Irishman's Diary reappears in Courrier International

I was pleasantly surprised to see my Irishman's Diary from May 20th 2020 on La Fronde and Marguerite Durand reappear on the website of Courrier International recently. Here is a link to their article. 

For some reason, I didn't think that there would be that much interest in the story in France. I thought that it was widely known that the world's first newspaper for women was published there in 1897 by Marguerite Durand. However, given the coverage of my Irishman's Diary on social media by people in France and the piece in Courrier International, I was proved wrong.

The image that accompanied the article in Courrier International.

Courrier International is a French language weekly newspaper that translates and publishes excerpts of articles from newspapers around the world. I remember buying copies of it a few years ago. In those pre-internet days, I thought it was a very good idea to get a perspective of what's happening around the world. 

I still think it's a good idea, but haven't seen it on sale here for a while. I will look out for it in Easons once the Covid 19 pandemic lock down is over and things have returned to 'normal'. 

The story of the Nautilus, the Arctic submarine that visited Ireland

The Nautilus was a Polar submarine that made an unexpected visit to Cork in southern Ireland in June 1931. I have just written an Irishman's Diary about it in The Irish Times newspaper. Read it here. 

Photograph of the Nautilus in the Arctic. Image source.

The 1931 expedition to take a submarine under the pack-ice of the North Pole and carry out meteorological experiments in the world's last remaining uncharted territory was led by Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958). 

This Australian-born man was a very interesting individual who achieved many 'firsts' during his lifetime, including becoming the first person to capture battle scenes on a movie camera in the Balkan War of 1912 and the first person to fly over Antarctica. He would later be referred to by some as the "Australian Indiana Jones". After he died in 1958 his ashes were scattered on the North Pole by a US Navy submarine. 

The Ohio State University library has a collection of photographs and original documents from the expedition. Check out their website to see digitised photos of the crew and what living conditions were like onboard the submarine.

Video of Wilkins describing the Polar expedition that he was about to undertake. Video source.

News clip of the Nautilus in Cork, June 1931. Video source.

In this news clip from British Pathé, you can see Wilkins and some of the crew on the deck of the Nautilus when it arrived in Cork city on June 22nd 1931. You can also see some of the curious locals who turned up on the quayside to get a glimpse of this unusual visitor to an Irish harbour. 

La Fronde - an Irishman's Diary on the world's first feminist newspaper

The French newspaper, La Fronde, is reputed to be the world's first feminist newspaper. It was founded in by Marguerite Durand in Paris, France in December 1897. I have just written an Irishman's Diary newspaper article about La Fronde. Read it here.

Advertising poster for La Fronde. Image source.

The newspaper's title had connotations to the uprising against the French monarchy by the aristocracy in the 17th century. At the time, the mob in Paris used a slingshot or catapult (known as une fronde) to smash windows as a sign of protest.

First edition of La Fronde from 9 December 1897. Image source.

The French National Library has digitised 12 years worth of the newspaper and it is available to view and download from their digital library Gallica. In a side note, as you can see from the front page reproduced above, the date was shown in the Jewish, Russian, Protestant and French Republican calendar.

You can find out more about the history of La Fronde, (in English) on the British Newspaper Archive's blog and (in French) on the RetroNews website.

The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand mentioned in my article is located in Paris. Have a look at their website for more information.

'The Troubles' in the French newspaper Libération

The blanket protests, hunger strikes and deaths in prison in Northern Ireland during the period known as the Troubles (1968-1998) grabbed headlines and media attention right around the world.

In this article in the academic journal Etudes Irlandaises, Karine Deslandes, says that it was the hungers strikes that were the most closely followed Troubles-related news story in France during the whole of the Troubles. 

A photograph from Libération of the blanket protest by republican inmates in Long Kesh prison.

The hunger strike has been used as a means of protest in Ireland since pre-Christian times, but it came to international attention in the early part of the twentieth-century with the hunger strikes of Thomas Ashe and Terrence MacSwiney in 1917 and 1920 respectively.

The French left-leaning daily newspaper, Libération, followed the story of the Troubles very closely. The journalist, Sorj Chalandon (who had been writing about Ireland since the 1970s), wrote hundreds of articles from and about Ireland during this time. This includes reportage articles, news stories and opinion pieces.

Bobby Sands died on 5 May 1981 after sixty-six days on hunger strike. His funeral on 7 May 1981 was an international media event. It was covered by camera crews from twenty-three nations and four-hundred reporters were said to be present. This is a news report from the Irish state broadcaster RTE on the funeral.

Libération was not being printed between 23 February 1981 and 11 May 1981 due to industrial relations issues. However, when it started up again, Chalandon made sure to mark Sands' death and funeral with a three page spread on the story. Chalandon later said that the hunger strike greatly influenced his thinking and his relationship with Ireland. He said that it led him from being a "passer by" to someone who "belonged in this street".

May day traditions in France and Ireland

On this, the 1st of May, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the traditions that are associated with the day in France and Ireland. 

FLOWERS

In France, it is custom to offer lily of the valley to your loved ones on May 1st. It has long been associated with this time of year (since Celtic times or before) and is supposed to bring good luck and happiness. Learn more about the tradition here.

It's big business in France. In 2019, €22 million was spent on it in France. An incredible 60 million sprigs of lily of the valley were produced (80% of it came from the Nantes region where 7,000 people were employed in the harvest). Figures from the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Un brin de muguet [a sprig of lily of the valley]. Image source.

In Ireland, yellow flowers such as gorse (furze) were popular as they reflected the sun. May 1st is known in Ireland as the festival of Bealtaine. It has its roots in both Christian and Celtic / pagan traditions. Read more about Bealtaine here in this article on RTE Brainstorm.

Gorse bush [ajonc]. Image source.

WORKERS' DAY

May 1st is recognised worldwide as the workers' day. It was established as such in 1889 by the International Socialist Congress. It has been celebrated in France since then. Find out more about how it was reported in the French press over the years and see newspaper articles about it here on the website of Gallica (the French National Library's digital website).

Demonstrations are organised by the main trade unions and take place in cities all over the country. In 2019, it is estimated that between 164,000 (according to the police) and 310,000 (according to the trade unions) people marched in the demonstrations in France (figures from Europe 1). In 2020, it will take a virtual form online as France is still in lock down due to the Coronavirus.  

May Day demonstration, Paris 1909. Image source.

During the Bealtaine festival in Ireland, bonfires would be lit to mark the changing of the seasons and the approach of summer. See here for information on the May Day traditions in Ireland and again see the article on RTE's Brainstorm.

Dancing around the Maypole. Image source. 

Short radio piece on Cork City Gaol, Cork, Ireland

The RTÉ (Irish state broadcaster) radio programme, Drivetime, introduced a new slot during the Coronavirus outbreak. It's called the 'Drivetime 2km Local History Challenge' and entails people recording a short piece of audio on a historic building in their neighbourhood. It's supposed to be 2 km from their home (that is the area that people are supposed to stick to while exercising during the government restrictions to limit the spread of the disease).

Gatehouse of Cork City Gaol and outer wall.

I recorded a short piece about Cork City Gaol, which is situated close to where I live. You can listen to it here (from around 1.02 mins). Located on the  northside of the city, it's about 2 km from the center. As you can see from the photograph above, it is an impressive looking stone-built building with enormous outer walls at the perimeter.

The history of the building is fascinating. It opened in 1824 and housed different kinds of prisoners over the years. In the beginning, it held convicts before they were transported to Australia. Young Irelanders and Fenians were imprisoned there in the 1840s and 1860s. From the 1880s, it was designated as a Female Gaol and held women and children.

Aerial view of Cork City Gaol. Image source.

One of its famous residents was Constance Markievicz, who spent four months there in 1919. She praised the people of Cork who were kind to her during her imprisonment and sent her flowers and fruit. See here for more information about this. During the Irish Civil War (June 1922 - May 1923), it held anti-Treaty prisoners, including the Cork-born short story writer, Frank O'Connor. You can find out more here on some of the famous people who were incarcerated in the prison.

The prison closed in 1923 and later housed a radio station which broadcast from there until the 1950s. It then fell into disrepair, until it was renovated in the 1990s. It is now open to the public and is well worth a visit. Check out their website here: https://corkcitygaol.com/your-visit/

Thousands of artworks to view online

The 14 museums that make up Les Musées de la Ville de Paris have placed hundreds of thousands of artworks online. You can view them here: http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr

The museums range from the Musée Carnavalet, Maison de Victor Hugo, Maison de Balzac, Musée Bourdelle, Musée Zadkine, Musée d'Art moderne de Paris, and the Petit Palais among others.

It includes works by well known artists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Rembrandt, and Anthony van Dyck, as well as work by lesser known artists, creators and writers.

'Deux oiseaux verts sur un magnolia' (1847), Feian Yu. Image source

This piece is from the Musée Cernuschi which is an Asian art museum based in Paris. It contains works from China, Japan and Korea and is well worth a visit (virtually or in person).