GIVEN
the sometimes pessimistic nature of his work, isn’t it ironic that Samuel
Beckett was born on Friday the 13th (of April, 1906) and that Flann O’Brien
died on April 1, 1966.
Indeed
it has been said that the pitiful turnout at Flann’s funeral may have been
because many thought it was an April fools prank.
William
Butler Yeats’s early school report from Godolphin Primary School in England
said:
“Only fair. Perhaps better at Latin than in any other subject. Very poor
at spelling.
? These were humble beginnings indeed for a future winner of the
Nobel Prize for Literature.
Thomas
Moore of Moore’s Melodies fame was a strident opponent of America’s slave
trade, leading to a duel with reviewer Frances Jeffrey.
The
duel, in which no pistols were fired, led Lord Byron to refer to
“Moore’s
leadless pistol
? and
“on examination, the balls of the pistol, like the courage
of the combatants, were found to have evaporated
?.
These
and many more golden nuggets of literary anecdote can be mined from a special
exhibition currently taking place at the Nicholas of Myra Parish Centre,
Carmans Hall, just off Francis Street in the heart of the Liberties.
The
exhibition, entitled
‘Dublin Writers, born here, lived here, wished we were
here’, is the work of the Liberties Heritage Association (LHA) and represents
their contribution to Dublin as UNESCO City of Literature for 2011.
The
idea is simple: to chronicle the history of those authors (famous and not so
famous) who were either born in Dublin, lived in Dublin or wrote about Dublin.
This
concept, the brainchild of John Gallagher, founder of the LHA and director of
St Nicholas of Myra Parish Centre, has been realised in a thought provoking
exhibition by John himself, Bernard Warfield, John Brogan and their co-workers
in the LHA project.
Rubbing
shoulders with such famous literary luminaries as Joyce, Beckett, Shaw and
Yeats are the likes of Sir Richard Steele, Dublin born 17th century writer and
contemporary of Jonathan Swift, Member of Parliament, founder of the Spectator,
the forerunner of the modern day Guardian newspaper.
Among
his publications was
‘Apology for himself and his writings – occasioned by his
expulsion from the House of Commons’. It must have worked as he was reinstated
and later knighted by George I.
Katharine
Tynan Hinkson, originally from Clondalkin, whose poem
‘The Wind that Shakes the
Barley’ gave its name to the Palme d’Or winning film by Ken Loach, also
features in the exhibition as does Robert Croker (Tressell) Noonan, whose only
publication,
‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’, was widely regarded as a
classic of working class literature.
Local
writers are also well catered for, including the blind poet and street singer
Zozimus, the activist Deirdre Kelly, the thriller writer Gretta Curran Browne
and novelist Joe O’Connor, whose two aunts went to school in the very building
where this exhibition is taking place.
Anyone
with an interest in Dublin and its writers will find something to capture their
imagination in this treasure trove of literary history.
‘Dublin
Writers, born here, lived here, wished we were here’ is open to the public
until September 16 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).