The Reader's Companion to Ireland

This uniquely literate guide to the land and people of Eire features choice travel writing by Jan Morris, Richard Condon, Paul Theroux, Michael Crichton, and many others, dating from 1896 to the present. Introduction by the Editor. Map.

Introduction

xiii

The Aran islands: 1896

1

(16)

Archur Symons

``Since I have seen Aran and Sligo, I have never wondered that the Irish peasant still sees fairies about his path, and that the boundaries of what we cell the real, and of what is for us the unseen, are vague to him.''

Galway and Dublin, meeting Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats: 1924

17

(14)

Harold Speakman

``Tell me, why his manner? What is the reason for such terrific pose?' `It isn't pose, it's the man.'''

Galway, Connemara, birds, and bogs: 1940s

31

(38)

H. V. Morcon

``That town is half in the world and half out of it. It is a frontier post, and the winds from the end of the world blow into it day and night.''

Galway, Connemara, birds, and bogs: 1940s

69

(14)

Robert Gibbings

``I called at the Munster and Leinster Bank to introduce myself. No, they hadn't had any advice note about me as yet, but if it was only a matter of money, there'd be no trouble about that.''

Going down O'Connell Street, Dublin: 1948

83

(12)

Chiang Yee

``It is a very wide street, and has a look of the Champs Elysees minus the trees or of Whitehall with splendid shops instead of official buildings.''

Irish journal: 1954

95

(9)

Heinrich Boll

``In limitless patience time and the elements have eaten away everything not made of stone, and from the earth have sprouted cushions on which these bones lie like relics, cushins of moss and grass.''

Making a home at Rossenarra, Co. Kilkenny: 1960s

104

(15)

Richard Condon

``Mick Jagger took a bath at Rossenarra. The only Mexican cookbook written on Irish soil, The Mexican Stove, was tested and feinschmecked here.''

From Cork to Killorglin: 1969

119

(10)

Deborah Love

``Theroads belong to the animals and pedestrians more than the motorist. Sheep lie down and take naps in them, cows are driven down them, children wal two and three abreast along them.''

The Aran Islands: 1972

129

(15)

Jim Robinson

``On the day of our arrival we met an old man who explained the basic geography. ``The Ocean,' he told us, `goes all around the island.'''

Belfast: 1970s

144

(9)

Richard Howard Brown

``I had a whiskey in the grill, which was crowded and noisy . . . although six blocks away on Donegall Street they had not yet finished lifting bodies into trucks and ambulances.''

Dublin: 1970s

153

(9)

Jan Morris

``Are there any urchins like Dublin urchins, grubby as sin and bouncy as ping-pong balls? Are there any markets like Dublin markets, sprawling all over the city streets like gipsy jumble sales?''

Discovering Dingle: 1976

162

(7)

Paul Theroux

``No one mentions religion. The only indication I had of the faith was the valediction of a lady in a bar in Ballyferriter, who shouted, `God Bless ye!' when I emptied my pint of Guinness.''

The Ambassador's residence, the Dublin Horse Show, Phoenix Park: 1977

169

(21)

Elizabeth Shannon

``I finally queried Michael about it today: `Why is it so wild and unkempt?' I asked. `It's the Fairy Hill,' says he, explaining all.''

Filming The Great Train Robbery in Dublin: 1978

190

(9)

Michael Crichton

``Each night I drag myself home to my Dublin hotel room. it looks like the anteroom to a tuberculosis sanatorium. The floors are uneven, the wallpaper stodgy Victorian. I'd like to call home, but there is a telephone strike. Then a mail strike.''

Taking Dad back to Connemara: 1980

199

(8)

John Coyne

``We drove there on a bright blue August afternoon for a picnic on the site of my father's place. The farmhouse and barns have with years of neglect gone t waste, and only a few stone walls remain.''

Along the Boyne to Tara with Seamus Heaney: ca. 1980

207

(22)

Anthony Bailey

``Ah, it's a wonderful fit, sir,' he said. The price for this piece of Old World craftsmanship, an antique that had never been used, was, he added, merely a fiver. `You'll take four pounds fifty,' said Heaney.''

The west, bicycle: 1980s

229

(24)

Eric Newby

``No resort looks its best in the depths of winter . . . and Lisdoonvarna, with the east wind hurrying clouds of freezing vapour through its streets, was no exception.''

Donegal, Sligo, Irish music, and a bicycle: 1990s

253

(18)

David A. Wilson

``Mmmm, this black thing tastes good,' I said, slicing off another sticky piece of pudding with my fork. `What is it?' `There are some questions that are best left unasked,' she replied.''

Galway and Claddagh, Clifden and Connemara, and Yeats's grave, in Morton's footsteps: 1990s

271

David W. McFadden

``All the little Irish cottages that would have been here in Morton's day had disappeared, leaving only modern little redbrick houses, with aluminum front doors, among the strangely patterned networks of ancient walls.''

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The Reader's Companion to Ireland

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Table of Contents

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