Page 7, 26th January 1962

26th January 1962

Page 7

Page 7, 26th January 1962 — Irish Writing To-day
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Organisations: Midnight Court
Locations: Dublin

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Irish Writing To-day

By VALENTIN IREMONGER
THOUGH creative literature in Ireland today is in a somewhat moribund state—most of our younger intellectuals are at last finding outlets for their energies in the political and economic problems confronting the new Ireland of the last
few years.
A handful of books in English that would be notable at any time have appeared during the past twelve months. Most of these are by writers of over a generation ago; only two new writers have emerged to submit their work in bulk for inspection, both, however. noteworthy in their different spheres. One of these is the poet. John Montague; the other, Dominic Behan. who makes his debut with a fragment of autobiography.
Vigorous
JDHN MONTAGUE, unlike other young poets since Yeats's death, has schooled himself with his Gaelic predecessors of a couple of hundred years ago as well as with current French, English and American masters. His technical ability, as a result. is almost unrivalled among poets under forty.
Over and above his technique. however, he has a vigorous, yet brooding, imagination which has turned back to Irish themes for its inspiration and he has 'creatively presented his perceptions in a fashion that few poets can equal.
His poems, though growing out of the runes and chants of an older Ireland, arc as therapeutically contemporary as gin sours and he is likely to be one of the most significant poets to have appeared on the Irish scene for many a year. His volume, "Poisoned Lands", should be read by anyone interested in poetry,
Exuberance
DOMINIC BEHAN'S book is autobiographical—in spots, anyhow, for it begins long before he was born, with reflections on the Easter Rising of 1916. It is mainly concerned, however. with presenting a picture of what life was like for a child in the Dublin slums of the 'twenties in the Georgian houses around Mountjoy Square.
This is a notable first volume in its recreation of the mixture of poverty and gaiety that characterises poor people in their efforts to knock out a living in depressed times. Mr. Behan may be congratulated on this achievement; but he will write better when he ceases to follow Sean O'Casey in his handling of language, or Big Brother in his exuberance.
Medieval
TWO older writers also produced books this year which should not be missed. Austin Clarke, the doyen of Irish poets, long shamefully neglected by publishers, appeared with his collected "Later Poems" under the combined auspices of the Dolmen Press and O.U.P.
'the discipiing of human desires by the formal codes of the Church have always fascinated a mind that is among the most intellectual in poetry today and Mr. Clarke turned. in the main, to medieval Ireland for the setting for his meditations on this theme. As a result, in his poetry he has expressed, as no one else has done, the nature and preoccupations of the Irish mind and consciousness.
O'Connor
THE remaining books in English are by Frank O'Connor. His autobiography "An Only Child" is his best hook for a long time. Superbly written, it is, perhaps disappointing in its one-sided view of his childhood and in a certain lack of appreciation of the joy of life that is so familiar in his short stories.
O'Connor's other volume was " Kings, Lords and Commons", a collection of his translations from the Irish, early to modern. Anyone who knows Mr. O'Connor's version of "The Midnight Court ' will need no recommendation to buy his beautifully-printed collection.




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