Evening star., 1953-09-20

sition of being popular in
America and severely snubbed
at home, told me he had chal-
lenged Maj. Vivian De Valera,
the Prime Minister'S son, to a
debate over Radio Eirann, but
had not been taken up.
Mr.. O'Faolain has had some
notable brushes with the
clergy over censorship matters.
He told me his neighbors took
a characteristically dual posi-
ton on the problem. They
didn't question the censorship
at all, but they did stop around
to ask him if they might have
a look at the banned book.
Mr.. O'Connor, author of nota-
BILE sort stories Of Irish life,
will never be forgiven for an
astringent article about Ireland
which appeared in Holiday.
A Betrayal Of Sorts
One explanation given me
was that a certain type of
Irishman would find This
Other Eden" acceptable be-
cause it was given in the alb
hey, which is, so to speak, lin
the family" while Love
Among the Irish" which ran
in a magazine of international
circulation, constituted a be-
trayal of sorts.
Of all the giants who figured
in the great Celtic Renaissance
only LennoX Robinson, who
still works with the abbey, re-
mains. Although much liter
ary activity goes on, particu-
larly in poetry and in the the
ater, no one has yet sprung up
to take the place of Yeats. Vic
tor Weybright, editor of the
New American Library, passed
through Dublin recently to COL
lect a garland of Irish poetry
for a new anthology of modern
writer's. Valentin Iremonger
and Austin Clarke (the latter
has been called by Arland Us
sher, editor of the Bell, "a sort
of bridge between romantic
Ireland and the more hard-bit-
ten, not-so-romantic, Eire) are
the leading lights in lyric
poetry.
Some of the young Irish in
tellectuals feel the new impe-
tus must come from the Gaelic.
They agree with some visitors
that Dublin is becoming a drab.
provincial city, a little bit Eng
lish, a little bit American, not
really Irish at all. They feel
that Ireland, which still faces
grave problems of emigration
and lack of natural resources
for industrialization, must be-
come herself-which to them
means Gaelic-before she can
become anything.
They take the position that
the Renaissance has not died
but merely been diverted into
a literature of the native
tongue. Several young Irish
writer's regularly read their
short stories in Gaelic over
Radio Eirann, and a few weeks
ago in Galway, the Taibhdearc,
the Irish Theater celebrated
its 25th anniversary. Walter
Macken, whose novel of Gal
way fishermen, Rain on the
Wind" enjoyed considerable
success in America several
years ago, was one of the prime
movers of the occasion.
Irish in School
Irish is taught in the schools,
and most signs in the 26 coun-
ties are in both languages.
Some of the Irish I talked to,
however, seemed to feel that
the intensified study and use
of the language, beyond that
sufficient to allow the people
to read and glory in Ireland'S
= marvellous literary antiquities,
might only serve to stress Ire
lands isolation from the mod
ern world.
Strangers who listen with
delight to the Irish speech,
which is musical, fanciful and
full of happy turns, hope the
Irish will not soon give up
speaking or writing English.
Even a week in this coun-
try, where the individual still
counts for everything, is
enough to make them agree
with Arland usher that "it is
possible that Ireland, a coun-
try which has produced many
scoffers, may also preserve for
a saner age the knowledge of
a reality beyond the senses"