From Patrick O'Sullivan

I have posted to the Irish-Diaspora list - as separate emails...

1.
The text of the Editors' Introduction to the newly-launched Brazilian
Journal of Irish Studies. This Introduction was kindly made available
to us by the Editors of the Journal, Munira H. Mutran and Laura Patricia
Zuntini de Izarra, of the University of Sao Paulo.

Our sincere congratulations to Munira Mutran and Laura de Izarra, as
they launch this brave venture.

Though, I have to say, it is with some qualms that I note that we must
now look to a journal published in Brazil for Maureen Murphy's comments
on Margaret Kelleher, Feminization of Famine. And Kelleher's reply.

Also of interest to Irish Diaspora Studies in the first issue of this
new journal is Rosane Beyer on Boucicault's 'Street' dramas and the
melodrama tradition.

2.
A report on Peter O'Neill, Links between Brazil & Ireland - which is
full of intrinsic interest, but also a model of what can be done.

As an example of the way the world wags...

I am now in correspondence with Laura de Izarra - because, it turns out,
we have both looked at representations of the Irish in the work of
Borges.

I had a great opening sentence...

'Jorge Luis Borges never saw Ireland. For by the time Borges visited
Ireland, in 1982, at the age of 82, he was quite blind. "Maybe my trip
to Ireland is just a dream." he mused. It is an Ireland of the mind, an
Ireland created by literary creations, that we find in the works of
Jorge Borges...'

Etc., etc. I think I decided that the 'Irishman' in Borges was a figure
so mediated through English literature - Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle,
Chesterton - that the theme was not worth my pursuing. But it is
precisely that that interests Laura de Izarra.

Patrick O'Sullivan
- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 0521605
Fax International +44 870 0521605

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

Below is the Editors' Introduction to the first issue of the Associacao
Brasileira de Estudos Irlandeses (ABEI) Brazilian Journal of Irish
Studies.

The text of this Introduction has been made available to the Irish-
Diaspora list through the courtesy of the Editors of The Brazilian
Journal of Irish Studies, Munira H. Mutran and Laura Patricia Zuntini de
Izarra, of the University of Sao Paulo.

Our thanks and best wishes to Munira Mutran and Laura de Izarra, and our
congratulations on the launch of this new journal.

Correspondence about The Brazilian Journal of Irish Studies should be
addressed to
Profa. Dra. Munira H. Mutran
Presidente
Associacao Brasileira de Estudos Irlandeeses
Caixa Postal 66121
05315-970 Sao Paulo, SP
Brazil

Tel (011) 818-5051
Fax (011) 818-5041

Laura de Izarra can be contacted at
"Laura Izarra"

P.O'S.


#################
Associacao Brasileira de Estudos Irlandeses (ABEI)
Brazilian Journal of Irish Studies.

INTRODUCTION
by Munira Mutran and Laura de Izarra

Since 1980 the postgraduate programme in Irish Literature at the
University of São Paulo has developed many activities. One of them was
the publication of the ABEI Newsletter which, now in its tenth year, has
established itself as an important means of reflecting aspects of Irish
Studies from a Latin American perspective. This success has encouraged
the editors to take on a still greater challenge ? ABEI Journal ? which
we hope will be worthy of the continuing support of colleagues in Brazil
and abroad in order to guarantee its future consolidation.

Our first volume contains some stimulating points of view and a
variety of critical approaches. It opens with James Concagh's article on
Brian Maguire's paintings of prisoners in Ireland and his development of
the theme of anthropophagy for the XXIV International Bienal of São
Paulo through paintings of inmates of Brazilian prisons. Maguire's first
concern, as Concagh points out, was to investigate the process of
criminality and its causes; since crime usually starts very early in São
Paulo, the painter stressed the importance of including children in his
final installation, as may be seen in the front cover of this issue.

In "The Critic and the Author," Maureen Murphy "enlarges the
inquiry" conducted by Margaret Kelleher in The Feminization of Famine,
whilst offering her own response and comments.

Studies in poetry are enriched by Maurice Harmon's contribution on
Paula Meehan's achievement; Rui Carvalho Homem's article dealing with
Seamus Heaney in the nineties, which traces continuities from earlier
collections and Seeing Things (1991); and John P. Kerby's analysis of
the poetry of James Simmons, "one of the leading lights of the Northern
Irish literary renaissance."

Irish fiction is represented by articles by Rüdiger Imhof, offering
a comprehensive critique of Roddy Doyle's plays and novels; Jos
Lanters, with a discussion of Darrell Figgis's The Return of the Hero
(1923) and Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) in terms of
Bakhtin's theory of satire; by Laura Izarra who analyses Banville's The
Newton Letter as a metabiographical narrative in which the fictional
biographer reconsiders the legitimacy of historical facts; and Munira H.
Mutran, placing Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) in the context
of decadent art at the turn of the century.

Articles on drama include an article by Rosane Beyer on
Boucicault's use of the melodramatic tradition, and an analysis by
Glória Sydenstricker of the drama produced by G. B. Shaw and Harley
Granville-Barker in the 1890s.

Finally, Joseph Ronsley's discussion of Denis Johnston's In Search
of Swift (1959) reveals the impact of the experience of writing a
biography on the playwright himself and upon his work.

We close this issue with reviews by Rüdiger Imhof, Marie Arndt and
Werner Huber, News from Brazil, and an invitation to our readers to join
us in a fruitful discussion of Irish Studies.

The Editors

Munira Mutran and Laura de Izarra

From Patrick O'Sullivan

Links between Brazil & Ireland
1998/1999 Survey: The Missing Link
by Peter O'Neill

Titulo em Portugues
Ligacoes entre o Brasil e a Irlanda

Peter O'Neill
Caixa Postal 16286
22222-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Brazil
Tel 00 55 21 557-5770
Fax 00 55 21 225-6006

Peter O'Neill can be contacted by email at
kskt[at]openlink.com.br

Peter O'Neill has produced a guide, a survey, a directory, of great
interest to anyone who needs to know how these two very different
countries, Brazil and Ireland, connect in the world economy, on the
world stage. But his book is more than that - it is a model for any
Irish person in any country, full of ideas about projects to develop and
lines of enquiry to follow.

Of special interest, for example, is Part 4, Academic & Cultural Links -
where Section 9 draws attention to the work of the Ireland Literary
Exchange, a translation funding scheme, which supports the translation
of works by Irish writers into other languages. In this case the
language is Brazilian Portuguese.

[Note The Ireland Literary Exchange can be contacted at
email ilew[at]indigo.ie
http://indigo.ie/~ilew
P.O'S.]

Other sections draw attention to projects and structures which link
countries like Brazil with the European Union, of which Ireland is a
member.

Part 1 Diplomatic and Consular
This section will be updated in the next edition, with the news that the
Republic of Ireland is to develop full consular relations with Brazil.

Part 2 Trade & Investment
Trade, Focus, Statistics. After Mexico, Brazil is Ireland's most
important trading partner in Latin America. The trade balance is bvery
much in Ireland's favour. This section draws attention to Brazilian
interest in Irish expertise in the whiskey industry, horse-breeding,
potato development and dairy industries.

Part 3 Tourism
Tourism, Media
including a section on English language training in Ireland
[Note: as English becomes the world language I detect a certain
wariness of British, 'Received Pronunciation' English amongst teachers
of English. British English treats so many letters as silent - for
example, teachers increasingly prefer the trilled R sound of American
English and Irish English. P.O'S.]

Part 4 Academic & Cultural Links
Academic, Universities and schools, Artistic, Literary, Musical, Films,
Theatrical, Radio

Due acknowledgement of the Brazilian Association for Irish Studies,
Associacao Brasileira de Estudos Irlandeses, and the pioneering work of
Munira H. Mutran and Laura Patricia Zuntini de Izarra, University of Sao
Paulo. Munira Mutran and Laura de Izarra have just launched the
Brazilian Journal of Irish Studies. And outlines of projects which
promote co-operation between Irish and Brazilian universities. I have
already mentioned, above, sensible Brazilian use of the Ireland Literary
Exchange scheme.


Part 5 The Irish in Brazil
Historic, Missionaries, Ex-patriates
Includes a useful guide to the research material on the Irish in Brazil,
including articles by Brian McGinn and Guillermo McLoughlin, and a list
of relevant material in the national archives. The usual problems of
archive research in warm, humid climates, of course - paper rots.
Acknowledgement of the work of Trocaire, of course. And a directory of
the Irish in Brazil, and Brazilians of Irish descent.

Part 6 General
Includes material on the Irish Brazil Solidarity Group, and a brief note
on the perhaps Celtic origins of the name 'Brasil'.

Peter O'Neill asks that comments and material for inclusion in the next
edition of Links between Brazil & Ireland be sent to him by 31 December
1999.

Peter O'Neill can be contacted by email at
kskt[at]openlink.com.br

Patrick O'Sullivan
- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 0521605
Fax International +44 870 0521605

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan


Forwarded on behalf of Leo Lucassen and Marlou Schrover

Dear colleagues,

The provisional programme of the Ethnicity-Migration network of the coming
European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC), which takes place in
April 2000 in Amsterdam, is available through the web-site of the
Pioneer-Project on the History of immigration in the Netherlands:

http://www.hum.uva.nl/pion-imm/immigranten/esshc.htm

Best wishes,

Leo Lucassen and Marlou Schrover (co-chairs of the Ethnicity-Migration
networks)

Leo Lucassen
l.lucassen[at]HUM.UVA.NL
Amsterdam University
History Department
Spuistraat 134
1012 VB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
31-20-5253155 (phone)
31-20-5254429 (fax)
http://www.hum.uva.nl/pion-imm

Forwarded (for information, and without comment) by Daniel Cassidy
From: DanCas1[at]aol.com



The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 19, 1999



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

Passion blurred by ethnic posturing

The Great Shame

and the Triumph of the Irish

in the English-Speaking World

By Thomas Keneally

Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. 712 pp., $35

Reviewed by Jonathan Stevenson

Continuing the trend in books about the Irish that confirm preciously held
attitudes and stereotypes, Thomas Keneally's sprawling new history enshrines
a succession of 19th-century Irish rebels sentenced by the Crown to
"transportation" to penal servitude in Australia, and who stayed in
Australia after their release or escaped to the United States before.

Keneally's intention is to chronicle how these souls - with their wit,
poetry, daring, and enterprise - charmed the world and inspired millions of
ordinary Irish diaspora to support Ireland's independence from Britain. An
Australian descended from one such prisoner, Keneally writes with passion
and conviction.

Many of Keneally's interlocking biographies are stirring and poignant. Most
fascinating among them is that of Thomas Francis Meagher, a leader of the
Young Irelanders' abortive rebellion in 1848 who, after escaping from
prison, became a New York lawyer, then commanding officer of the Union
army's heroic Irish Brigade in the Civil War, and finally the embattled
acting governor of the Montana Territory.

A few others are typically bleak, ending in drunkenness, melancholy, or
both.

All of the portraits, however, are infused with Keneally's reverential
grandiosity, which unfortunately tends to mask his subjects' more human
qualities in favor of patriotic symbolism.

In the telling, Keneally's strength is rich ambient detail. His research was
scrupulous and copious, and it shows. The demeaning squalor of prison ships
and colonies, the grim stoicism of famine victims, and the valorous conduct
of Meagher's troops rise vividly from the page.

One Keneally weakness is periodically awkward writing: "Martin could not
compete with the prophetic lightnings which had broken in life about
Mitchel's head."

Further, character development, which narrative nonfiction as well as
fiction requires (and Keneally has written more fiction than nonfiction,
including the novel Schindler's List), is somewhat lacking in The Great
Shame. Keneally's operative assumption seems to be that establishing his
subjects' Irish rebel bona fides invests them with sufficient virtue to
merit his readers' admiration. That is probably true with respect to some
people inclined to buy this hefty tome, but he forgot about more skeptical
folks who, like me, are not especially romantic about the Irish and
consequently need convincing.

Thus, the author habitually substitutes maudlin verse penned by his subjects
and name-dropping for more careful assessments, respectively, of their
states of mind and social status.

Imprisoned and bound for Australia, William Smith O'Brien waxes tearful for
the Irish sailor who cushions his head with his jacket: "May his head never
want a pillow, may his heart never want rest."

Speakers at John Boyle O'Reilly's funeral "included Meagher's friends
Generals Hancock and Howard, the governor of the state, a number of serving
and former senators, and the president of Columbia University. A letter of
condolence from President Harrison was read."

These practices produce a tendentious and sentimental narrative, composed
from a jaunty, suggestible, conspiratorially Irish perspective.

This bias, in turn, affects the book's historical objectivity. Meagher, for
instance, was apparently a serious drinker, and his military performance was
reportedly marred on occasion by intoxication. Keneally repeatedly throws
doubt on this intelligence on the ground that it is uncorroborated hearsay,
but does not question similarly unsupported information that reflects well
on Meagher. Only a critical reader will glean the probable unalloyed truth:
that notwithstanding Meagher's undeniable ideological commitment and
personal bravery, he was also a preening, self-aggrandizing drunk with
delusions of grandeur.

Keneally imputes his own Irish nationalist bias to his subjects. The
soldiers of the Irish Brigade, he writes, "found it . . . fundamentally
dispiriting to be seen as occupying forces, rather than liberators." No
evidence is furnished.

Similarly, Keneally's attribution of enduring political value to Irish folly
scans in places as plain silly. After recounting several feeble raids by the
U.S.-based Fenian Brotherhood on British-held Canada, he concludes: "The
Fenians had in fact demonstrated to the United States that an unstable
border was of no benefit to them, and that Canadians did not long by the
hundreds of thousands for the benefits of American republicanism." The idea,
it seems, is that feckless Fenian gestures forestalled a Canadian-American
war.

To be fair, Keneally is not completely blind to the less honorable behavior
of Irish emigrants. He reports their general acquiescence to slavery, their
role in the murderously racist New York draft riots, and the hypocritical
apathy of some about the dispossession of Indians and Aborigines.

Overall, Keneally has fluently woven together the stories of 20 or so exiled
Irish patriots, most of whom lived remarkable lives and found satisfaction
in their new homes. To the author, these involuntary emigrants were the most
noble Irish nationalists of the era, and he gives short shrift to Daniel
O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell - nationalists of far greater moment
who stayed in Ireland and courageously insisted on civil protest and
peaceful gradualism as the best means to independence.

But Keneally also makes a case, albeit overblown, that his subjects forged
worldwide esteem for the Irish cause. If so, what incongruous shadow-reality
constituted such a "great shame"? At the end of the book, Keneally cites
several major shames: the decimation of Ireland by famine; the "survival
shame" of the Irish who did not perish from starvation or English
maltreatment; English misrule in Ireland; and the failure of his subjects'
energies to produce Irish independence by the 19th century's end.

That the potato blight was "a great shame" (others have already said it was
a "great hunger" and a "great calamity") is merely obvious. As to the other
three eventualities, the literature is replete with books advancing viable
arguments that they were indeed "shames."

Perhaps the canon can stand yet another. In this book, however, there is no
close thematic connection developed between Keneally's essentially
picaresque tales and the substance of those arguments. He has cast his
characters as people's heroes, when actually they wound up expatriates due
to futility rather than efficacy, spearheaded admittedly "farcical" offshore
initiatives resulting in "fatuities," and in substance contributed little to
the resurrection of the Irish nation.

The upshot is a narrative more cheerful and glancing, and less moving and
profound, than the author might have wished.



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

Jonathan Stevenson is the author of " 'We Wrecked the Place': Contemplating
an End to the Northern Irish Troubles" (Free Press). He has written
extensively on Ireland.
© 1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.

[I had asked Michael Curran for an update on his Irish Diaspora Project.
Here is his reply. P.O'S.]

From
Michael J. Curran,
Irish Diaspora Project, Dept. of Psychology, Aras an Phiarsaigh, Trinity
College, DUBLIN 2

email: curran mj[at]tcd.ie
Fax: +353-1-6712006
Web: http://www2.tcd.ie/Psychology


I'll give a summary of our project which is to appear soon on our new
web page.

I would welcome any contact from psychosocial researchers and others
interested in the broad concept of Irish acculturation and health.

SUMMARY

The Trinity Acculturation Scale and The Irish Diaspora in Britain

This study examines the general health of the Irish in the context of
migration and adaptation to a different culture. Recent reports claim
that aspects of health among the Irish in the UK ( and among the
Scottish too) is below par. We examine some possible reasons for this
disparity.

An instrument based on J.W. Berry¹s model of acculturation was designed
and developed during 1997. This scale was then administered with the
short version of the GHQ to a sample of the Irish community in Britain.

The initial qualitative data from over 300 of the respondents suggests
that the most important issues for the Irish immigrants are around the
general categories of self -image and identity,² feel- good² and ³feel-
bad² factors, and the acceptance or otherwise of the migrants by British
society.  Day-to day living combined with social issues and campaigning
were also of importance, while the Northern Ireland  peace process and
general health topics attracted little comment.

The quantitative data collected from 600  ³Irish² in London, Coventry
and Merseyside, was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and the
multivariate approach. This to be followed by  further testing and
refinement of the Trinity Acculturation Scale (TAS). The TAS, while
tested initially among a segment of the Irish community in Britain, may
also be valid universally.

We are now examining the hypothesized relationship between integration,
assimilation, segregation, marginalization and general well-being.

Michael J.Curran, Irish Diaspora Project, Dept. of Psychology, Aras an
Phiarsaigh,  Trinity College, DUBLIN 2
email: curran mj[at]tcd.ie     Fax: +353-1-6712006       Web:
http://www2.tcd.ie/Psychology

From: DanCas1[at]aol.com

Of interest, of course, is Borges' treatment of Henry Michael McCarty of
NYC's 4th Ward (He was born on Allen Street.) McCarty later became the one
and only Billy the Kid during the Orange/Green Wars of New Mexico. Though
born a putative catholic, Billy fought for the Orange side.

Daniel Cassidy

This is an update from the Ossian Web site at...

http://www.ossian.ie/new.html

EXTRACT BEGINS>>>>

Francis O'Neill

This year, projects in hand include some new recordings, a large
songbook with Irish traditional songs, and the now long-awaited Complete
O'Neill Collection.

Anyone familiar with Irish music will know of the role Captain Francis
O'Neill played in the gathering of Irish music and its preservation
through his publishing of some large collections of tunes.

We have been working on a completely new edition of all the tunes
O'Neill collected (some 2600 of them) for the last three years and the
works is now entering its final phases. The music has been set and the
various indexes and prelims are being prepared by Dr. Liz Doherty. We
are a aiming for a publication date sometime towards the end of this
year.

If the above is of interest to you, we would suggest reading A Harvest
Saved (Ossian OMB 132), by Nicholas Carolan - this is a richly
illustrated account of O'Neill's incredibly varied life-story, from
leaving home, to being ship-wrecked and eventually ending up as
Chicago's Chief of Police when he started on his ambitious endeavours. A
Harvest Saved, in fact is the companion book to go with our Complete
O'Neill.

EXTRACT ENDS>>>>
- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 0521605
Fax International +44 870 0521605

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: David Gleeson


Apologies for replying late to the discussion on Mitchel, but Hurricane
Floyd forced us from our homes here in Savannah last week.

Donald,

Mitchel's stance on American slavery is not as "bizarre" as it seems.
Although, as you highlight, he was extreme even by the standards of the
antebellum American South. The sympathies he had toward the South's
"peculiar institution" were reinforced when he moved South. For
example, his newspaper based in Knoxville, Tennessee, The Southern
Citizen, contained a numbers of reports from a tour Mitchel took in the
deep South in 1858. He is full of admiration for southern gentility and
paternalism. He even found a southern Know-Nothing he met in
Mississippi to be "an agreeable companion" and contrasted "southern
gentlemen" with rude Northerners. Southerners were, Mitchel believed,
"men of refined and dignified manners, with that gentle tone of voice
and courtesy of demeanor which are characteristic of the South, and
which I attribute to the institution of slavery."

Mitchel's views were echoed by other Irish living in the South. One
Irish railroad worker in Virginia griped in 1855 about "Yankees" who
went to Europe "to make money. . . complain about slavery and stir up
English ladies," because, he added, "the slave in Virginia is better fed
and clothed than the poor Irish farmers." He continued that while
"there may be a few bad masters" their "conduct" was much better when
compared to the "conduct of Irish Land Lords [his emphasis] who will
drive out Tenant[s] on the road side to starve."

Mitchel and other Irish southerners, and indeed many Irish in the North,
reacted bitterly to criticism of American slavery from what they
believed to be hypocritical British-inspired abolitionism. The Irish in
the South sided with native southerners, who as one Irish New Orleanian
explained to Daniel O'Connell, had "received us among them with a
liberality, and extended to us a hospitality which it is fair to presume
would not be extended to us in the Eastern States, where prejudice
against Irishmen and bigotry against their religion seem indigenous
qualities." Thus, most of them saw these eastern "bigots" as an
extension of the same group across the Atlantic who had declared Irish
starvation as "the direct stroke of an all wise Providence." Mitchel
embraced this view and unable to shake his aversion to moderate stances
attached himself to extreme wing of the southern "fire-eaters."

This is just a sample of the evidence I have discovered in trying to
understand Mitchel's stance on slavery. In light of Patrick Maume's
comments, I was wondering how ingrained were Mitchel's views on the
subject before his deportation? Where would one find his early musings
on slavery?

David Gleeson
Dept. of History
Armstrong Atlantic State University
Savannah, GA 31419

Forwarded on behalf of Basil Walsh...

------- Forwarded message follows -------
You may be interested in the following WEB site:

It covers a new (first ever) biography of the eminent 19th century Irish
opera and concert singer, Catherine Hayes, to be published in Dublin by the
Irish Academic Press in spring 2000.

Limerick born, Catherine Hayes, was the first Irish woman to sing at
La Scala, Milan, in Venice, Florence and Rome and at Covent Garden in
London.

She rose from abject poverty in Limerick in the 1830s, to great prominence
in Europe, America and Australia in the middle of the nineteenth-century.
Her life is truly a remarkable Irish success story.

http://www.catherinehayes.com

Basil Walsh (author)
Boynton Beach, Florida

basilwalsh[at]msn.com

Re: Mitchel
From: Eileen A Sullivan

Dear David,

Many thanks for your explanation of Mitchel's views on slavery. He was,
of course, not the only Irishman to defend the institution. Patrick
Maume at Queens Univ, Belfast would be a good source for further data on
the subject.

You do remember the young lady from Sparta, Ga who lectured at Roanoke.
She and another historian from Ga would be excellent speakers on a
seminar on Mitchel and Meagher. Perhaps I can put it together in the
near future. The subject has been on my mind since the day I heard her
lecture.

So glad you are going to lecture on the seminar at GSU. A Bill Sullivan
from SC called me to say he thought that his family was an offshoot ot
the Sullivan after whom Ft Sullivan was named. Hopefully, he will get
to
your lecture which I highly praised, knowing your careful scholarship.

See you in Statesboro.

Eileen A. Sullivan Tel # (352) 332 3690
6412 NW 128th Street E-Mail : eolas1[at]juno.com
Gainesville, FL 32653

Subject: Re: Ir-D Catherine Hayes: The Hibernian Prima Donna


For Basil Walsh

From: Eileen A Sullivan

Dear Basil,

Your bio of Catherine Hayes sounds like a winner. I will look forward to
the publication of her extraordinary life.

Here I am up in Gainesville without a web connection, planning an Irish
educational seminar in Statesboro, Ga
on the O'Sullivans/Sullivans.

Just as soon as that project is completed, I'll be back to my bio on
William CARLETON (1794-1869). He must be a contemporary of Hayes.
Looking for a publisher is another project.




Dr. Eileen A. Sullivan, Director
The Irish Educational Assoc. Tel # (352) 332 3690
6412 NW 128th Street E-Mail : eolas1[at]juno.com
Gainesville, FL 32653


ORIGINAL MESSAGE

Forwarded on behalf of Basil Walsh...

------- Forwarded message follows -------
You may be interested in the following WEB site:

It covers a new (first ever) biography of the eminent 19th century Irish
opera and concert singer, Catherine Hayes, to be published in Dublin by the
Irish Academic Press in spring 2000.

Limerick born, Catherine Hayes, was the first Irish woman to sing at
La Scala, Milan, in Venice, Florence and Rome and at Covent Garden in
London.

She rose from abject poverty in Limerick in the 1830s, to great prominence
in Europe, America and Australia in the middle of the nineteenth-century.
Her life is truly a remarkable Irish success story.

http://www.catherinehayes.com

Basil Walsh (author)
Boynton Beach, Florida

basilwalsh[at]msn.com

From: "Ruth-Ann M. Harris"

Subject: Re: Ir-D Mitchel

In response to David Gleeson's interest in Mitchel, is he aware that there
are letters written by Mitchel in the Public Record Office of Northern
Ireland. Written to a friend -- and without an ear out for the
biographer -- I think they provide insight into his attitudes. Yes, I agree
that his dislike of Northerners accounts for his partiality for persons from
the American South. He, like many other Irish persons in America,
absolutely despised Yankees.
Ruth-Ann M. Harris, Adjunct Prof of History and Irish Studies,
Boston College Office Phone:(617)552-1571
Home Phone: (617)522-4361; FAX:(617)983-0328;
Summer and Weekend Number: (Phone) (603) 938-2660

From: os0dma[at]sisstaff1.sunderland.ac.uk (MACRAILD Don)

Subject: RE: Ir-D Mitchel


Dear David,

I hope the hurricanes have settled down in Georgia now! Thanks for the
comments on my review of Kenneally's Great Shame, a book which places the
Young Irelanders, not least Mitchel, at the centre of the awakening
Diaspora.

Perhaps 'bizarre' was the wrong word to use? But Mitchel's views are in
need of serious and lengthy discussion, as David's pattern of research
clearly indicates. Why should a man like Mitchel should adopt such
different views on black and Irish freedom? Why, in this respect, should he
be so different from O'Connell? I am aware that American Irish attitudes
towards the abolition issue were complex and, at times, bitterly divided.
Osofsky's (AHR, early 1970s?) article made me aware of the hostility that
some Irish groups showed towards emancipation. (And David is quite right to
draw the North into the debate). Osofsky, blames numerous factors. I hope
my memory is correct when I remember that he exculpates Irish workers on the
grounds that they were struggling to gain a foothold on America's economic
ladder and so feared the competition from freed slaves; he blames the church
for upholding very conservative views on property (including the right to
own other people); and he cites the critical, and, at times, prevaricating
positions of O'Connell and Theobald Mathew. To add to this mix, however, we
are now beginning to get new perspectives on what the 'real' (i.e.
grass-roots) Irish thought: an essay in Beagher and Mayor's New York Irish
springs particularly to mind. I haven't read Kerby Miller's unpublished
essay on the subject, though it seems to have circulated cyclostyle for a
number of years. (I wonder if he plans to publish it?)

Patrick Maume suggests Mitchel's views echoed Carlyle's: can he say a
little more about this I wonder? Mitchel was a man of his times, forced
out of his true place; but he was one of Young Ireland's survivors (and
let's face it not many recovered their former posture after the harsh exile
to Australia). The fact that he offers us such interesting insights into
the 'peculiar institution', as well as into the lives of the American
Irish, makes him probably the most important emigrant yet to receive
substantial historical treatment, not a 'Mitchel and his milieu' type
biography.

I think I wrote 'bizarre' because I am disappointed--disappointed that the
firebrand portrayed by Punch as a mischievous monkey next to Britain's regal
lion should have spent so much energy, and so many sons, in the way he did.

Don MacRaild
University of Sunderland

From Patrick O'Sullivan

I have been in discussion with David Michaelsen, a history major at the
University of Texas at Austin, currently based in Puebla, Mexico, at the
University of the Americas. David is now working on his undergraduate
thesis - on the San Patricios.

David has recently joined the Irish-Diaspora list, and has kindly made
his bibliographical notes on the San Patricios available to us. His
notes follow this message on the Irish-Diaspora list, as a quite lengthy
email.

'Ethnic soldier' and 'subaltern studies' approaches have long had a
special interest in mutiny and desertion - for it is then that there is
an eruption into the historical record of matters otherwise hidden from
view, and we hear the voice of the 'muted'. I am reminded of Grainne
Henry's work on the Irish military community in C16th/C17th Flanders.

But it is not only the scholars who listen. Brian McGinn has suggested
that it was the experience of the war with Mexico, and the San
Patricios, that made the Generals, North and South, adopt a quite
different attitude to the Irish, and the Catholics, during the American
Civil War - when the Irish were allowed their own regiments, and their
own chaplains.

By the way, David Michaelsen was a pupil of Kevin Kenny's at Austin,
before Kevin moved to Boston College. So, congratulations all round -
and some good work being done there.

And our thanks to David Michaelsen.

Patrick O'Sullivan


- --
Patrick O'Sullivan
Head of the Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Email Patrick O'Sullivan
Irish-Diaspora list
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/

Personal Fax National 0870 0521605
Fax International +44 870 0521605

Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: "David Michaelsen"


Hello all,

I'm a history major currently working on my undergraduate thesis. The topic
is the San Patricios, and below is a bibliography of sources I have
encountered thus far and a more complete definition on where I stand in
studying the San Patricios. I settled in on the topic last April, and have
until April 15, 2000 to complete the work. I am currently in Puebla,
Mexico, studying in an exchange program at the University of the Americas
(UDLA), and will remain here until December, when I will return to the
University of Texas at Austin.

The San Patricios have been a hotly debated topic in the last ten years, as
the dates on bibliography will show. More and more people know about them.
Entering the listserv on the heels of Ms. Eileen A. Sullivan's thoughts about
the battalion after having seen Mr. Mark R. Days documentary makes me
realize that some of you probably know a few things about the San Patricios.
However, before I get into the historiography on the San Patricios, I'll
include a brief explanation of who they were.

The San Patricio battalion, composed largely of deserters from the U.S.
army, served as artillery battalion for the Mexican side in the U.S. Mexican
war (1846-1848). Their ranks also included other Europeans from Mexico
City, but they were the minority. Although not all of the men in the
battalion were Irish, many of them were, and the battalion fought for Mexico
under a banner with Irish symbolism (the Harp of Erin) rather than Mexican.
They fought fiercely in several major engagements of the war. Against
General Taylor they were seen retreating from Monterrey and blistering his
army at Buena Vista / Angostura. Against Winfield Scott they held their
ground to very nearly the last man at Churubusco, a convent turned fortress
on the outskirts of Mexico City. Of the 71 men who were captured at
Churubusco, 50 were executed by hanging at three different locations.

For some more easily accessible information on the San Patricios, please
visit
http://www.dayproductions.com/patricio.html
It has information on the film Ms. Eileen A. Sullivan saw in addition to many useful
links.

CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY FOR SAN PATRICIO RESEARCH


Objective: I will examine how the San Patricios fit within the context of
the two American republics, the one they chose to reject (USA) and the one
which they chose to join (Mexico). The historiography thus far has been
largely done by U.S. historians, and consequently has focused on what
factors may have driven the San Patricios away from the United States army
(superiority in religion, material progress, race thinking).
Therefore, my main complaint regarding the San Patricio historiography thus
far is that it has not tried to contextualize the San Patricios, at least at
any specific level, within the Mexican army. The work is only half done.
What I have found are mere chronologies of changes of presidents, political
coups, and changes of command within the San Patricio battalion in each
study which lack critical analysis as to why such things were happening.
The fact that Mexicans and Irish shared general sorts of situations (e.g.
Catholic countries bullied by Protestant countries, that the religion they
shared was common not only in its Catholicism, but in its adoration of the
Virgin, etc.) was enough for a "spontaneous organization of the San
Patricios" (Hogan).
I foresee at least two courses of action necessary to remedy the lack of
research done to contextualize the San Patricios within the Mexican context.
One: I want to dig up anything I can on the individuals either in charge
of the San Patricios by military rank or those in charge of propagandizing
the U.S. army lines with pamphlets appealing to deserters. What letters did
they write, and to whom, and might they have other publications? At this
point I have nothing aside from the names of these individuals. Two: I
need to establish a general concept of how Mexico thought of itself at the
time, in particular, as a republic. Although I feel more comfortable that I
can find the sources for this second question (many of them are in fact
assigned to me while here at UDLA), it is not an easy task to understand the
political chaos. Mexico had some seven presidents during its war with the
U.S., many of them with wide ranging political agendas (from monarchism to
at least moderate federalism), and they meddled with the Mexican army
itself, each in their turn. Meanwhile, what were the rallying symbols of
Mexico during the war: its flag, national hymn, etc? A third point of
investigation may include a more careful analysis of religion generally. I
know a little about Mexican Catholicism, and nothing about Irish
Catholicism, therefore I cant fairly make a quick analysis of how they
might positively interact.
Below is a list of books I have examined thus far in my research.

Sources on San Patricios: USA
1. Hopkins, G.T. "The San Patricio Battalion in the Mexican War" (U.S.
Cavalry Journal, 1913). Emphasizes Gen. Ampudias role in the first battles
of the war in soliciting U.S. defectors, foreigners in particular (not
necessarily Irish). De-emphasizes Irish influence in brigade, pointing out
only some 40% of them were Irish. However, this tendency to de-emphasize
the Irishness of the Battalion, consistent in all U.S. sources through
Miller, begs the question of why non-Irish members of the battalion chose to
fight and die under a banner with the harp of Erin and in a battalion with a
decidedly Irish name.
2. Wallace, Edward S. "The Battalion of Saint Patrick in the Mexican War"
(1935). Slightly more information than Hopkins, shares Hopkins bias. Also
includes a comparison of the San Patricios to the Dominguez Scouts, Mexican
bandits who, already outlaws in their own country, decided to join the U.S.
army and take charge of various guerilla strikes against the Mexican army.
Wynn (below) makes the most of this comparison, although the San Patricios
were actually incorporated into the ranks of the Mexican army, fought at
important battles, and to this day are remembered by federally sponsored
ceremonies. Meanwhile, the Dominguez Scouts/guerillas did mostly raids and
were quickly forgotten by the U.S. after the war.
3. Wynn, Dennis J. "The San Patricio Soldiers: Mexicos Foreign Legion"
Southwestern Studies, Texas Western Press, UT at El Paso, 1984. The San
Patricios are a foreign legion (again de-emphasis of Irish influence), or
mercenaries. As such, they are a relic from a bygone military age, because
the 19th century was the century of the citizen soldier, the volunteer
patriot. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that Mexicans called their San
Patricios patriots, and lamented their executions as they would the death of
patriots. But his consideration of the San Patricios as mercenaries allows
him to track their postwar existence longer than any other historian has
dared. After President Herrera officially disbanded them in August, 1848,
immediately after using them to put down a revolt by political rival and
former President of Mexico, Paredes, Wynn finds clues of the San Patricios
acting in wars against the Mexican government all the way until the French
invasion of 1868.
4. Miller, Robert Ryal. Shamrock and Sword: The Saint Patricks Battalion
in the U.S.-Mexican War. University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Considerable
break from Wynns analysis that the San Patricios were merely a foreign
legion of mercenaries: they were wartime defectors. His work is a turning
point in that it is the first to make use of John Rileys letters to a
friend in Michigan during his service for Mexico and the documents regarding
the court martials of the San Patricios after the fall of Churubusco. As an
aside, John Riley, if not always the leader of the battalion, was at least
the most visible member and probably had some role in creating the
battalion). Unfortunately, he relies considerably on the court testimony
(in addition to the demographic nature of the battalion, as did Wynn et.
al.) to debunk the Irish Catholic nature of the Battalion. The problem with
relying on court evidence is that the San Patricios were faced with death,
and would have used any explanation for their defection which might have
been grounds for a lessening of such a severe sentence (most common excuse:
drunkeness). Miller is more aware of the political chaos in Mexico than his
predecessors, but has a tendency to list the rapid succession of events. He
even tracks John Riley after the war. He shows Rileys destitution after
Herrera stripped him of his battalion, but the vignette is meant to show the
lack of appreciation Mexico had for its San Patricios, rather than to
explain why Herrera, the individual, might have decided to cut pay to the
battalion.
5. Hogan, Michael. The Irish Soldiers of Mexico. Fondo Editorial
Universitario, Guadalajara, 1997. His work is also a turning point in that
it is the first work by an American author to positively plant the Irish /
Catholic identity on the San Patricios (as seen in his title). In fact,
making the battalion out to be Irish is crucial in his whole study. Only
then can his contextualization of the San Patricios make sense: against a
background of rapid Irish immigration to the U.S., and the respective
anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment in the USA at the time of the war.
Moreover, such sentiments undeniably existed in the ranks of the U.S. army
as well, as seen in selective abuse dealt to Irish Catholics. He also makes
grand analogies, like USA = England as the Protestant aggressor against
Mexico = Ireland the Catholic victim, respectively. Also, the shared
religion and ritual of Ireland and Mexico would allow each to overcome their
individual differences, and some evidence of the acceptance of the Irish
into the Mexican army is in their increase of rank, which many former
soldiers had been denied upon entering the U.S. army. He applies a theory
called the complexity theory, something he borrowed from an American
physicist, to explain the formation of the San Patricios based on the
aforementioned analogies. Basically, the theory involves the analyzing of
patterns in studies which involve large numbers of seemingly chaotic
variables, here the interaction of attitudes and institutions, to form a
spontaneous organization (or San Patricios).
6. Stevens, Peter F. The Rogues March: John Riley and the Saint Patricks
Battalion. Brasseys Inc., Washington, 1999. Thematically not much
different than Hogans work. He examines U.S. nativism, includes a little
bit of Irish history, and how the San Patricios were wronged by their
country (USA), in particular its army, which selectively dealt punishment to
them. Therefore, the San Patricios were out to find revenge against their
former officers. The book is a meticulously researched and written story of
the San Patricios, telling more of what happened than why it happened. At
one point he calls the San Patricios "Irish Volunteers," a term I found
strickingly at odds with Wynns analysis.
7. Downey, Fairfax. "The Tragic Story of the San Patricio Battalion."
American Heritage Reader. I havent found this source; it was cited by
Miller.
8. Day, Mark R. "The San Patricios: The Tragic Story of the Saint
Patricks Battalion." Documentary film, 1996. Very much in the tradition
of Hogan in establishing an Irish-Mexican connection.

Sources on San Patricios: Mexican

1. Inda, Arturo C. "Memorias: El pueblo mexicano, la batalla de Angostura
(also known as Buena Vista) y el batallon de San Patricio: Evento efectuado
los Dias 20,21,22 y 23 de febrero de 1993." Benson Latin American
Collection, University of Texas at Austin, E406 b) M45. Includes awareness
of the Irish potato famine as motivation for Irish to come to America, a
country which did not welcome them. So they formed the San Patricios.
2. Public Ceremonies. The above, I understand, is merely a collection of
speeches at one such event where the San Patricios are remembered in Mexico.
There are at least three ceremonies which happen annually in Mexico where
the San Patricios are remembered. One: anniversary of battle of Angostura
(February 22), anniversary of battle of Churubusco (August 20), and
Independence day / anniversary of their executions in San Angel (Sept. 12 or
14 or 15 or 16; this seems to change annually).

Popular Sources on San Patricios

The drama of San Patricios has provoked both Mexicans and Americans to write
novels, plays, and direct movies about them. Below is a list of such
sources. I don't know how well they fit into my academic research, but I
plan to at least take a look at those I can find.

Cox, Patricia. El Battalln de San Patricio (1954). She has had a great
deal to do in initiating the public ceremonies held in Mexico for the San
Patricios. Her son made the commemorative plaque of those arrested after
Churubusco.
Krueger, Karl. The Saint Patricks Battalion. (1960). Romance novel,
makes a big issue of the shared religion.
Matthews, Chris. A Flag to Fly (1986). Stage play.
Hogan, Michael. He has also written a novel about the San Patricios (1999).
One Mans Hero. The feature film due out here in Mexico October 8, 1999.

Context: both U.S. and Mexican sources.
Below are sources which do not specifically study the San Patricios,
although a few at least give them a mention. Some of them are primary
sources, which is designated by an *.

1. Johannsen, Robert W. To the Halls of the Montezumas: the Mexican War in
the American Imagination. Oxford University Press, New York, 1985.
Johannsens purpose is capture the spirit of shared popular attitudes in USA
toward the war. Since it was a very literate age, Johannsen focuses his
research on the sorts of materials people of the time read: newspapers and
books. He stays away from political utterances, as those tend to blur the
popular interests. His work is crucial to understanding why so many
Americans embraced the war with Mexico, and rushed to fill the volunteer
ranks. The common citizen genuinely believed that the war was not only good
for America, but also good for Mexico. A key theme in his work is
romanticism, a formation of a romantic (if often exclusive) ideal of a
republic, and how those ideas spread through literature. He shows how the
soldiers themselves were infused with romantic rhetoric, literate enough to
write diaries and / or home, and include in those writings references to
Shakespeare or Don Quijote. They were soldiers, but citizens first and
travelers in a foreign land, who felt it their duty to be the historians of
their war. Far from understanding the war they were fighting as an
avaricious land grab, they (journalists and soldiers alike) understood the
war they fought as an antidote to an avaricious age. It was a war for glory
in a time when America was too concerned with nickles and dimes and had
forgotten its own revolutionary roots. He also examines some of the
inconsistency of the rhetoric surrounding the Mexicans: that legitimizing
U.S. invasion (Mexicans are an inferior race, without honor form of
republic, religion, etc.) did not go too far and steal the significance of
U.S. military victories.

2. Winders, Richard Bruce. Mr. Polks Army: The American Military
Experience in the Mexican War. Texas a & M University Press, 1997.
His work is crucial to seeing the half of the war Johannsens work
necessarily ignores: the strife in both political and military
establishments of the U.S. Here we move away from the romantic idea of
fighting a war to the ugly business of actually fighting it.

The U.S. army was made into two branches. The regulars and the volunteers.
The volunteers saw themselves as Americas army, more citizen than soldier;
many officers viewed them in the same way, and consequently, whined about
their discipline problems. The regulars, the volunteers claimed, were more
machines than men, in fact the regular army itself was decidely
undemocratic. It was made either of the lowest of the U.S. citizenry (i.e.
by immigrants or other people who couldnt advance elsewhere in life) or by
an elite group of West Point grads. From the regulars most of the San
Patricios came.

Winders work has a decidely political analysis of the war, claiming that
Polk tried to fill as many posts as he could in the volunteer ranks with
Democrats. He shows how nearly all volunteer officers were democrats.

Three questions came to me after examining Johannsen and Winders work.

1. Were the San Patricios, mostly Irish and many of them new arrivals to
the U.S., able to participate in this popular imagination presented by
Johannsen? Why or why not?

2. What would have led so many Irish to join in the regular troops? I can
examine here in more detail the competition between the two bodies of troops
for recruits--also, a closer look into #1 may help this line of inquiry
along.

3. What were the political affiliations of the Irish in the U.S. army, and
why? I know now from Winders that three high ranking Irish officers (all
three of them colonels) were all Democrats. Some performed key roles
persecuting the San Patricios (court martial one, executions the other),
while another put down an anti-Catholic riot in Philadelphia in 1844.

3. Chamberlain, Samuel. My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue.
Introduction and postscript by Roger Butterfield. Harper & Bros., NY.
1956. *

Perfect place to go to see both the idealism shown in Johannsens work and
the intra-U.S. conflict played out in the memoirs of an individual soldier.
It also includes a graphic retelling of the execution of the San Patricios
at San Angel, a recollection upon which many of the historians of the San
Patricios have relied. However, Chamberlain wrote the scene from hearsay;
he was in the occupation army of Monterrey from the taking of the city to
the wars end.




4. Alcaraz, et al. Apuntes para la guerra entre Mxico y los Estados
Unidos. First printing, 1848; 1991 by Consejo Nacional Para la Cultura y
Las Artes. *

I am currently reading this for my literature class (literature of Mexico in
the 19th century). Written by 15 men, among them politicians, military men,
journalists, it shows their bitter disappointment at Mexico having lost the
war, and includes some scathing indictments of Mexican authority figures at
the time (as well as noting the atrocities committed by the American
armies). It was written during the U.S. occupation of Mexico City, during
which time the war officially continued for 10 months, and the government of
Mexico had withdrawn (the authors of this book as well) to Queretaro. It
too is fused with romantic, or enlightened thinking. The authors often
appeal to the natural and divine rights of man to witness the injustice
wreaked upon their republic.

5. Mara, Gayon Cordova (comp.) La Ocupacin Yanqui de la Ciudad de Mxico,
1847-1848. *

While Alcaraz et al. were writing the Apuntes, the presses of both the U.S.
and Mexico were very active in Mexico City during the U.S. occupation. This
book is a collection of such newspaper articles and other opinions by
certain officials at the time, arranged thematically. Includes several
references to the San Patricios, and their plight during this time.

6. Prieto, Guillermo. Mi guerra del 47. UNAM, 1997. *

The memories of a Mexican statesman of the war. This, and the following
book, are both assigned for my literature class, so I will have to
eventually read them regardless.

7. Ramirez, Jose Fernando. Mxico durante la guerra con los Estados Unidos.

8. Roedigger, David. Wages of Whiteness.

Examines race thinking in 19th Century USA. Contains a chapter on the
Irish.

9. Ignatiev, Noel. How the Irish Became White.

Exploration on how Irish were not perceived as of white in 19th Century USA.
Currently waiting for this book to arrive from Amazon.com.


I would appreciate any additional suggestions for continuing my research any
of you may have.

Thank you,

David Michaelsen

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

From Patrick O'Sullivan


Forwarded on behalf of
Alan Gillis: alfie[at]arcadio.freeserve.co.uk



NEW VOICES IN IRISH CRITICISM 2000

- --- CALL FOR PAPERS ---

The Queen's University of Belfast

Friday 25 - Sunday 27 February 2000




Following on from the success of last year's 'New Voices in Irish
Criticism', held in Dublin, this second conference is again intended to
provide a forum for postgraduates.

As with the initial conference, supported by Declan Kiberd and Edna
Longley, the event is designed to introduce the ideas and research of a
younger generation of critics. It will therefore be an exceptional
opportunity for postgraduates to engage with their colleagues in other
universities, and to galvanise Irish literary debate with contemporary
perspectives.

Twenty-minute papers would be welcomed.

Suggested topics might include:
- - 18th/19th Century Literature
- - Aspects of the Revival
- - Contemporary Poetics
- - Gender in Irish Writing
- - Irish Modernism and Postmodernism
- - Comparative Studies (for example, Scottish-Irish literary interstices)
- - Representations of Urban Ireland
- - Irish Theatre
- - History and Ideology etc.

Please submit a one page abstract by 26 November 1999 to

Alan Gillis: alfie[at]arcadio.freeserve.co.uk
or
Aaron Kelly: U9209549[at]qub.ac.uk

or post to

Aaron Kelly
20 Rockmount
Dundonald
Belfast BT16 2BY

Forwarded on behalf of
"mary pearson"


A chara

I got your email address from the British Association of Irish Studies
Research Register. Below are the details of a conference on the current
situation in the north of Ireland. I hope you will be interested. Sinn
Fein and Relatives for Justice have promised speakers but have not
confirmed names yet. I will email you when I know. Please pass the
information on to anyone you think may be interested.

Slan

Mary Pearson - Conference Organising Committee

"THE NORTH OF IRELAND -

WHAT NEXT ?"

A one day conference on the current situation in the north of Ireland

SAT 20TH NOV 1999 10am - 5pm

The Union Club Birmingham

723 Pershore Road (A441) Selly Park B29 Buses 45 & 47 from City Centre

Confirmed Speakers:-


? John MacDonnell MP - Parliamentary Friends of Ireland


? Sinn Fein


? Relatives for Justice


? Kevin Lawrenson - Newtonbutler Residents Action Group (re Orange
Marches)

Delegates welcome from trade unions, political parties, community &
women's group etc. Individuals are also welcome. Admission £3 waged/
£1.50 unwaged

The Conference is organised by the Troops Out Movement which campaigns
for British Withdrawal from Ireland and
Self Determination for the Irish People

For Further information contact Troops Out Movement

PO Box 1032 Birmingham B12 8BZ Tel: 0121 643 7542 / 0121 773 8683

email: TOM[at]sparkle123.freeserve.co.uk

From: DanCas1[at]aol.com

Forwarded, without comment...


Subject: No prizes for ``One Man's Hero' - Reuters

from
http://www.aol.com/mynews/entertainment/story.adp/cat=0306&id=19990924125990
39

No prizes for ``One Man's Hero'

Reuters
Friday, September 24 1999 12:59 AM EDT


One Man's Hero (War drama, color, R, 2:01)

By Robert Koehler

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The long shadows of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah
loom over ``One Man's Hero,' an unabashedly partisan Mexican War tale that
suffers greatly from both a visibly constrained budget and an
extraordinarily dated feeling.

In its telling of Irish-Americans pulling a collective Benedict Arnold and
fighting for the Mexican army during the Mexican-U.S. war of the 1840s, the
picture is laden not only with a heavy pro-Irish sentiment but carries a
strong whiff of post-Vietnam, anti-American politics -- recalling how that
national nightmare influenced a wide swath of pictures during the late '60s
and '70s. Few of today's younger viewers, with zero memory of that
contentious period or awareness of colorful Mexican War will give this any
attention, and those who do will stare at it with blinking puzzlement.
Outside obvious key markets of Ireland, Mexico and Spain, the picture will
go down in flames like its doomed heroes.

Helmer and Mexican film industry vet Lance Hool has had the late scribe
Milton S. Gelman's script, inspired by actual events, ready for filming for
20 years, and has waited too long to make it. Still, saga indicates early
promise during strong credit sequence, as period illustrations and political
cartoons portray the desperate plight of Irish suffering the catastrophic
Potato Famine, which sent millions fleeing to the States -- where the
immigrants endured a fresh round of indignities from the Protestant-dominant
republic.

While excising any background on U.S. motives for grabbing Mexican
territory (which stretched north into what are now parts of Texas), pic's
focus hardly veers from Sgt. John Riley (Tom Berenger), a lifer in U.S. Army
but torn by Irish loyalties. Irish and German army recruits being punished
for worshipping in a Catholic church appeal to Riley for relief, but he
ignores them, just as his south-of-border visit to a Mass attended by other
Irish recruits led by Cpl. Kenneally (Stuart Graham) appears to put him at
loggerheads with fellow Irish.

But cartoonishly nasty, anti-Catholic Capt. Gaine (Stephen Tobolowsky) is
about to torture supposedly disloyal regulars when Riley intervenes, leading
to their escape into Mexico and the hands of Mexican bandit-cum-rebel
Cortina (Joaquim De Almeida). Riley is saved from Cortina's ruthless
partner, Dominguez (Carlos Carrasco), by the top bandit's lover, Marta
(Daniela Romo), who spots Riley wearing a crucifix.

Script is endlessly burdened with such badly judged, on-the-nose dialogue
as Marta informing Riley, ``I fight for a cause,' and Gaine, learning from
upstanding Col. Lacey (Mark Moses) that Congress has declared war on Mexico,
saying, ``It's time to give those chili-gobblers what for.' Pic's language
and generally broad or tired performances damage drama just as story aims to
increase the stakes, with troops facing off and Cortina having to decide
what to do with the crew of Irishmen without a country.

Forcibly signed on to the Mexican army, with a carrot of promised land,
Riley's Irish form St. Patrick's Battalion as the troops of Gen. Zachary
Taylor (the charismatic James Gammon, who threatens to steal the film from
Berenger) advance from the north. Battle of Monterrey is only moderately
effective, marred by inept stuntwork and Hool's weak widescreen framing,
with a follow-up nighttime fight only confusing matters. Narrative sprawl
consumes the picture as Riley abruptly leaves troops to search for Marta,
leading to an unintentionally comic confrontation with Cortina and a corny
face-off with a rampaging Dominguez. By this point, there's an overwhelming
yearning for the graceful force of a Peckinpah or the historical irony of a
Leone -- who brilliantly depicted the Irish-Mexican alliance during the
Mexican Revolution in ``Duck You Sucker.' With the Riley-Marta romance
lacking believable sizzle, the Irish doomed, and a silly, tight-jawed turn
by Patrick Bergin as bloodthirsty Gen. Winfield Scott, it's

Though script observes some nice dramatic unity and Hool leaves the most
visually gut-wrenching moment for late in the last reel as Riley is
literally branded a traitor, pic has none of the cathartic
hero-as-freedom-fighter emotions of a ``Braveheart.' Storytelling needs
greater power than this, and certainly a more vigorous lead performance than
is provided by Berenger, a proven ensemble player but a non-star.

Bad guy specialist De Almeida tries to make something of a complex role
meant to mirror the conflicted Berenger character, but he's undone by flat
dialogue, as is Romo, a leading Latin American multimedia celeb whose first
stab here at English-language market is a major flop. Among Yanks, Gammon
rules the roost, and Moses conveys period propriety.

Irish ensemble is treated as a mass, without individuated portraits that
would have given the picture greater dramatic heft. Mexican locales offer
authentic atmosphere, but production credits by international crew are
merely competent.

> John Riley ............. Tom Berenger
>
> Cortina ................ Joaquim De Almeida
>
> Marta .................. Daniela Romo
>
> Col. Benton Lacey ...... Mark Moses
>
> Cpl. Kenneally ......... Stuart Graham
>
> Gen. Zachary Taylor .... James Gammon
>
> Capt. Gaine ............ Stephen Tobolowsky
>
> Dominguez .............. Carlos Carrasco
>
> Gen. Winfield Scott .... Patrick Bergin
>
> Brian Athlone .......... Don Wycherley
>
> Col. Maximo Nexor ...... Jorge Bosso
>
> An MGM release from Orion Pictures of a Silver Lion Films presentation of
a Hool/Macdonald production. Produced by Lance Hool, William J. Macdonald,
Conrad Hool. Co-producer, Paul L. Newman.

Directed by Lance Hool. Screenplay, Milton S. Gelman. Camera (CFI color,
Panavision widescreen), Joao Fernandes; editor, Mark Conte; music, Ernest
Troost; production designer, Peter Wooley; art director, Hector Romero; set
decorator, Enrique Esteves; costume designer, Matthew Jacobsen; sound (Dolby
Digital/DTS), Melissa S. Hoffman, Michael Keller; supervising sound editors,
Christopher Hogan, Anthony J. Miceli; associate producers, Arturo Brito,
Joseph Kluge, Kristine Harlan; assistant directors, Fernando Altschul,
Miguel Lima; casting, Mary Jo Slater, Bruce Newberg. Reviewed at MGM
screening room, Santa Monica, Sept. 14, 1999.

From: Eileen A Sullivan

For David Michaelsen


Dear David,

You certainly have bitten off a big chunk of military history,
Mexican-American relations during the Mex/Amer war, interpersonal
relations among the characters about whom you will write, and the
international reactions to the San Patricians from a contemporary
viewpoint. Your biggest problem will be to focus upon a unified theme
for your academic study. Then go on from there to expand upon the
subject at your leisure; the effort will be worthwhile and rewarding. My
best wishes to you for a successful conclusion to a fascinating
enterprise.

When I look into my file on SP, I will pick out some data which you may
not have seen and send it on to you.

At the Int'l Assoc for the Study of Irish Literatures Conference this
summer at the Univ of Barcelona, I gave a lecture on the Irish Military
Men in the Service of Spain in 18th and 19th centuries. Grainne Henry's
book was in the History Library and filled in a gap in my lecture. The
Irish- Spanish connection is very real, going back to the ancient legend
that Ireland was founded by the Spanish Milesians


Dr. Eileen A. Sullivan, Director
The Irish Educational Association, Inc. Tel # (352)
332
3690
6412 NW 128th Street E-Mail :
eolas1[at]juno.com
Gainesville, FL 32653

- --
Patrick O'Sullivan