From: Hilary Robinson
Subject: Re: Ir-D Faith and Fatherland 3

I know this is a tangent but it's one I can't resist. Belinda Loftus's book
_Mirrors: William of Orange and Mother Ireland_ of course includes many
images of the personfication of Ireland as female, including comparison
with the images of Britannia and of Marianne. Here are a few articles
looking at the image and representation of Ireland as woman and women in
Ireland. And I have an article coming out in Irish Studies Review next year
on how some art by contemporary Irish women artists disrupts the whole
problematic of Ireland-as-woman. many of the following may be known to you,
but they are texts I've found particularly useful in helping me to think
through the issue. - Hilary

Gerardine Meaney, 'Sex and Nation: Women in Irish Culture and Politics', in
Irish Women's Studies Reader, ed. Ailbhe Smyth (Attic Press, 1993), pp.
230-244

Eavan Boland, Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our
Times (Norton, 1995)

Belinda Loftus, Mirrors: William III and Mother Ireland (Picture Press,
1990). See also a review of the book: Joan Fowler, 'King Billy and Mother
Ireland in mirrors', The Oxford Art Journal vol. 14, no. 2 (1991), pp.
104-107.

Elizabeth Butler Cullingford, '"Thinking of HerasIreland": Yeats, Pearse
and Heaney', Textual Practice vol. 4, no. 1 (1990), pp. 1-21.

Nuala N Dhomhnaill 'What foremothers?', Poetry Ireland Review no. 36
(1993), pp. 18-31

Mary Condren, The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in
Celtic Ireland (HarperCollins, 1989).

Molly Mullin, 'Representations of History, Irish Feminism, and the Politics
of Difference', Feminist Studies vol. 17, no. 1 (1991), pp. 29-50

Edna Longley, From Cathleen to Anorexia: The Breakdown of Irelands (Attic
Press, 1990), pp. 18-19.

Lia Mills, '"I Won't Go Back to It": Irish Women Poets and the Iconic
Feminine', Feminist Review no. 50 (1995), pp. 69-88.


_______________________________

Dr. Hilary Robinson
School of Art and Design
University of Ulster at Belfast
York Street
Belfast BT15 1ED
Northern Ireland


direct phone/fax: (+44) 01232.267291)

From: Kerby Miller

Colleagues,
I friend of mine in U.S. Western History received the following
inquiry. My colleague wondered whether I might be able to answer it,
but I plead ignorance (and not for the first or last time, I'm sure).
Does anyone know the answer to Prof. Shaffer's question? - the
original enquiry is pasted in below.

Many thanks,

Kerby.

> >Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 15:12:07 -0800 (PST)
> >From: Ralph Shaffer
>
> I'm trying to determine the real name and background of "Tara," an
> Irish-American workingman who wrote brilliant letters to the LA Times in
> 1888 and then disappeared from its pages. He was the most outspoken and
> articulate spokesperson for women suffrage in the paper's letters column,
> and his admiration for the abolitionists is evident in his allusions to
> them as he commented on other matters. Tara was also a prohibitionist and
> a defender of the movement for Irish independence. In fact, his knowledge
> of current events in Ireland was remarkable considering his residence in
> Los Angeles.
>
> I have a feeling - though no evidence - that he may have left LA for San
> Francisco in the late 80s.
>
> Tara's letters can be found in my anthology "LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE: THE
> LOS ANGELES TIMES LETTERS COLUMN, 1881-1889" at www.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ralph E. Shaffer
> Professor Emeritus, History
> Cal Poly Pomona
>

From: Linda Almeida/Almeida, Ed (Exchange)

Subject: RE: Ir-D 'Tara' of Los Angeles

Dear Kerby,

I do not know the answer to Professor Shaffer's question, I hope
someone else can help him. But I would like to know...
is he sure the writer, 'Tara', was a man?

Good luck.

Linda Almeida


> -----Original Message-----
> From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 2:13 AM
> To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> Subject: Ir-D 'Tara' of Los Angeles
>
>
>
>
> From: Kerby Miller
>
> Colleagues,
> I friend of mine in U.S. Western History received the following
> inquiry. My colleague wondered whether I might be able to answer it,
> but I plead ignorance (and not for the first or last time, I'm sure).
> Does anyone know the answer to Prof. Shaffer's question? - the
> original enquiry is pasted in below.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Kerby.
>
> > >Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 15:12:07 -0800 (PST)
> > >From: Ralph Shaffer
> >
> > I'm trying to determine the real name and background of "Tara," an
> > Irish-American workingman who wrote brilliant letters to the LA Times in
> > 1888 and then disappeared from its pages. He was the most outspoken and
> > articulate spokesperson for women suffrage in the paper's letters
> column,
> > and his admiration for the abolitionists is evident in his allusions to
> > them as he commented on other matters. Tara was also a prohibitionist
> and
> > a defender of the movement for Irish independence. In fact, his
> knowledge
> > of current events in Ireland was remarkable considering his residence in
> > Los Angeles.
> >
> > I have a feeling - though no evidence - that he may have left LA for San
> > Francisco in the late 80s.
> >
> > Tara's letters can be found in my anthology "LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE:
> THE
> > LOS ANGELES TIMES LETTERS COLUMN, 1881-1889" at
> www.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Ralph E. Shaffer
> > Professor Emeritus, History
> > Cal Poly Pomona
> >
>

From: Patrick Maume
Subject: Patrick Maume's new book, THE LONG GESTATION: IRISH NATIONALIST
LIFE 1891-1918



From: Patrick Maume
I think I have contributed often enough to have earned a bit of
self-marketing, so here goes...

Patrick Maume THE LONG GESTATION: IRISH NATIONALIST LIFE 1891-1918
(Gill and Macmillan, 1999) ISBN 0 7171 2744 3 hbk 19.99 pp340

This is the book of my Ph.D. - I've been working on it in one form
or another since 1990, largely under the supervision of Paul Bew. It
combines a survey of the period with a lot of new ideas on its
interpretation and information on some of the second-rank figures
(the "junior officers" so to speak as distinct from the "footsoldiers"
of David Fitzpatrick or the "generals" of the big biographies) in the
nationalist movement of the period. Main sources are nationalist
weeklies like Griffith's papers and the LEADER, with some dips into
Home Rule leaders' archives and a lot of memoirs. The principal focus
is the Irish Party's efforts to maintain itself in the post-Parnell
period without dissolving into the "Whig" collaborationist elites who
played a major role in Ireland under the Union and while coming under
pressure from Griffith's Sinn Fein. I think my discussion of Griffith
is the best available and contextualises many of his more
controversial right-wing views as attempts to distance himself from
the renewal of the Irish Party's awkward "progressive alliance" with
the Liberals after 1906. The second half of the book should be read
as a response to, and debate with, Paul Bew's IDEOLOGY AND THE HOME
RULE CRISIS. The book ends with the 1918 election and some
reflections on the longterm significance of the events described, and
does not go on to the War of Independence; the focus is definitely on
the era which ended rather than that coming into existence. (I would
argue that the centre of gravity of Griffith's career lies before 1914
and he is best understood as a rival and critic of Redmond who was in
many ways remote from the younger generation of revolutionaries.)
Irish-diaspora readers may be interested in some material on
British-based Irish Party MPs; while the main focus is on the
post-1900 period students of nineteenth-century Ireland may be
interested in the debates over who can claim to be Parnell's heirs and
Griffith's appeal to the Young Ireland critique of O'Connell for use
against the Party.
It also has a Who's Who of some of the activists discussed - I hope
this is useful.
I don't really know what else to say because I obviously find it
hard to achieve a critical distance from the book, but I'll gladly
answer questions if anyone has them. The book is being launched in
Belfast tomorrow (Thursday 18th November) and will be appearing in
Irish bookshops over the next week or so.
I hope it gives a better perspective on the longterm lead-up to the
Easter Rising and the triumph of Sinn Fein (which are often discussed
as if they came out of nowhere, without much in the way of discussion
about how they were shaped by the preceding couple of decades) and on
some of the lesser figures who are often overshadowed by the big names
but whose career can be used to shed light on the period and its
conflicts. I don't think it's definitive but I hope it opens up new
ground.
A couple of snippets:
(1) In 1900 Queen Victoria declared that as a tribute to the bravery
of her Irish soldiers they would be allowed to wear the shamrock on
St. Patrick's Day. March 17 1900 accordingly saw Belfast's Orangemen
bedecked with shamrock as a symbol of loyalism, while nationalists
refused to wear it or wore it with pictures of the Boer leader Paul
Kruger.
(2) During an exchange with Francis Sheehy-Skeffington on German
militarism, Griffith declared that if he was a German he would join
the Pan-German League, and that pacifist agitations were got up by
Britain to weaken her rivals. He declared that pacifists were not
entitled to the rights of citizenship, and that a free Ireland ought
to adopt universal military service on the French republican model.
(3) Robert Barton contributed 50 to the Sinn Fein North
Leitrim by-election campaign in 1907. This suggests that he had
separatist sympathies well before his definitive conversion post-1916,
and may have implications for his influence on Erskine Childers. I
understand that someone is writing a biography of Barton -perhaps this
will shed further light on the matter.
Best wishes,
Patrick Maume

From: "Ruth-Ann M. Harris"

Subject: Re: Ir-D 'Tara' of Los Angeles


It would also be worth looking at the Boston Pilot letters to the editor
section to see if "Tara" wrote to that widely-read newspaper also.

Ruth-Ann Harris



- ----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 1:13 PM
Subject: Ir-D 'Tara' of Los Angeles 2


>
>
>
> From: Linda Almeida/Almeida, Ed (Exchange)
>
> Subject: RE: Ir-D 'Tara' of Los Angeles
>
> Dear Kerby,
>
> I do not know the answer to Professor Shaffer's question, I hope
> someone else can help him. But I would like to know...
> is he sure the writer, 'Tara', was a man?
>
> Good luck.
>
> Linda Almeida
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk [SMTP:irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk]
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 2:13 AM
> > To: irish-diaspora[at]Bradford.ac.uk
> > Subject: Ir-D 'Tara' of Los Angeles
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > From: Kerby Miller
> >
> > Colleagues,
> > I friend of mine in U.S. Western History received the following
> > inquiry. My colleague wondered whether I might be able to answer it,
> > but I plead ignorance (and not for the first or last time, I'm sure).
> > Does anyone know the answer to Prof. Shaffer's question? - the
> > original enquiry is pasted in below.
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Kerby.
> >
> > > >Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 15:12:07 -0800 (PST)
> > > >From: Ralph Shaffer
> > >
> > > I'm trying to determine the real name and background of "Tara," an
> > > Irish-American workingman who wrote brilliant letters to the LA Times
in
> > > 1888 and then disappeared from its pages. He was the most outspoken
and
> > > articulate spokesperson for women suffrage in the paper's letters
> > column,
> > > and his admiration for the abolitionists is evident in his allusions
to
> > > them as he commented on other matters. Tara was also a prohibitionist

> > and
> > > a defender of the movement for Irish independence. In fact, his
> > knowledge
> > > of current events in Ireland was remarkable considering his residence
in
> > > Los Angeles.
> > >
> > > I have a feeling - though no evidence - that he may have left LA for
San
> > > Francisco in the late 80s.
> > >
> > > Tara's letters can be found in my anthology "LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE:
> > THE
> > > LOS ANGELES TIMES LETTERS COLUMN, 1881-1889" at
> > www.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > Ralph E. Shaffer
> > > Professor Emeritus, History
> > > Cal Poly Pomona
> > >
> >
>
>

Clodagh Murphy, who works with the Irish Health And Homes voluntary
organisation, in Leeds, Yorkshire, is to visit Australia in March 2000.

She has taken on the melancholy task of taking back to Australia the
ashes of her deceased brother, Denis Murphy, to scatter the ashes...
somewhere in the Melbourne area. It's all a rather sad, and revealing,
story - but, to speak briefly, Denis settled in Australia some 30 years
ago, and, his family feel, he was happy there...

Clodagh Murphy also wants to use her visit to Australia to make some
comparisons between her own work in Leeds, Yorkshire, and provision for
the now-elderly Irish migrants, or other Irish groups, in Australia.
This is potentially a very interesting idea - the first steps towards a
piece of comparative research, perhaps.

Are there specific groups and individuals that Clodagh should be
contacting now, so that she has people and places lined up, before she
travels to Australia? Are there postal addresses, Web addresses and
email addresses to be passed on to her? Clodagh expects to be plugged
into email and the internet quite soon. In the meantime any information
sent to the Irish-Diaspora list or to me will be passed on to her.

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

From Patrick O'Sullivan

This has been a very interesting discussion, and I am still absorbing
some of the implications of what has been said. The discussion has in
part been about the implications of representations and discourses for
political action. And vice versa. See the brief observation in Cairns
& Williams, Writing Ireland, p.49 - and we wish they had taken this
further. And our discussion here has wanted to take it further.

On representations of women, I'd be inclined to read the books of Marina
Warner - Marina's lapidary style might drive you mad, but she spotted
that there was something interesting going on here.

On the male... There is a really interesting 1978 essay by Eric
Hobsbawm - reprinted in Hobsbawm, Worlds of Labour, Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1984 - 'Man and Woman: Images on the Left', which considers
the use made and the significance of the unclothed MALE in socialist
iconography.

My own earlier career was, to an extraordinary extent, an exploration of
the awful trap of 'manliness' - and at one time I worked with people who
killed people. Discussions of manliness have got a bit bogged down, I
think - though I see that the new Brad Pitt movie, Fight Club, has, with
the best Hollywood iconographic brilliance, captured one point of view.

Best summing-up type books most probably are A. Samuels, The Political
Psyche, Routledge, 1993: G. Hearn, Men, Masculinities and Social
Theory, Unwin Hyman, 1990; and G. Hearn, Men in the Public Eye: The
Construction and Deconstruction of Public Men and Public Patriarchies,
Routledge, 1992.

(Geoff Hearn, formerly my colleague here in Bradford, has since left his
wife and children and run off to Finland with a new - female - lover.
Quite what this says about his credentials as a masculinity guru, I
can't say...)

Samuels observes 4 over-lapping dimensions to the discourse...
Experimental (therapeutic in style, hug, cry); sociopolitical (learn
from feminism); mythopoetic (Bly, Iron John); influence of gay men's
movements (undermines a social system which deploys heterosexuality to
control women).

But, really, this discussion could go in all sorts of directions...

P.O'S.

- --
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: "Anthony McNicholas"

Subject: Re: Ir-D Faith and Fatherland


Dear Ir-D List

Just to say thank you very much to everyone who contributed - it has
given me plenty to be thinking about. I will be contacting Michael de
Nie privately.

Anthony McNicholas

Forwarded with permission from...

THE IRISH EMIGRANT
_______________________________________________________________________
Editor: Liam Ferrie November 22, 1999 Issue No.668


- - Minister for Justice John O'Donoghue was in New York during the week
to announce the Jerry McCabe Fellowship to which the Government is
contributing IR15k. The fellowship, which will be administered by
the Garda Siochana and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in
New York, will facilitate an academic exchange programme. It
commemorates the Limerick-based detective garda who was shot dead by
the IRA during an attempted robbery in Adare in 1996.

- - While in New York Mr O'Donoghue met former garda superintendent
William Geary, the 100-year-old who battled for 71 years to clear his
name after he was dismissed from the force in 1928. Earlier this
year the Minister restored Mr Geary's good name, awarded him almost
IR70k in compensation and a garda pension. While Mr Geary was
profuse in his thanks to Mr O'Donoghue, the Minister was equally
generous in his praise for the man whose story "epitomises the
unquenchable thirst of the human spirit for justice".

- - US Congress has accepted a programme which will allow up to 12,000
visas to be issued to young Irish people next year. The Walsh visas,
proposed by Congressman Jim Walsh, are aimed at young people from the
North and the six border counties in the Republic. Successful
applicants will be allowed to remain in the US for up to three years
to develop job skills and also be trained in conflict resolution.

- - President McAleese will be the first head of state to visit Scotland
since it achieved devolution when she travels to Edinburgh, Glasgow
and Aberdeen on November 29 and 30. After that she will spend three
days in England during which she will have lunch with Queen Elizabeth
in Buckingham Palace, visit the London Irish Centre, St Mary's
College, Strawberry Hill and the University of Surrey, as well as
speaking in St Paul's Cathedral.

- - Donegal women Brigid Reilly (78), who lost two sons in the Birmingham
pub bombings of 1974, prompted the holding of an ecumenical
commemoration service in Birmingham yesterday, the 25th anniversary
of the IRA bombs which claimed 21 lives.


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

From Patrick O'Sullivan

We still have time to vote for the person we think should be
presented with the Irish Internet Association's "Net Visionary Award"

The full list of nominees are:

Seamus Conaty, Electronic Publishing Divison of the Irish Times; Liam
Ferrie, Irish Emigrant Publications; Barry Flanagan, (founder of IOL)
now Online.ie; Vivienne Jupp, Information Society Commission; Frank
Kelly, Department of Education; Gerry McGovern, NUA; Cyril McGuire,
Trintech; Mary O'Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise; Frank Quinn,
Scope Publications; and Fran Rooney, Baltimore.

Voting is open to the general public but closes today at 6:00pm Irish
time. The IIA invites you to cast your vote, one submission per
individual. To vote send your three choices, numbered in order of
preference, in the body of one e-mail to: vote[at]iia.ie - You can also
vote at http://www.iia.ie

Looking at that list of nominees, our obvious first choice is Liam
Ferrie who had the foresight to launch the Irish Emigrant email
newsletter on the Internet back in 1987.

P.O'S.

- --
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
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Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
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Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

I am getting requests for comment and information about The Irish Empire
television series - currently showing on Monday nights on RTE
television, in Ireland. A number of us contributed to this series, in a
variety of ways.

I have not, myself, seen the entire series - so that I am not sure that
my comments will make any sense at this stage.

In any case I tend to be very prosaic about these things. When the
producer, Ritchie Cogan, showed me the schedule and the budget you could
tell what sort of thing was going to appear on the screen. Then, in
discussion, it was clear that the series had to focus on themes - and it
was intriguing how much our discussion then led back to the themes of
the volumes of The Irish World Wide series.

Thereafter, we - the scholarly Irish Diaspora Studies community - had
only to decide whether we were going to help, or not. Knowing that we
could not control what would appear on the screen. I think that our
strategy was right - the producers and directors could not ignore us.
And what has ended up on the screen seems like a good summing up of the
present state of thought, and the debates. Within - of course - the
limits of television, and within the limits of this sort of television.

So that it is important, for example, that the series pays much
attention to women, and one episode focuses specifically on Irish women
and emigration.

I have seen no reviews of the series, as broadcast - everything I have
seen so far has simply been publicity material and re-written press
releases. If anybody has come across anything worth sharing, let us
know. And, of course, your own comments are welcome,

I am getting messages, like the one - paste in below - from Chris
Morash, in Maynooth.

I thought at first I should keep this message to myself - but then I
remembered that modesty is NOT an Ir-D list virtue...

Isn't it funny how people think that an appearance on television is some
kind of reward?

P.O'S.

------- Forwarded message follows -------

>Hi Paddy,
>
> I caught your appearance in The Irish Empire last night -- you're very
>telegenic (if that's the word). Indeed, they even gave you the last word,
>complete with swelling strings behind you. Seriously, though, the series
>is excellent (particularly in its historical sweep), and your contribution
>comes as something of a vindication (I would think) after years of quiet
>toil in the area of diaspora studies. Well done.
>
>All the best,
>
>Chris
>
>
>Dr. Chris Morash
>Department of English
>National University of Ireland, Maynooth
>Maynooth, Co. Kildare
>Republic of Ireland
>
>Phone: +(353)-01-7083665
>Fax: +(353)-01-6289373
>

- --
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

This is the information I have on Web sites and the availability of
video tapes of The Irish Empire series...

There are two Irish Empire websites, one through RTE and another through
Clarence Pictures, which is allied to Little Bird (the Dublin production
company). The addresses are:

www.rte.ie/tv/irishempire

www.clarencepix.chamberwire.com

It will be possible to order a set of the video tapes through the
Clarence Pictures website, but not just yet - I am told. It is hoped
that this facility will be available in the next few days.

To answer other questions... The series does have substantial American
content and comment - indeed, a lot of the narrative is moved forward
through interviews with Kerby Miller and Donald Akenson. There seem to
be, at the moment, no plans for a broadcast showing in North America.

P.O'S.

- --
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: "Bruce Stewart"

Subject: IASIL New Voices Conference


Dear Ir-D List Members,

Please let any younger scholars in your ambiance know about the
following exciting venue - with my apologies for such a late posting.
Last year's conference in this series was reported in the IASIL
Newsletter (May 1999).

This kind of Interaction with contemporaries from different
campuses and institutions is immensely beneficial to young critics
both as alerting them to developments in their study area and
fostering a sense of collegiality in the rising generation.

Professors Kiberd and Longley have made a remarkable
contribution to the future if Irish studies in supporting this venue but
the credit goes to the young scholars who organised it themselves.

P. J. Matthews is bringing out a selected edition of the papers
shortly. These will constitute a forceful and inspiring contribution to
Irish studies, confirming some new directions and establishing
others.


Here goes:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NEW VOICES IN IRISH CRITICISM 2000 - CALL FOR PAPERS

The Queen's University of Belfast
Friday 25 - Sunday27 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 at 20 Rockmount Dundonald
Belfast BT16 2BY.



bsg.stewart[at]ulst.ac.uk
Languages & Lit/English
University of Ulster
tel (44) 01265 32 4355
fax (44) 01265 32 4963

From Patrick O'Sullivan

I think I need to report on a number of practical issues here...

1.
The Irish Diaspora Studies Web site at
Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/
is being re-designed and tidied.

Our thanks to our Webmaster... who is my son, Daniel.

I especially like the compass O in the word 'diaspora'...

This re-design has to be done section by section, and so, from time to
time over the next weeks, some of the links within the Web site will not
work. Be patient.

We are also going to take this opportunity to tidy and improve our Links
to other Web sites of interest. We have never wanted this section to be
exhaustive - there's no point. We just point the way to main hubs, and
to chums. Anyone who wants a link on our Web page should let me know.

2.
As part of this re-design, we have been re-thinking our HTML strategy.
I think I have explained that we do have much new material to display on
the WEB site. We thus have a backlog of HTML coding - HTML coding is
very time-consuming.

As always with these things, there doesn't seem to be any intermediate
stage between paying someone thousands of [INSERT LOCAL CURRENCY] to do
this, and doing it ourselves. Further, it turns out you can't trust the
HTML-ising bits of word processors - they insert mad bits of coding.
(This is a widely recognised problem.)

Anyway, we now have a better HTML strategy in place, and are working
through the backlog. The first task is to tidy all the material
presently displayed on the Irish Diaspora Studies Web site.

BUT...

3.
We expect to be in a position, soon, to invest in up-to-date computers,
which will - hopefully - solve some of the problems and bottlenecks we
have experienced over the years. But, since - especially with computers
- - every solution creates its own problems... We are going to have to
look again at our software requirements and upgrade path.

As things stand our computers here are not millennium compliant, and
will crash at the end of 1999. We don't expect major problems - all
important data is backed up. In fact we are thinking of leaving the
computers switched on over midnight - just to see what happens.

4.
Our archive... If I might sum up the mood of the meeting...

There is general agreement that it is great that the Irish-Diaspora list
has this archive, but no one feels in a position to take on the task of
doing anything with it...

So - in between everything else (see above) - I'll go on compiling a
fairly simple index to the archive. I'm quite happy about that. This
will be of help to me - now, when people want to recover past Ir-D list
messages, I can simply give them the appropriate instruction to send to
the Majordomo software. And this step-by-step approach does not
preclude our doing something more substantial with the archive at a
later date.

P.O'S.
- --
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
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Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From: Patrick Maume
Subject: George V. Higgins


From: Patrick Maume
Dear all,
As there regularly seem to be inquiries about why X or Y's death
has not been noticed on Irish lists, I thought I might as well note
the recent death of George V. Higgins, the Boston writer of thrillers
(e.g. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE). The Boston lowlifes about whom he
wrote may not be an aspect of the diaspora of which we are
particularly proud, but they unquestionably belonged to it. (By the
way, Eoghan Harris's SUNDAY TIMES column has been quoting some of
Higgins' vitriolic comments about radical-chic American IRA
sympathisers in his novel PATRIOT GAMES - no relation to the Tom
Clancy horror whose cinematic version appeared on our TV screens again
recently, though it does show disconcerting signs of a belief that
Northern Ireland is located in "Connaught" as well as Ulster. I
wonder if that represents his entire position on the matter? In his
short story collection THE SINS OF THE FATHERS there is a sympathetic
portrait of an old IRA gun-runner, clearly based on Michael Flannery,
as seen by two detectives who are staking out his house. Do we have
here a dichotomy between respect for the old-style IRA and dislike for
the contemporary "leftie" variety?)
Best wishes,
Patrick Maume

From: Hilary Robinson
Subject: Re: Ir-D Faith and Fatherland, Still

>>From Patrick O'Sullivan
>On representations of women, I'd be inclined to read the books of Marina
>Warner - Marina's lapidary style might drive you mad, but she spotted
>that there was something interesting going on here.
>
- - or might strike you as a very elegant example of learning lightly
worn... Especially _Monuments and Maidens_ which examines the
representations of woman in culture from walking around paris and looking
at the public/archictectural images of men and of women and how they
differed to cartoons of thatcher during the falklands (very interesting
this last one when considering images of the modern western nation as
female); or of course _Alone of all her sex_ which concerns the Virgin
Mary (MW is catholic, half italian, half english, I believe), which is
credited by Julia Kristeva as informative for her essay "Stabat Mater".
then there are her other books on fairy tales....

Hilary

_______________________________

Dr. Hilary Robinson
School of Art and Design
University of Ulster at Belfast
York Street
Belfast BT15 1ED
Northern Ireland


direct phone/fax: (+44) 01232.267291)

The Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's, Belfast, has produced a new
catalogue of its publications - certainly worth browsing and much of
interest.

The Web site is at
http://www.qub.ac.uk/iis/publications.html
Email iispubs[at]qub.ac.uk

New books include...

Stewart J Brown & David W Miller, eds,
Piety and Power in Ireland, 1760-1960 - Essays in Honour of Emmet
Larkin.
This is co-published with the U of Notre Dame Press. Essays include
Hugh F Kearney on 'Faith or fatherland: the contested symbolism of
Irish nationalism' (to continue a recent Ir-D list discussion), and
Joseph L Altholz on Social Catholicism in England. Plus Frank A Biletz
on _The Irish Peasant_ conflict, which I need to read.

John Davis, ed.
Rural Change in Ireland
Includes Leslie Clarkson, on the Irish diet, 1740-1920, and Liam
Kennedy, 'Farm Succession in modern Ireland: elements of a theory of
inheritance,' - which sounds like it should be of interest to Irish
Diaspora Studies.

Amongst the many other books of interest I note...
Ronald W Bresland
The Backward Glance: CS Lewis and Ireland. Asserts that 'Lewis's
Irishness persisted through his rather troubled private life and
permeated his writings...'
[My first degree was an old-style Oxford English Language and Literature
degree - then, of course, considered new style. And entirely shaped by
the interests, and the minds, of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. A Northern
Ireland Protestant and a South African Catholic. Weird, or what?]

Linda May Ballard
Forgetting Frolic: Marriage Traditions in Ireland
A recurring question we get at the Irish Diaspora Research Unit is from
people, throughout the world, who want an element of 'Irishness' in
their weddings. My own experience is of little help (the groom should
get into a dangerous fight and rediscover the value of life...). At
last, a book to recommend.

Patrick Maume
'Life that is exile': Daniel Corkery and the search for Irish Ireland.
One of the things this book did for me was point out that Corkery was a
follower of Ruskin - which is one of those things that, when pointed
out, is extraordinarily helpful. I have brought this book to the
attention of Robert Hewison, cultural historian and eminent Ruskinian.

Further details, and information about many more publications will be
found at the IIS web site...
http://www.qub.ac.uk/iis/publications.html
Email iispubs[at]qub.ac.uk

P.O'S.

- --
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

A new book from Salmon looks of interest...

http://www.salmonpoetry.com
Email salpub[at]iol.ie

Joan McBreen, ed.
The White Page / An Bhileog Bhan

A study and an anthology of poetry by women published in book form since
1920 - includes poets born in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern
Ireland, and poets of Irish ancestry, plus non-Irish poets resident in
Ireland.

Royalties from sale of the book will go to the Leukaemia Trust,
University College Hospital, Galway, Ireland.

P.O'S.

- --
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

Further to Elizabeth's helpful message on the new editor of The Irish
Sword - below...

Our good wishes, of course, go to Ken Ferguson - and I have already made
clear my respect for the journal that he has inherited.

The address that I have for the journal and for the Military History
Society of Ireland, Secretaries, Treasurer, Editor, is

Military History Society of Ireland
Newman House
University College
86 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2

This address works. But slowly. As befits a military society, the
address is in fact simply a letter drop. Mail is collected from that
address, intermittently. The Society does not maintain any offices.

What the society does have is a seemingly endless stream of retired
military officers, who volunteer for work. Please, can I have one?

The latest 'chief clerk, mail orderly, etc.' - as he describes himself -
is Patrick Kirby, Colonel, United States Marine Corp, Retired.

This year the Military History Society of Ireland celebrates its 50th
anniversary, with the Annual General Meeting in Cathal Brugha Barracks,
followed by a formal dinner in Dublin Castle, this coming Saturday
November 27 - dress uniform or evening dress. Ladies are requested to
wear ankle-length gowns.

P.O'S.

------- Forwarded message follows -------



From: "Elizabeth Malcolm"

Subject: The Irish Sword


Paddy,

I would just like to add to your comments about 'The Irish Sword' that =
this summer a new editor took over. He is Dr Ken Ferguson, a Dublin =
barrister, who was a contemporary of mine at TCD. He did a Ph.D. on =
Irish military history under T.W. Moody. Ken tells me that he's hoping =
to get several issues out fairly speedily and is looking for articles. =
He has accepted one of mine on the military origins of Irish police =
forces. So, anyone writing anything with a military angle might like to
approach him.

Elizabeth Malcolm
Liverpool
- --
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
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Irish Diaspora Research Unit
Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies
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Bradford BD7 1DP
Yorkshire
England

From Patrick O'Sullivan

To continue our discussion of autobiography...

Whilst I was searching for something else I discovered an article -
citation pasted in below - by Thomas E. Jordan on John O'Neill's 1869
autobiography, 'Fifty Years Experience of an Irish Shoemaker in London'.

O'Neill has become a 'Bootmaker' in Jordan's title - is the word
'Shoemaker' not possible in American English?

Jordan offers a somewhat schematic approach to 'quality of life' issues,
and to Irish migration, before going on to see how O'Neill's life might
fit this schematic. I am not sure how much this helps our reading of
O'Neill - but at least Jordan has read O'Neill.

Note that the journal, Social Indicators Research, is one of those
available to UK academic networks through the National Electronic Site
Licensing Initiative, or nesli - see http://www.nesli.ac.uk
So that some scholars might be able to access the article through that
route - consult your institution's librarians.

P.O'S.


CITATION AND ABSTRACT>>>
Journal name Social Indicators Research
ISSN 0303-8300 electronic:0303-8300 combined:0303-8300
Publisher Kluwer Academic Publishers Group
Issue 1999 - volume 48 - issue 3
Page 297 - 317

John O'Neill, Irish Bootmaker: A Biographical Approach to Quality of
Life
Jordan, Thomas E.

Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to present a structure for consideration of
quality of life in the context of Irish emigration in the nineteenth
century. The emigration experience is structured through a descriptive
and analytic schema.

The scope of emigration in the era addressed was considerable and
constitutes an hegira whose scope in time and volume was enormous.
Children and adults were involved, and they varied in background,
destination, experience, and outcome as they sought to increase the
quality of their lives.

The experience across the life-span of an emigrant in the early
nineteenth century, John O'Neill, is used as an example. His
autobiography, "Fifty Years Experience of an Irish Shoemaker in London"
(1869), provides an account of facing the vicissitudes of life in the
first half of the nineteenth century.

END OF CITATION AND ABSTRACT>>>


- --
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