behind.

Carmel

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P.O'S.

'It's fear like I've never known'

Fergal Keane made his name reporting 'hot wars'. He tells Stephen Moss =
why
he's refusing to cover any more, why he's not ashamed to show his =
emotions
in front of the camera, and of his own private battle with the bottle

Thursday March 3, 2005
The Guardian

'Alcoholic father, insecurity of the child, anxiety, feeling of guilt,
depression - sublimated in work, panic attack, mental breakdown, =
drinking,
alcoholism, blackouts, fear, vision of death. These are just some of the
notes I scribbled to myself as I read Fergal Keane's newly published =
memoir,
All of These People. Distinguished BBC foreign correspondents, =
bestriding a
broken world, are surely not supposed to show such vulnerability. Keane =
is
either very brave or very foolish - or perhaps both...'

Full text at...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1428967,00.html

All of These People is published on March 7 by HarperCollins (=A320).

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Stand and deliver

The capture of a gang of highwaymen, from the Manchester Guardian, April 2
1836

'...About nine o'clock on Wednesday morning, two men named Patrick Donnelly
and Edward Donnelly (not relatives) went to the shop of Mr Fisher,
pawnbroker, Deansgate, Patrick Donnelly having in his possession a handsome
gold watch, and Edward Donnelly having in his hand a silver snuff box.
Patrick wanted to pledge the watch, but Mr Fisher who appears to have acted
with great propriety, suspecting from his appearance that the watch was the
produce of a robbery, kept him in conversation, and sent information of the
matter to Green, the officer, stationed at the Knott Mill lock ups. Green
immediately went to Mr Fisher's shop, and upon Edward Donnelly seeing Green,
he ran off...'

Full text at...

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1434856,00.html

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Exhibition reveals London's admirable Irish

Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent
Wednesday March 9, 2005
The Guardian

'...Years later Sir John (Lavery) told a friend the story of the flower
seller with the lovely face and terrible diction, and how he had to buy
lessons for her before he could take her into society. The friend was George
Bernard Shaw, who soon created the aspirational flower girl Eliza Doolittle,
heroine of his greatest hit, Pygmalion, which became the even more
successful musical My Fair Lady....'

"We only have Lavery's word on this. I've scoured Shaw's papers and there's
nothing there," Mr Cullen said.

. Conquering England: Ireland in Victorian London, National Portrait
Gallery, London, until June 19, free.

Full text at...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1433207,00.html

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From: ultancowley[at]eircom.net
Subject: Re: [IR-D] AN END TO EXILE? 4

Carmel

I am forcefully struck by how closely your description of the American
concern with success, rejection of a (poorer?) past, and the incomprehension
of/indifference to the emigrant/exile experience by succeeding generations
fits to contemporary Irish society!!!

Ultan

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From: Joan Allen
Joan.Allen[at]newcastle.ac.uk
Subject: RE: [IR-D] Fergal Keane, All of These People

Surely admitting to vulnerability is strength?

________________________________


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P.O'S.

'It's fear like I've never known'

Fergal Keane made his name reporting 'hot wars'. He tells Stephen Moss why
he's refusing to cover any more, why he's not ashamed to show his emotions
in front of the camera, and of his own private battle with the bottle

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From: Brian McGinn
bmcginn2[at]earthlink.net
Subject: RE: "The Conquering of England" Exhibitition


THE IRISH TIMES
26/02/2005

The Conquering of England

It wasn't just navvies who emigrated to Britain - the Irish made their mark
in the arts, politics and literature of Victorian London. An exhibition
marks their contribution and its curator, Fintan Cullen explains their
importance


'England had conquered Ireland, so there was nothing for it but to come over
and conquer England." In this typically confrontational statement, the words
of George Bernard Shaw sum up the rationale behind an exhibition at the
National Portrait Gallery, London, Conquering England: Ireland in Victorian
London, which highlights the achievement of Irish migrants to London in the
Victorian period.

The aim of the exhibition - and the accompanying book - is to explore the
diversity of the Irish in London and their influence in metropolitan arts,
theatre, journalism and politics, where the "Irish question" dominated
late-Victorian parliaments. In focusing on the 19th century, Conquering
England stresses that, under the Union of 1800 between Great Britain and
Ireland, the two countries were engaged in a relationship that was
quarrelsome, contentious and in many ways inter-dependent. Exploitative as
the connection between them often was, it also provided a wider arena for
certain ambitions in literature, politics and the arts. Irish talent was
exported to London in the 19th century; by the turn of the 20th, it was
being imported back, with interest, to an Ireland undergoing political
radicalisation and cultural renaissance.

The reign of Victoria demarcates a convenient period in which to explore the
contradictory relationship that existed between the two islands of Britain
and Ireland. As well as being an era that consolidated the union of
parliaments, it also witnessed the disestablishment of the Anglican Church
of Ireland, and saw the Parnellite Irish Parliamentary Party come to hold
the balance of power at Westminster in the mid-1880s. More tangibly, during
this period London became the metropolis of the empire and the mecca to
which all subjects were drawn. Irish politicians, such as the colourful TP
O'Connor, were obliged to attend Westminster, but the city also attracted
Irish artists such as Daniel Maclise and later John Lavery, writers such as
Lady Morgan, William Allingham and Bram Stoker, playwrights (Anna Maria
Hall, Dion Boucicault), actors (Tyrone Power), journalists (William Maginn)
and those seeking advancement in a wide range of human endeavour.

The exhibition - curated by myself and Roy Foster, explores the cultural and
political diversity of the Irish in London.

The focus is on the visual representation of the Irish and, as such, it
discusses, for example, the hitherto unacknowledged presence of a number of
Irishwomen models in the London art world between the 1850s and the end of
the century. By including an etching such as Weary of 1863 (top right) by
James McNeill Whistler of his mistress and muse, Joanna Hiffernan, who was
born around 1843 in Ireland and met Whistler in 1860, and Julia Margaret
Cameron's photograph of her Irish servant, Mary Ryan, also from the 1860s,
the exhibition enlarges our understanding of the integration and involvement
of the Irish in all aspects of London life.

Hiffernan is well known in art historical literature as the model for such
well-known works as Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl of 1862 in the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and the Tate's Symphony in White,
No. 2: Little White Girl of 1864 (exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts,
London in 1865). In Weary, Whistler represents Hiffernan resting, her famous
"copper-coloured hair" spread out across the back of the armchair.
Hiffernan has been much discussed in the Whistler literature as the most
exciting of his mistresses/muses. To the Pennells, early biographers of
Whistler in 1908, "Joe", as she is frequently called, is described as
"Irish, Roman Catholic . . . a woman of next to no education, but of keen
intelligence".

Her hair inspired, we are told, not only the American artist, who claimed it
was "like everything Venetian one had dreamed of", but also his friend
Gustave Courbet, who in 1865 was to paint her at least four times as La
Belle Irlandaise. In a letter of 1863, George Du Maurier, then a
caricaturist and in time the author of Trilby (1894), the story of a
half-Irish Parisian model, described Hiffernan as "fiery" and wrote that she
was the cause of fierce jealousy on the part of Whistler. Later accounts of
Whistler maintained this caricature of the Irish model as a racy,
"effervescent personality".

JULIA MARGARET CAMERON'S compelling photographs of the former Irish beggar
girl Mary Ryan show the transformation of an exiled vagrant into an angelic
beauty. It was while viewing photographs of Ryan that Henry Cotton, a rising
official in the Bengal Civil Service and an advanced Liberal, spied his
future wife and duly asked Mrs Cameron for the hand of her employee.
Within a few years Mary Ryan was to become Lady Cotton, wife of the Chief
Commissioner of Assam and a leading member of the Anglo-Indian elite. The
exhibition of photographs by Cameron that Cotton viewed in 1865 at the
French Gallery, London,included many images of a young Irish girl whom
Cameron had first encountered in 1859 begging with her mother on Putney
Heath. The photographer took her in and gave her a job in her household. By
1865-7, Ryan was posing continually for Cameron - as demonstrated in The
Irish Immigrant of 1865-6. Here, Ryan wears a long-sleeved white gown that
also appears in other photographs of the time; in some she is A Flower of
Paradise, while in others she is After the Manner of Perugino or Francia,
two 15th-century Italian artists particularly associated, in mid-Victorian
taste, with the representation of angels.

Conquering England focuses on three groups, writers, politicians and visual
artists, while the objects assembled come from a wide range of collections
in Britain, Ireland and America; and, although portraits predominate, the
exhibition contains sculpture, paintings, drawings, engravings, photographs,
theatre posters (see Dracula poster, below) and programmes and book covers,
as well as manuscripts by such writers as W.B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde.

The visual attractions of the exhibition include portraits of Yeats, Wilde
and Shaw, as well as such political figures as Daniel O'Connell and Charles
Stewart Parnell. Ireland's so-called "uncrowned-king" features in one of the
many splendid drawings by Sydney Prior Hall (above), produced during the
special commission set up in 1888 to investigate alleged connections between
the Irish parliamentary leader and crime. Seen from behind and wearing an
old coat, Parnell is accompanied by his solicitor, Sir George Lewis. They
are approaching the entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand,
yet are absorbed in discussion, and thus ignore the government spy, "Major
Le Caron", standing off to the right.

IN COVERING THE period from the 1830s to the turn of the century, Conquering
England moves from art through politics to literature and drama, while
establishing cross-connections between these various worlds. The Irish were
prominent in other spheres also, notably medicine and the law:
in 1894 an Irish-born Catholic, Charles Russell, became Lord Chief Justice
of England after an immensely distinguished career at the bar, combined with
a political life spent supporting Home Rule at Westminster. But the worlds
of the visual arts, politics, literature (both popular and highbrow) and the
stage retain the most vivid impression of Irish influence in Victoria's
reign. At the same time, in exploring the presence of the Irish in London,
this exhibition is not limited to artists of Irish origin. Some came to
London from Ireland: Daniel Maclise and John Henry Foley, John Lavery and
John Butler Yeats, and lesser-known figures such as the cartoonist John
Doyle and the illustrator Althea Gyles. Other artists such as Ford Madox
Brown (see oil of The Irish Girl, 1860, above), Sydney Prior Hall, Julia
Margaret Cameron and Aubrey Beardsley were English, yet were interested in
representing Irish people and events at the heart of the empire. And others
were neither Irish nor English: James McNeill Whistler was American, while
David d'Angers, who produced a spirited bust portrait of the novelist Sydney
Owenson, Lady Morgan, was French.

In enlarging our choice of images when discussing the representation of
Ireland, we have amassed a wide range of visual material which moves from
objects exhibited at the highly respectable Royal Academy of Arts in London
or the more progressive Grosvenor Gallery, founded in 1877, to pages from
popular magazines, book illustrations, and theatre posters - ephemera which
convey in retrospect a vital moment of cultural history. For a period of
time in the 19th century, Irish writers, artists and politicians went to
London and succeeded. Yet, as Fiona Shaw says in her Foreword to the
accompanying book, the generation of Wilde, Shaw and Yeats "declared their
genius with an ironic twist. There are signs of this trait still in today's
resident Irish artists in London. Their presence in Britain gives
inspiration to those who follow them from Ireland - rolling out a carpet on
which newcomers can tread."

Conquering England: The Irish in Victorian London, published by the National
Portrait Gallery, accompanies an exhibition at the gallery in London from
March 9th to June 19th. The book, by Fintan Cullen and R.F.
Foster, features 50 illustrations, #12.99 (paperback); special price: #10.99

Fintan Cullen is professor of art history at the University of Nottingham
and author of The Irish Face: Redefining the Irish Portrait published by the
National Portrait Gallery, London, 2004


The Irish Times

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Fergal Keane 3
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From: P.Maume[at]Queens-Belfast.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [IR-D] Fergal Keane, All of These People 2

From: Patrick Maume

By the way, yesterday's SUNDAY INDEPENDENT has an open letter to Fergal
Keane from one of his brothers, complaining that while Fergal has a right to
come to terms with his own experiences, his public & repeated manner of
doing so is causing hurt to other members of the family who wish to cope
with it in their own way.
I don't know if this is available online; the IRISH INDEPENDENT site is
password protected.
Best wishes,
Patrick

> From: Joan Allen
> Joan.Allen[at]newcastle.ac.uk
> Subject: RE: [IR-D] Fergal Keane, All of These People
>
> Surely admitting to vulnerability is strength?
>

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: AN END TO EXILE? 6
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From: Carmel McCaffrey
cmc[at]jhu.edu
To: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Re: [IR-D] AN END TO EXILE?

Ultan,
I am surprised to hear you say this and wonder, in the case of contemporary
Ireland, where this comes from. Do you think there is a compulsion to
reject the past on economic terms? That the "poorer" past is something to
be ashamed of? In the US case my experience tells me that it is based on
the cultural need to assert only the positive aspects of the experience of
immigration to here.

Carmel

Patrick O'Sullivan wrote:

>From: ultancowley[at]eircom.net
>Subject: Re: [IR-D] AN END TO EXILE? 4
>
>Carmel
>
> I am forcefully struck by how closely your description of the
>American concern with success, rejection of a (poorer?) past, and the
>incomprehension of/indifference to the emigrant/exile experience by
>succeeding generations fits to contemporary Irish society!!!
>
>Ultan
>

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: AHRB Diasporas,
Migration and Identities - Seminar Reports now available
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Email Patrick O'Sullivan

Further to our earlier IR-D discussion of this AHRB funding stream....

Reports on the four Diasporas, Migration and Identities seminars, held in
November and December last year, are now available to download from the AHRB
website at www.ahrb.ac.uk/dmi.

To view the four reports, scroll down and click on the bullet point links
(Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London).

The Edinburgh Seminar was the one attended by Enda Delaney and Karen
Corrigan. It will be recalled that Karen Corrigan made her private notes
available to members of the IR-D list.

The 4 AHRB Seminar Reports are public documents and can be quoted and cited.

In fact, cumulatively, taking the 4 together, you have a very up to date
summary of current academic and scholarly discussion about diaspora stuff.

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

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

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Irish History Book Reviews on H-Albion
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From: mdenie[at]westga.edu
Subject: Irish History Book Reviews on H-Albion


Colleagues,

I have recently joined the H-Albion team as book review editor for modern
Irish History, and I plan to significantly increase the number of Irish
reviews appearing on that list. So, I invite anyone who has recently
published or has a forthcoming book to please consider submitting a copy to
H-Net. I would also like to hear from anyone who is interested in reviewing
for H-Albion. Please contact me at the email address listed below and
indicate your area of interest. Many thanks.


Michael de Nie
Department of History
University of West Georgia
mdenie[at]westga.edu

Sender: The Irish Diaspora Studies List
From: Patrick O'Sullivan
Subject: Managing IR-D at Jiscmail
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From Email Patrick O'Sullivan

We are entering another holiday period, and already usual problems are
appearing...

So...

My usual reminder...

Please do not create problems for us over the holiday period...

Remember that you can easily manage your membership of IR-D via the Jiscmail
Web interface.

Jiscmail knows you by your email address.

For those wanting to use the Web interface...

Go to...

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/

On the left hand side you can click on
Register Password
And go to the Register Password screen.

Follow the instructions there. Put in your email address, the email address
by which you are known to the IR-D list.
Choose your Password

Your chosen Password is then confirmed by email in the usual way.

When you have registered your Password and received confirmation by email
you can go BACK to Jiscmail's web site, and, again on the left hand side,
you can click on Subscriber's Corner and get to a new screen. There, using
your email address and your Password, you can enter your Subscriber's
Corner, and set up various IR-D list options...

You can suspend your membership for a time, and so on...

Such changes can also be done by email - see the instructions in the
Jiscmail Welcome email...

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