agleton's
very cheeky look at the Irish tickles as it informs. Relating the A to Zs
of Irish life and culture in brief essays arranged by subject, the Oxford
literature professor (Heathcliffe and the Great Hunger; Literary Theory;
etc.) employs a mix of statistics and playful humor to point out that,
among other things, the Irish are not the biggest drinkers in the world
(except for Greece and Italy, they have the lowest per-capita consumption
in the E.U.). Avowed revolutionaries, they harbor a tendency, says
Eagleton, toward ineptitude: in the 1916 Easter Rebellion "the rebels
themselves were mostly poets and intellectuals, rarely the most promising
material for a military scrap." Yet they have a fine tradition of
strong, independent women, from the pirate Grace O'Malley of the 16th
century to revolutionary Maud Gonne and presidents Robinson and MacAleese
in the 20th century. Fond of having a good time, the Irish tend to be very
religious--when they aren't in one of their anti-clerical moods. The
common expletive "fugghan" is the closest most of the population
comes to using Gaelic (a Welsh word meaning "wild, untamed").
Eagleton emphasizes that the Irish are proud of their new economic
firepower, dubbing themselves the "Celtic Tiger" and making an
industry out of James Joyce, who fled Ireland to get away from them. With
wry affection, he traces the roots of many customs in Ireland's history as
an impoverished colony, and observes that its people may be changing with
the country's recent prosperity. The Ancient Order of Hibernians may
despise Eagleton's candor, but most Irish will greet it with a smile and a
wink.
agleton's
very cheeky look at the Irish tickles as it informs. Relating the A to Zs
of Irish life and culture in brief essays arranged by subject, the Oxford
literature professor (Heathcliffe and the Great Hunger; Literary Theory;
etc.) employs a mix of statistics and playful humor to point out that,
among other things, the Irish are not the biggest drinkers in the world
(except for Greece and Italy, they have the lowest per-capita consumption
in the E.U.). Avowed revolutionaries, they harbor a tendency, says
Eagleton, toward ineptitude: in the 1916 Easter Rebellion "the rebels
themselves were mostly poets and intellectuals, rarely the most promising
material for a military scrap." Yet they have a fine tradition of
strong, independent women, from the pirate Grace O'Malley of the 16th
century to revolutionary Maud Gonne and presidents Robinson and MacAleese
in the 20th century. Fond of having a good time, the Irish tend to be very
religious--when they aren't in one of their anti-clerical moods. The
common expletive "fugghan" is the closest most of the population
comes to using Gaelic (a Welsh word meaning "wild, untamed").
Eagleton emphasizes that the Irish are proud of their new economic
firepower, dubbing themselves the "Celtic Tiger" and making an
industry out of James Joyce, who fled Ireland to get away from them. With
wry affection, he traces the roots of many customs in Ireland's history as
an impoverished colony, and observes that its people may be changing with
the country's recent prosperity. The Ancient Order of Hibernians may
despise Eagleton's candor, but most Irish will greet it with a smile and a
wink.
