In one of my volumes on Modern Irish writers (Modern Irish Writers: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, ed. Alexander Gonzalez), the entry on Elizabeth Bowen, written by Barbara Suess (that's Dr. Suess, not Dr. Seuss), begins this way:"Although she was revered more for her 'Anglo' works than her 'Irish' works, Elizabeth Bowen's Anglo-Irish upbringing in the early twentieth century provided her a unique position from which to view--and write about--Ireland. Bowen's Irish works, the large body of short stories, novels, reviews, and essays devoted to Irish subjects, characters, and settings, are an impressive literary legacy that need no apology."
This entry is a great way to begin a discussion about Bowen and, by extension, to continue our discussions about "Anglo-Irish" literature. There are several assumptions running beneath Suess's paragraph. First, she assumes that one can distinguish between Bowen's "Anglo" works and her "Irish" works. If Bowen's "subjects, characters, and settings" are "Irish," then so is the work in question. But this can be problemetic since defining what is "Irish" about a character or subject is not a simple task, as we discussed early on (we decided, for example, that Wilde and Yeats are both problematic in this way). Suess writes that Bowen's "Irish" works need no apology, and by this she presumably means they do not need to justify their "Irish-ness." Well, why would they? One answer is that Bowen grew up in a manor house in Cork, in a well-off Protestant family with English ties, and this put her at odds with writers who were more "authentically" (that is, Catholically and Dublinally) "Irish." She also spent much of her time in England, and many of her works (including Death of the Heart) are set in England. These works are what Suess calls Bowen's "Anglo" works, and one wonders whether she means to imply that these do need an apology of some kind for being set in England and containing English characters. Or maybe it is the fact that Bowen hung around the likes of T. S. Eliot (see the above photograph from the National Portrait Gallery), Virginia Woolf, and other very non-Irish modernists. But no matter the reason, the very suggestion, however slight it may be, that Bowen has to justify, or somehow apologize for, her any work because it is not "Irish" enough tells us something about how Anglo-Irish literature is often perceived and discussed.
So we are back to this question again: Is Irish-ness simply a matter of geography? Must Irish literature be set in Ireland? What makes a work of literature Irish, the author or the subject matter? Some combination of these? Is C. S. Lewis, who was born in Belfast to a father of Welsh blood, an Irish writer? He is not commonly included in the Irish "canon." I intentionally included The Death of the Heart on the syllabus because I wanted to raise these questions. I might have included The Last September, which is typically categorized as one of Bowen's "Irish" works, but it is not as good of a novel. Should I have put it on anyway because it is partially set in Ireland? Are you reading this book and thinking, "What the heck does this have to do with Ireland?" (It's okay if you are, by the way.)
One other thing: If you read Suess's paragraph again, you will detect the suggestion, though it is not a stated claim, that Bowen writes about Ireland from the perspective of an outsider. I think this is true, but I hasten to add that Bowen, like many of the so-called "Anglo-Irish," experienced a kind of identity crisis brought on by a cultural rootlessness. They were not simply Englishmen and Englishwomen looking at Ireland. They were, in many cases, deracinated Irishmen and Irishwomen who felt just as out of place in England as they did in Ireland. If we look at Portia as a type of this character, a type that appears in many of Bowen's works, we can start to appreciate the psychology of the outsider, the estranged, and this is a character that is extremely important to Modern Irish literature, at least in my view. In other words, all of Bowen's work is written from the perspective of an outsider, not just her "Irish" works (I obviously don't separate her "Anglo" works from her "Irish" works because I think these can be used too easily and categorically, and at times falsely).
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of this.
One other thing: If you read Suess's paragraph again, you will detect the suggestion, though it is not a stated claim, that Bowen writes about Ireland from the perspective of an outsider. I think this is true, but I hasten to add that Bowen, like many of the so-called "Anglo-Irish," experienced a kind of identity crisis brought on by a cultural rootlessness. They were not simply Englishmen and Englishwomen looking at Ireland. They were, in many cases, deracinated Irishmen and Irishwomen who felt just as out of place in England as they did in Ireland. If we look at Portia as a type of this character, a type that appears in many of Bowen's works, we can start to appreciate the psychology of the outsider, the estranged, and this is a character that is extremely important to Modern Irish literature, at least in my view. In other words, all of Bowen's work is written from the perspective of an outsider, not just her "Irish" works (I obviously don't separate her "Anglo" works from her "Irish" works because I think these can be used too easily and categorically, and at times falsely).
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of this.
I'm sorry I missed class on monday. I've been having some serious allergy issues and I had to go home (I'm seeing an allergist this friday).
ReplyDeleteI think there is something to say about Anglo-Irish feeling deracinated. After all, they were viewed by the native Irish Catholics as being English and they were viewed by the English as being Irish. It seems that no matter where they stood, they were on the outside looking in. I don't mean to make it seem as dramatic because the Anglo-Irish were the aristocracy of Ireland and they were, for quite some time, the force behind the literature and politics in Ireland. But it seems that the writers tried to identify with either being Irish or being English. For example, Wilde was at pains to be English just as Yeats was at pains to be Irish. I'm not in a position to say where Bowen is at because I'm not familiar with her at all but I imagine from the paragraph Suess wrote that she most likely tried to stradle both as much as possible. Writing with the perspective of an outsider seems like a natural position for an Anglo-Irish author.
As for what constitutes Irish literature? You're right, that is a difficult question. Right now I would have to say that Irish literature reflects the culture, geography, and linguistic tradition of Ireland. I don't think that necessarily limits Irish literature to topics in Ireland but reflects the education/upbringing that the author may have had. I would, at this time in my education, possibly put Irish literature into three sub-groups:
1. Irish literature by Irish-born and Irish raised writers. The place a person is born and raised is going to have an effect on their writing even if they don't deal with it directly in their writing. C.S. Lewis was inspired by hs childhood in Belfast.
2. Irish literature that deals directly with Irish Culture or a sense of Irish culture whether it is the Catholic farmer or the aristocrat Anglo-Irish artist. Every writer brings a different perspective of what Irish culture is. I don't think a single writer is capable of being "the voice" of Irish culture/life.
3. Irish Literature that deals directly with the island in both literalism and symbolism. In other words, treating Ireland as the island that it is OR using symbolism to illustrate Ireland like Yeats so often did.
I don't think that one necessarily has to be born Irish to write Irish literature. Morgan Llywelyn, a contemporary author that has sold more than 40 million books, writes solely Irish literature, everything from Brian Boru to Finn MacCool to the 1916 Uprising. Yet she was born in New York.
Personally, I am struggling to really get into Elizabeth Bowen. I'm not sure why, perhaps its simply the mass amounts of long dialogue but I've read way too much and feel like I've gotten nothing out of it. I'm not sure that makes much sense. Perhaps it is because it seems to have such an Anglo style about it that I am not used to. Perhaps I'm just not used to pscyhological novels but something isn't clicking for me and it is wildly frustrating.
(Actually Jeph, class was canceled on Monday, so you’re fine)
ReplyDeleteOne question I’ve been considering is, “Can an [Irish?] writer be ‘Irish’ without knowing about it?” In one of my previous classes, our teacher told us about many of the labels of various theories and philosophies. She said that, due to our upbringing in America, many of us were postmodernist in thought. At the time, I resented being labeled as anything that I didn’t know about. After all, I didn’t need her labels. I existed with or without her consent.
But now that I look back, I find that it doesn’t matter. I am who I am, labels be glued. But we can’t all have labels slapped haphazardly across the land. The Last September, in a sense, treats the mansion as an island, but that doesn’t mean that we should “just accept” it as Irish literature solely because Elizabeth was born in Dublin and set the book in Ireland though, should we? Or should we?
The idea of “accepting” one into a culture is nothing new, and was debated among the Native Americans quite a bit, too. But personally, I don’t think “Irishness” is limited to geography. The “Scotsman’s trope” has gone far through the ages, and the people I associate with are not unfamiliar with the phrase, “luck of the Irish.” In a way, those phrases and stereotypes have become their own culture, unbarred from geographical boundaries.
it would seem to me as well as what tyler said that there is really no way to assign "irishness" to any particular author. i have enjoyed what i've read of death of the heart so far. but i dont necessarily feel that its entirely an irish voice or not an irish voice. it definitely has a lot of anglo culture in it, but just as wilde, it also has the identity of irish in it in that these characters dont seem to belong anywhere,and seem always on the outside looking in. i think there's no way to really assign such absolute characteristics to any group of people. literature is really about being human and these stories connect with that regardless of where they come from. yeats is appealing to many the world over because of his musical lyricality as well as the broad range of emotion that is common to all of us. i think that bowen is similar. the traits of good writing are independent of culture or locality. however, i dont think she or any other author needs to apologize for whatever "voice" or influence is primary in their writing.
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