An Irishman's Diary on Claude Pélieu, a French member of the Beat Generation.

Claude Pélieu (1934-2002) was one of the only French members of the Beat Generation. He moved to America at age 29 and was later associated with some of the founding members of the movement, such as William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about Pélieu and his life and times. Read it here.

Experimental poet, author, translator and collage artist, Pélieu packed a lot into his life. Pélieu came to Ireland in Autumn 1962 with his friend, Michel Doss. The trip was a complete disaster from start to finish. They arrived in Dublin from Fishguard on September 9th and traveled on to Sligo, Donegal, and Galway before returning to France.

Photograph of part of the exhibition in Boole Library, University College Cork (UCC).

Galway was boring and poverty-stricken, according to the Frenchman, while Donegal (Bloody Foreland to be specific) was "sublime". Dublin was a disappointment to him; he saw nothing but drunks and priests in the capital. Ireland's weather did not help the situation; Pélieu complained about the incessant wind and rain in letters home to his then wife, Lula Nash.

Pélieu and his friend ran out of money and had to turn to the French Consul in Galway and the French Ambassador in Dublin for help. They made it home to Paris OK, but the French Embassy sent Pélieu a letter requesting to be reimbursed. I wonder if he managed to pay them back!

I first came across Claude Pélieu at an exhibition in the Boole Library in University College Cork (UCC), Ireland. The exhibition was entitled, 'Claude Pélieu, On All Frequencies', and was curated by James Horton. It ran from 2 July - 30 September 2018.

History Ireland magazine article Sept/Oct 2016 - now free to view

The article that I wrote for History Ireland magazine in September/October 2016 is now free to access on the History Ireland website. Check it out here.

In the article, I talk about the French Catholic bishops' mission to Ireland in October 1916. When war was declared, there was an unprecedented rapprochement between the church and state in France. The Union Sacrée, as it was known, brought together the French State, Churches, trade unions and other organisations in a move that had never been seen on such a scale before in France's history.

The churchmen who visited the country wanted to meet with their confreres in Ireland and impress on them the need for manpower on the side of the Allied Powers in their fight with the Central Powers. They visited Dublin, Maynooth and the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, Armagh.

One of the visitors wrote newspaper articles about the visit in the French catholic newspaper, La Croix and also in a catholic magazine. These articles were later gathered together and published in the form of a pamphlet, called Notre Visite en Irlande (7-14 Octobre 1916).

Front cover of Pierre Batiffol's Notre Visite en Irlande, available on Gallica. Read it here.

ADEFFI 20th Anniversary Conference - UCD 19-20 October 2018.

The Association des Études Françaises et Francophones d'Irlande (ADEFFI)'s 20th anniversary conference will take place in University College Dublin (UCD) on the 19th and 20th of October 2018.

The theme of this year's conference is: 'États Présents États Futurs: French and Francophone Studies in the 21st Century'.

ADEFFI 2018 conference poster.

An Irishman's Diary on artistic and literary visitors to Ilnacullin (Garinish Island)

The island of Ilnacullin (which means 'island of holly' in Irish) lies about a half a mile from the coast. The island is also sometimes referred to as Garnish or Garinish island. It sits in Bantry Bay in West Cork and is protected from the worst of the Atlantic Ocean by the surrounding hills and mountains.

The pond in the Italian garden on Ilnacullin.

There is a Martello tower on the island, which was one of a series of towers built around the coast of Ireland to guard against possible attack during the French Revolutionary Wars. When John Annan Bryce and his wife Violet bought the island from the British War Office in August 1910, the tower was one of the few structures on the island. There was a small bit of farming going on, but by and large the island was a barren rock.

View of surrounding hills from Ilnacullin.

The Bryces subsequently transformed the island, importing subtropical shrubs, plants and trees from as far afield as Australia, India and China. These rare specimens have thrived in the micro-climate that exists on Ilnacullin. It is a special place and I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about the island's history and how the Bryce family welcomed artists and writers to their home. Read it here.

George Russell (AE)'s painting (now in Bryce House on Ilnacullin).