Ireland at 'Les Belles Etrangères' literary festival Nov. & Dec. 1989

Thirty years ago, in November and December 1989, ten Irish writers and poets were invited to France to discuss their work in front of audiences of academics and locals. Some of them were already known to French readers, as their work had previously been translated into French. I have just written an online article for the Irish Times newspaper about it. Read it here.

Painting of John Montague by Colin Davidson in University College Cork (UCC).

The literary festival, Les Belles Etrangeres, took place in France from 1987 to 2010. Each year, writers and poets from a different foreign country were invited to France to discuss their work. In 1989, Ireland was selected. 

Les Belles Etrangeres Festival Brochure 1989.

The official festival brochure was mostly written by Prof Patrick Rafroidi. He was an expert on Irish Studies in France and internationally. He was also a relation of Alfred O'Rahilly (1884-1969) (President of University College Cork, UCC). It contained information on each of the writers and also details of the French translation of their work. You can download a copy of the festival brochure here.

The festival was intended to introduce foreign writers to a French audience that might not ordinarily come across them. In the case of Ireland, it worked. Today, Irish writers are translated into French and are well known to the reading audience in France and in French speaking countries.

Samuel Beckett's letters - a glimpse into the personal world of a private man

The Irish playwright and theatre director, Samuel Beckett, was an avid letter writer. He took the time to reply to friends and family as well as to a plethora of people who wrote to him about his work. This included academics, theatre professionals and admirers from all over the world. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about his letters. Read it here.

Photographs of Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). Source.

Four volumes of his correspondence have been published and the letters show that Beckett was a  kind man who valued friendship and was a loyal friend. Depending on the situation and depending on what hardships (death of loved ones, illness) they were going through, he expressed empathy or sympathy with close friends and family. 

The letters also reveal that he could be funny and had a great wit. They offer an unparalleled view into the private world of a very private individual. For instance, in a letter to an American autograph dealer, Beckett said "I have little contact with writers in Paris. It was always a place of rival cliques. I find painters better company. But generally speaking I go out very little".  

It was not all sweetness and light. Beckett could also be sarcastic. In one letter, he said that he thought that the actor, Albert Finney, was unsuited for a role in Beckett's play, Krapp's Last Tape. When the actor, Jack MacGowran, died in 1973, Beckett said that he felt as if he was being put forward as chief mourner for MacGowran He said that he felt as unsuited for the role as Finney was for his role in Krapp's Last Tape. MacGowran was a friend of Beckett's and had acted in several of his plays.

Cheers! An Irishman's Diary on Félix Kir, politican, priest and Resistance hero, who inspired a cocktail.

Félix Kir (1876-1968) was a man of many talents. During a very full life, he was a Catholic priest, Resistance hero and politician at both local and national level in France. He was Mayor of the city of  Dijon in eastern France and a member of the French national parliament from 1945 until his death in 1968. Read my Irishman's Diary in today's Irish Times newspaper about him here.

Félix Kir meeting police officers outside the Assemblée nationale in Paris. Image source.

Kir was not the only priest to sit in the Assemblée nationale in modern times. Abbé Pierre (1912-2007) also sat in the parliament from 1945 to 1951. He was a champion for the homeless and founded Emmaüs, the charity that helps those in poverty and homelessness. 

Short video (en français) about Félix Kir. Source

The alcoholic cocktail named in honour of Félix Kir is the Kir. When he was Mayor of Dijon, he used to serve a blanc-cassis (white wine and blackcurrant flavoured liqueur, crème-de-cassis) to his guests. He made such a good job of popularising the drink that authorities decided to name it after him.

Classic Kir cocktail. Image source

An Irishman's Diary on Launt Thompson

Lancelot (Launt) Thompson was born in the town of Abbeyleix in Co. Laois, Ireland in February 1833. He emigrated to America with his widowed mother in 1847. He learned how to sculpt and by the 1870s, he was one of the most sought after sculptors in America.

Read my Irishman's Diary about him in today's Irish Times newspaper here.

Photograph of Launt Thompson (1833-1894). Image source.

Due to the devastation wrought by the Potato Famine in Ireland (1845-1849), over 1 million people left the island at around the same time as Thompson, setting up home in the United States, Canada and to a lesser extent, Australia.

However, given the fact that he became so celebrated in his new home of America and then seems to have been almost completely forgotten, Thompson's story is a little unusual.

If you would like to find out more about Thompson, list to this podcast by Miriam Nyhan Grey from the Glucksman Ireland House Radio Hour with Michael Burke.

French newspaper coverage of the death of Terence MacSwiney - 25 October 1920

Terence MacSwiney died in Brixton Prison, London, England on 25 October 1920. MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland had been on hunger strike in the prison for seventy-four days. He was protesting against the introduction of military courts in Ireland that were brought in under the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act.

Editorial cartoon from L'Humanité (French Communist Party newspaper) showing British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, receiving an invitation to attend MacSwiney's funeral. This is just one of the cartoons that appeared in the French newspapers at the time dealing with the case.

News of MacSwiney's imprisonment and hunger strike was covered in newspapers all over Ireland and in the international press. I have already written about the hunger strike before, read my 'Irishman's Diary' on the case here.

Historian, Diarmaid Ferriter has said that MacSwiney's death was "one of the incidents that ensured international media coverage and indeed outrage".(1) Publicity for MacSwiney's plight was gained through the efforts of the Dáil Publicity Department in Dublin and through Art O'Brien who was the Dáil's London representative. O'Brien and his team were very active in contacting members of the foreign press corps in London and around the world and keeping them up to date on what was happening in Ireland during the War of Independence.

The hunger strike and subsequent death of MacSwiney was a very emotive episode in Irish and UK history. Maurice Walsh has said that when MacSwiney's body was brought through London on the way to Euston Station, it "brought the charged emotion of a distant conflict to the central streets of the metropolis".(2)

Below is a sample of a cross section of French newspapers from the time of MacSwiney's death. Ever since his arrest on 12 August 1920 and subsequent imprisonment, MacSwiney's case was closely followed in the French press. As the hunger strike progressed and as he grew more and more frail from not eating, small news stories would record his failing health and his death was predicted to come at any moment.

When he did die on 25 October 1920, it was a major news story in France and around the world. As you can see from the newspapers reproduced below, in the case of France, his death was recorded in a prominent position on the front page.

La Croix. Source

Closeup of La Croix front page.

Excelsior. Source

Excelsior closeup of front page.

L'Intransigeant. Source

Closeup of L'Intransigeant front page.

L'Humanité. Source

Closeup of L'Humanité front page.

Le Journal. Source

Closeup of Le Journal front page.

La Liberté. Source

Closeup of La Liberté front page.

Le Matin. Source

Closeup of Le Matin front page.

(1) Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland, 1900-2000.
(2) Maurice Walsh, The News from Ireland.

Further reading

Pierre Joannon, 'Terence MacSwiney: la grève de la faim qui fit vaciller un empire', Etudes Irlandaises, 1979 (vol. 4), pp. 193-209 Link

Grace Neville, 'The death of Terence MacSwiney, a French persepective', Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 2001, (vol. 106), pp. 143-166 PDF 

Newspaper history conference - Belfast, Nov. 2019

The 2019 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference will take place in the Institute of Irish Studies in Queen's University, Belfast on Friday 8th and Friday 9th November 2019.

Speakers from universities in Ireland, UK, USA, India and Turkey will address the theme of 'The Press and Divided Societies'. The keynote address will be given by Andy Pollak, who has worked as a journalist, editor and writer.

Draft 2019 Conference poster.

The Tartan Pimpernel - An Irishman's Diary on Rev. Donald Caskie

Rev. Dr Donald Caskie helped to save the lives of over 2,000 Allied servicemen in France during the Second World War. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in today's Irish Times newspaper about him. Read it here.

Donald Caskie (1902-1983). Image source

Caskie was appointed as Minister in the Scots Kirk in Paris in the mid-1930s. He left the city when it was occupied by the Nazis in June 1940. He moved to Marseille and became part of an underground escape route that was organised by British intelligence.

They helped to hide stranded Allied servicemen and women and arrange their escape from France (usually over the Pyrenees to neutral Spain). He wrote about his wartime experiences in the book, The Tartan Pimpernel, which was published in 1957. It is a truly remarkable story of courage.

'The voice of Erin' - an Irishman's Diary on tenor William Dunlea

William Dunlea (1911-1998) was known as 'The voice of Erin'. The tenor was born in the suburb of Blackpool in Cork, Ireland, but was know for his singing all over the world, particularly in England and America where he lived and worked for a number of years.

I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about him. Read it here.

William Dunlea (1911-1998). Image source.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Dunlea sang on the radio in Ireland (Radio Eireann). He also sang on radio in England (BBC) and America, where he lived for a number of years. He performed in venues all over England and the United States including the Royal Albert Hall in London and in Carnegie Hall in New York.

A plaque in Blackpool, Cork, Ireland dedicated to their famous son, William Dunlea.

In 2008/09, Cork City Library held an exhibition on Dunlea. A book was also written by local historian, Jim McKeon and it details Dunlea's life story. You can download a PDF version of the book here from the Library website.

Howth lighthouse - entry on Gallica (French National Library)

You never know what little historical gems you will find online! That's what I thought when I came across a brief reference to Howth lighthouse when searching recently on Gallica, the digital library of the French National Library.

I was surprised to find an entry in the Journal de Paris, Bulletin de Commerce from 2 July 1818 which spoke about a new lighthouse in Howth that will be lit up for the first time. Howth is a fishing village in north County Dublin, about 16 km from Dublin city in Ireland.

Entry in Journal de Paris, Bulletin de Commerce, 2 July 1818. Source

My English translation of the entry.

As you can see from the photograph below, the lighthouse is a very impressive looking solid granite building. It was built in 1817. You can read a small bit about its history here on the Archiseek webiste. It sits at the end of the pier and is still in use today. However, in recent years, another lighthouse was built on an extension to the harbour wall and sadly, I think that it has taken precedence over the older lighthouse for navigation purposes. 

Howth harbour lighthouse.

Fr Jack Hanlon, Painter priest - an Irishman's Diary

I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about the talented Irish artist, Fr Jack Hanlon (1913-1968). Read it here.

Fr Hanlon was an Irish Roman Catholic priest who also found time to be a modernist painter. He was friendly with other successful artists such of the time, such as Mainie Jellett, and was one of the founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, which provided up and coming artists with a venue to exhibit their work.

His paintings are so full of light and colour. Below are some examples of his artwork in a range of artistic styles from French modernism to Cubism. They are taken from this page on the Whyte's auctioneers website dedicated to his art.

Jack Hanlon (1913-1968)

'Cafe Florida, France'. Image source

'The Dome, Paris'. Image source

'Boats On The Côte d'Azur'. Image source

'Christ Falls For The First Time'. Image source

'Madonna'. Image source

Joseph Kessel - died 40 years ago today (23 July 1979)

Joseph Kessel (1898-1979) lived a very full live. You could even say that he lived several lives, because of the amount that he fitted in during his lifetime. He was born in Villa Clara, Argentina to Jewish parents who had made their way to South America from the Russian Empire (what is today Lithuania). He started off in journalism and later wrote many bestselling books of fiction and books based on his travels to exotic places around the world.

IRELAND

One of his earliest foreign journalistic missions was to Ireland. He arrived in Dublin in September 1920 and wrote a series of special articles for the Paris evening newspaper, La Liberté. The Irish War of Independence was a dangerous time, but Kessel managed to speak to many of the main protagonists and write a series of articles on what he witnessed on the ground. It was a very important training exercise for the young journalist and he would later describe his time in Ireland as "mon premier grand reportage".

Photograph of Joseph Kessel in 1927. Image source

BELLE DE JOUR

Kessel spent the next few years writing novels, but still kept up writing newspaper articles for a variety of newspapers. One of his early novels, Belle de jour (1928), was adapted for the cinema by Luis Buñuel in 1967. The film stared Catherine Deneuve and took several awards at the Venice Film Festival that year. The film also introduced Kessel to a wider audience both at home and internationally.

CHANT DES PARTISANS

Kessel had been an aviator in the First World War and during the Second World War, he volunteered to fight for De Gaulle's Free French Air Forces in London. However, his biggest contribution to the war effort was a song that he wrote with his nephew, Maurice Druon. Kessel and Druon wrote the lyrics for Le Chant des Partisans in 1943. It soon after became the hymn of the Resistants and is still revered in France to this day for the way it galvanised the Resistants' resolve to win the war. You can listen to an extract of the song here.

There is much more that could be written in this blog post about Kessel's achievements, but I wanted to keep it brief to hold your attention. You can read a short obituary that appeared in the New York Times two days after his death on 23 July 1979.

Perhaps the best advice I can give you is to read one of his books. You will either find them in your local library, or many of his books are still in print today. If you do not understand French, they have been translated into many other languages. 

Éric Tabarly, Legendary French sailor - An Irishman's Diary

The name Éric Tabarly might not mean much to some people, but if you like boats and sailing, it is key. Tabarly (1931-1998) popularised the sport of sailing in his native France by winning a series of solo and group sailing titles, including the trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, Fastnet Race and the Channel Race. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about Tabarly and his famous boat, Pen Duick. Read it here.

Photograph of Éric Tabarly. Image source.

The name Pen Duick (meaning 'coal tit' in Breton) is synonymous with Tabarly. The original Pen Duick boat was built in Cork, Ireland in 1898 for a member of the Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC). It was designed by the Scottish yacht designer, William Fife III. The Tabarly family bought the boat in 1938. 

Over the years, Tabarly had other Pen Duicks built to compete in various races. He added his own suggestions to the new designs. There were six built altogether, but the Pen Duick IV (renamed Manureva in 1973) was lost during the 'Route du Rhum' race in 1978. The original Pen Ducik has been restored several times, most recently this year. Find out more about the boats on the Association Éric Tabarly website.

Photograph of Pen Duick. Image source.

Maps of Ireland on Gallica from the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, offers a world of valuable historic material, which can be consulted and downloaded for free. I have used it for a few years as part of my research, but am always amazed by the sheer volume of material that is available on the site. There are currently over 5 millions documents online. Among these, you can find books, newspapers, magazines, photographs, cartoons, videos and even sound recordings.

Below are some of the maps of Ireland that I found using a simple keyword search. You can zoom in to a high degree and even download the maps if you like. Of course, the French had good reason to have maps of Ireland at their disposal - in case they wanted to land troops for example. However, I am not interested in that here. I just want to show the quality of the material that you can view on the site. Have a look for yourself and I guarantee that you will be surprised by what you can find. It is only a click away: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/en/content/accueil-en?mode=desktop

Map of Ireland (1797). Image source.

Map of Carrickfergus Bay (17th cent.). Image source.

Map of Dublin (1757). Image source.

Map of Cork Harbour (1690). Image source.

Map of Cork City and Suburbs (1759). Image source.

Map of river at Limerick (1690). Image source.

An Irishman's Diary on Brother Walfrid, Sligo-born founder of Celtic Football Club

Andrew Kerins was born in Ballymote, Co. Sligo, Ireland on 18 May 1840. He left Ireland at the age of 15 years to find work in Scotland. He joined the Marist Brothers, took the name Brother Walfrid and became a school teacher. He encouraged the school children where he taught in poor areas of Glasgow to play football. He even started up some football clubs. One of those clubs exists to this day and is known all over the world. It is called Celtic Football Club.

I have just written an Irishman's Diary about Brother Walfrid and the Celtic story in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.

Sculpture of Brother Walfrid, Ballymote, Co. Sligo. Image source.

Charles de Gaulle in Ireland (10 May-19 June 1969)

General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) came to Ireland for the first time in May 1969, just two weeks after he resigned the Presidency of France. He spent six weeks in Ireland and stayed in Co. Kerry (Sneem and Killarney), Co. Galway (Connemara) and Dublin.

Part of front page of The Kerryman newspaper from Saturday 17 May 1969. There were articles in French 'Salut au Général' and Irish 'Cead Mile Failte chuig an Rioghacht!' welcoming de Gaulle to Kerry, which is know as 'The Kingdom'.

De Gaulle landed in Cork airport on Saturday 10 May 1969 at 10:50am. He was greeted by the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch and his wife, Máirín. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank Aiken, was also in attendance. From there, de Gaulle headed to a hotel near the village of Sneem on the Iverage Peninsula in Co. Kerry. There is a memorial to him in Sneem. Find out more about it here. He stayed at the Heron's Cove hotel until 23 May when he headed for Connemara, Co. Galway, a place familiar to many French people because of the popular song, Les lacs du Connemara. There, he stayed at the Cashel House Hotel.

Memorial in Sneem, Co. Kerry. Image source.

On 3 June 1969, he headed to Killarney and stayed in an annex of the big house on the Kenmare Estate. De Gaulle's aide de camp, Admiral François de Flohic, said that the pubs in Killarney were "so different from the padded, clublike surroundings of London pubs". De Gaulle went for walks and had plenty of time to write. He even started to write Mémoires d'Espoir, an unfinished memoir, while in Ireland.

Charles de Gaulle and his wife walking in Ireland. His aide de camp is also pictured. Image source.

One of the reasons why De Gaulle left France at this time was to get away from the media frenzy that was happening there around the Presidential Election. An election that was taking place to fill the post that he had just vacated when his constitutional referendum for political reform was narrowly rejected by the electorate.

He visited the Irish President, Eamon de Valera, in Aras an Uachtaráin on 17 June and the following day, he visited the National Museum of Ireland. He also visited the ancient monastic site of Glendalough in Co. Wicklow. In the evening time, he was invited to an official dinner at Aras an Uachtaráin. On June 19, he was a guest of the Taoiseach at Dublin Castle, where they had lunch with the Irish government. He left Ireland that afternoon.

If you want to find out more about the visit, have a look at the following books and television programmes:

BOOKS

De Gaulle and Ireland, ed. by Pierre Joannon (Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 1991)

Franco-Irish Connections: Essays, Memoirs and Poems in Honour of Pierre Joannon, ed. by Jane Conroy (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2009).

TELEVISION

'De Gaulle, derniers secrets', Public Sénat, 7 November 2020. Watch it here.

'De Gaulle in Éirinn', TG4, 11 November 2020. Watch it here.

Arthur Symons on the Aran Islands - An Irishman's Diary

The Aran Islands have long exerted a magnetic pull over visitors and tourists. Perhaps it is their place in the vast rugged Atlantic Ocean at the edge of Ireland and at the edge of the continent of Europe that makes them so attractive.

Dun Onaght. Image source.

The poet, translator and critic, Arthur Symons (1865-1945), visited the Aran Islands in the summer of 1896 with his friend, WB Yeats. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about Symons' visit and his description of the islands and their inhabitants. Read it here.

Portrait of Arthur Symons by Agustus John in Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands.

Symons wrote about his visit to the west of Ireland in the London literary magazine, The Savoy. His account of the trip also later appeared in a book he wrote about other excursions he made around the world, Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands.

Cover page of Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands by Arthur Symons.

Symons' description of his visit to the Aran Islands is well worth a read. It contains references to the  mythology, history, and topography of the Islands. He was very taken with the people who lived there as well as the islands themselves.

I feel that I was not able to do his account of his journey justice in the small newspaper article that I wrote about it, so would urge you to read it for yourself. The entire book can be downloaded from The Internet Archive here. Alternatively, if you want to read just the piece he wrote about the Aran Islands, you can download it here.

Here's an extract of Symons' description of the interaction between the sea, sky and the coast: 

"The sea on those coasts is not like the sea as I know it on any other coast; it has more of the twilight. And the sky seems to come down more softly, with more stealthy steps, more illusive wings, and the land to come forward with a more hesitating and gradual approach, and land and sea and sky to mingle more absolutely than on any other coast".