Irish Short Story Month Year Three
March 1 to March 31
A Reading Life Special Event
Today I am very happy to be able to post the answers by
Nuala Ní Chonchúir to some questions I sent her. Nuala is one of my favorite contemporary short story writers. When I ask Irish short story writers who among contemporary writers they most admire, her name almost always comes up. I would not have read and posted on four of her books if I did not greatly admire and respect her work.
Yesterday I posted on her very exciting collection of short stories,
To the World of Men, Welcome. You can read my post here.
Born in Dublin in 1970, Nuala Ní Chonchúir is a full-time fiction writer and poet, living in Galway county. She has published four collections of short fiction, three poetry collections - one in an anthology, and one novel. Nuala holds a BA in Irish from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Translation Studies (Irish/English) from Dublin City University. She has worked as an arts administrator in theater and in a writers' center as a translator, as a bookseller and also in a university library. Nuala teaches creative writing on a part-time basis.
I have previously posted on her amazing short story collection, Mother America, and a collection of her poetry I really enjoyed, The Juno Charm.
I have also read and posted on her third collection of short stories, Nude. I found the stories in Nude to be beautifully written lessons in the nature of the gaze, the meaning of nudity and the lingering power of colonialism partially reinstated in an account of the relationships of men to women and artists to the women who pose nude for them. It is about the difference between being naked and have it mean nothing and being nude and having it mean everything. I think it is also, in the tradition of Edward Said, about the orientalizing of Irish women by the English and in a greater sense of women by men.
1. Who are some of the
contemporary short story writers you admire? If you had to say, who do you
regard as the three best ever short story writers?
Today they are the following, on
a different day I might name others:
Contemporary: Ron Rash, Anthony
Doerr, Caitlin Horrocks, Sarah Hall, Mary Morrissy.
Best ever: Flannery O’Connor,
James Joyce, Frank O’Connor.
2. I have read lots of
Indian and American short stories in addition to Irish,
and alcohol plays a much bigger part in the Irish stories. How should
an outsider take this and what does it say about Irish culture?
Alcohol is a huge part of Irish
culture and not in a good way. People are only cottoning on to the fact now
that gallons of alcohol on a night out might not actually be a great idea (for
both kinds of health). Des Bishop, a comedian, is doing an interesting
exploration of the Irish misuse of alcohol on TV just now, called ‘Under the
Influence’. Brian O’Connell, a journalist, is also trying to educate young
people about its de-merits. It’s about time. The Irish use it a crutch and have
normalised alcohol abuse to such an extent that you are seen as weird and
joyless if you don’t drink, or don’t drink to excess.
3. Declan Kiberd has said the
dominant theme of modern Irish literature is that of the weak or missing
father? Do you think he is right and how does this, if it does, reveal
itself in your work? It seems present in several of your stories.
I think there are more dominant
themes than that in Irish literature – land/property, loneliness, shame etc. –
but it’s an interesting angle. If you’re specifically talking about my
collection To the World of Men, Welcome,
well the book concerns itself with men and how they deal with women. Mostly
lovers. There is one absent father who may or may not have murdered his
daughter (‘Toys’). The father is more of a shadow figure in my novel YOU because the parents are separated
and the kids live with their mother. So he is missing but not weak, as in
Kiberd’s theory.
4. When did you start
writing?
When I was a child, I wrote poems
and stories. I came second in a national poetry competition at the age of 10
and that spurred me on. I didn’t try to get published until my late 20s,
though.
5. How do you view Aosdána?
Is it a great aid to the arts in Ireland or does it perpetuate closed
elitism?
I think it’s a good thing, it
shows respect for artists. It is extremely difficult to make a living as an
artist and the stipend is a Godsend to many. Having said that, the group elects
their peers so there is always the danger that if you don’t know the right
people, you haven’t a hope of getting in. And therefore that the same type of
people will always make up the membership.
6. I sometimes wonder why
such a disproportionate amount of literature of the world, that is regarded as
great, is written in the colder temperate zones rather than in the tropics. How
big a factor do you think the Irish weather is in shaping the literary output
of its writers? I cannot imagine The Brothers Karamazov being
written on a tropical island, for example.
It rains a lot here, particularly
in Galway, where I live. We have nothing to do but stay indoors and write!! I’m
sure the Australians would disagree with you: fine weather, fine writing
(Malouf, Winton, Frame et al). Ditto the Africans: Coetzee, Achebe, Gordimer.
I’m not convinced that bad weather causes great writing but people certainly
mention it a lot in Ireland, daily and in fiction. A benign obsession, perhaps.
7. A character in an Ali Smith
short story, asks in a conversation on the merits of short stories versus
novels "Is the short story a goddess and
nymph and is the novel an old whore?" Does this make a bit of sense to you?
No, it
makes little sense but, then, Ali Smith delights in being obscure, as is her
right. But the analogy is just about youth vs age, I guess – short vs long.
Stories and novels are only linked by the fact that they are both fiction.
Neither writing them nor reading them is a similar process. You get a different
hit from each form. Sometimes the short, sharp, shock of the story is what you
require; other times you crave the long haul of the novel.
8. Who do you regard as
the first modern Irish short story writer?
James Joyce, in the sense that he
broke the mould. The stories in Dubliners
age as the book ages (the characters go from young to old). He introduced the
epiphanic moment. He was employing simplicity before Hemingway made it his own.
He wrote a collection and thought about how to order it.
9. Why have the Irish
produced such a disproportionate to their population number of great
writers?
I have no idea. Maybe because we
love to talk and that translated itself into a need for private expression (on
paper) for those who were not so gregarious or social. Maybe we are good at
talking about our work and that got us noticed. Brendan Behan once said, among
hundreds of equally interesting remarks, ‘I am a drinker with a writing
problem.’ Or words to that affect. How could anyone ignore someone who came up
with that and who also wrote so well?
10. Ok this may seem like
a silly question but I pose it anyway-do you believe in Fairies?-this quote
from Declan Kiberd sort of explains why I am asking this:
"One 1916 veteran recalled,
in old age, his youthful conviction that the rebellion would “put an end to the
rule of the fairies in Ireland”. In this it was notably unsuccessful: during
the 1920s, a young student named Samuel Beckett reported seeing a fairy-man in
the New Square of Trinity College Dublin; and two decades later a Galway woman,
when asked by an American anthropologist whether she really believed in the
“little people”, replied with terse sophistication: “I do not, sir – but
they’re there."
I love what that woman said.
There was a fairy ring near our house – we didn’t dare go into it. When the
local hospital was being expanded, they flattened the ring and cut down the blackthorn
tree. The man who cut down the tree died of a heart attack a few days later. It
was understood that the fairies went after him.
Do I believe? Yes and no.
11. Do you think the very
large amount of remains from neolithic periods (the highest in the world) in
Ireland has shaped in the literature and psyche of the country?
I don’t know. I think we have
very poor understanding still of our ancestors and their power and knowledge.
And I would wager that most Irish people don’t care. There is a lot of worship
at the altar of other countries in Ireland: young people ape their British and
American counterparts. There isn’t a huge amount of pride in our ancient culture
among the general population. Writers, artists and scholars love and respect it
all but not ordinary people so much. We have watered down our culture and
vernacular to insipid levels.
12. How important are the
famines to the modern Irish psyche?
The legacy of the famine lingers
on – big events like that always leave a psychic scar. We are obsessed with
owning property, for example. And many Irish people have a huge begrudging bee
in their bonnets about emigration, despite the fact that many people choose to
emigrate, and are not forced as they once were.
13. Does the character of
the "stage Irishman" live on still in the heavy drinking, violent, on
the dole characters one finds in many contemporary Irish novels?
I think of the “stage Irishman”
as an American invention: a gormless gombeen with cute hoor tendencies. There
are still plenty of violent, unemployed drinkers in Ireland so, if they are in
novels, they reflect a reality. Roddy Doyle writes them excellently.
14. William Butler Yeats
said in "The Literary Movement"-- "The popular poetry of
England celebrates her victories, but the popular poetry of Ireland remembers
only defeats and defeated persons.” I see a similarity of this to the heroes of
the Philippines. American heroes were all victors, they won wars and achieved
independence. The national heroes of the Philippines were almost all ultimately
failures, most executed by the Spanish or American rulers. How do you think the
fact Yeats is alluding to, assuming you agree, has shaped Irish
literature?
Irish people are maudlin and
sentimental, often. The past, and all that was lost with it, is always a better
place. We have resisted modernity a lot.
There is another quote: "The great Gaels of
Ireland are the men that God made mad. For all their wars are merry, and
all their songs are sad." - G.K. Chesterton
Irish people love to be negative
and sad and upset. We can be a nation of whingers. The daily moan takes place
on Joe Duffy’s Radio Show It is unbelievable.
15. Do you think poets have
a social role to play in contemporary Ireland or are they pure artists writing
for themselves and a few peers?
In an ideal world the poet would
have a role as seer, prophet, commentator. We have plenty of fine poets who
commentate regularly: Durcan, Lordan et al. Some of us listen, many do not.
16. Do you think Irish Travellers should be granted the status of
a distinct ethnic group and be given special rights to make up for
past mistreatment? Are the Travellers to the Irish what the Irish were
once to the English? I became interested in this question partially
through reading the short stories of Desmond Hogan.
They should be granted whatever
they want. They are a distinct group with their own traditions and cultures and
they should be supported in every way to live as they please.
Some people hate Travellers,
irrationally. Tarring all of them with the same brush. It is racism. There are
bad eggs in every community but many people feel all Travellers are bad because
a few make trouble. It’s not a fair stance.
17. Where is the best
place in Galway to get a real Irish breakfast?
Fish and Chips and Irish Stew?
I don’t eat meat so have no
interest in Irish Breakfasts but there are great places all over: try
McCambridge’s on Shop Street for a start.
Fish ‘n’ Chips: McDonagh’s of
Quay Street.
Irish stew: Probably The King’s
Head on High Street
18. The literary productivity
of Galway is incredible. What is there about Galway's social climate that
produces this?
It’s a university town, a small
city, on the edge of the sea. It’s pretty enough to look at, with its medieval
layout and traversing river and canal. It was a draw for hippies and artistic
types since the 60s and many stayed and added to the cultural life,
particularly in theatre (Druid, Macnas, the now defunct Punchbag). It has a
huge annual literary festival in April: Cúirt. So there is a lot going on and
that lures people. I moved here 17 years ago and am still here somehow. Galway
does that to people.
19. Do you prefer e-reading
or traditional books?
Traditional books at home. My
Kindle when I am travelling.
20. If you were to be
given the option of living anywhere besides Ireland, where would you live?
New York. I feel at home there
and I love its diversity, people, food, book shops, theatre etc.
21. If you could time
travel for 30 days (and be rich and safe) where would you go and why?
Oh, time travel, what fun. I
might go back to the 16th century in Mayo and see if I could be
friends with Granuaile, the Irish so-called pirate queen. I imagine she was
some woman to be around.
22. John Synge - is he the
second most important 20th century Irish writer?
Who am I to say? Who is allegedly
the most important – Joyce?
23. The Aran Islands - must
see authentic experience or just for the tourists?
It’s a bit of both. There is a
commercial side to it that is tourist oriented but less so on the smaller
islands. People still live and work and speak Irish there. It is a beautiful
place.
24. Best Literary Festival
you have so far attended?
The Cork Short Story Festival –
for its fabulous line-ups, its warmth, its inclusiveness, for the way it looks
after writers. Brilliant. I go every September and it is like a homecoming each
time.
25. Flash Fiction - how
driven is the popularity of this form by social media like Twitter and its word
limits?
Flash has been around a lot
longer than Twitter. Chekhov wrote short-short stories. Twitter has just added
an extra dimension but most flash is longer than 140 characters and is better
for that.
26. How important in
shaping the literature of Ireland is its proximity to the sea?
Island people have a different
mindset. We are on our own despite communication technologies, air travel etc.
As for how it shapes literature? Islanders look inward, maybe, and are a little
eccentric. A bit peculiar and lonely. It’s the old inferior/superior thing. Maybe
that’s why half the population are writing – because we are islanders!
27. Best place to hear
traditional music in Galway? Best book store, best literary tourist experience,
best "real people's" restaurant?
Trad music: Tí Neachtain, Shop Street.
Books: Kennys in Liosbán and Charlie Byrne’s on
Middle Street. You MUST go to both.
Literary Tourist Experience: Drive out to Connemara
to see what exactly entranced Synge, Martin McDonagh, Ted Hughes, Ó Flatharta,
Macken et al
Real People’s Restaurant: Ard Bia at Nimmo's Pier
You can learn more about the author and her work at her very well done website.
My thanks to Nuala for taking the time to respond to my questions.
I hope someone does an event devoted to the Irish Short Story twenty years from now and I am sure she will be one of the automatically included writers.
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