Irish Emigrant Book Review, No. 15 (Oct. 1996)

Remembered Kisses, introduction by Louis Bell
- “Remembered Kisses”, an illustrated anthology of Irish love poetry, is an attractively-produced amalgam of poems accompanied by paintings by Irish artists which complement the idea behind the poem rather than illustrating the subject matter. With an introduction by Louis Bell, the poems include works by W. B. Yeats, James Clarence Mangan, Seamus Heaney, Rita Ann Higgins, Micheal O Siadhail and Christy Brown, while the artists are represented by, among others, Tim Goulding, Jack B. Yeats, Sir William Orpen, Frank McKelvey, Sir John Lavery and Roderick O’Connor.

A Short History of Dublin by Daniel Hynes
This book begins with the first mesolithic settlers on the banks of the Liffey and, although it did not become a settlement of significant size before the arrival of the Vikings, it was well enough known in the 2nd century to be featured as Eblana in Ptolemy’s map. In short easily-read sections the author takes us through Anglo-Norman, Elizabethan and Georgian Dublin, through the Famine years and on to Fenian Dublin and the Rising. The final chapter deals with the capital since the 1950s and finishes on two opposing notes, the downside story of the heroin barons and the positive trend of the return of residents to the city centre.

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The Noble Art of Politics by Martyn Turner
- Readers of the Irish Times, past and present, will be familiar with the work of cartoonist Martyn Turner. In his latest collection, “The Noble Art of Politics “, Mr Turner presents us with his cartoons from the last two years, giving his usual astute and critical view of events at home and abroad through 120 drawings. He has a refreshing pictorial comment to make on such diverse topics as Bosnia, mad cow disease, the divorce referendum and, of course, the situation in the North.

A Year’s Turning by Michael Viney
Michael Viney’s “A Year’s Turning” concentrates on the landscape around him in the shadow of Croagh Patrick and the changing aspects of the natural world throughout one year. He seems purposely to have turned away from including his wife and daughter in the narrative except where their presence is related to a season’s activity, and so we are not distracted from the beauty of his observations on the birds, fish, small animals and flora which drew him to the west from his journalistic work in Dublin twenty years ago. The author does draw interesting parallels between his life in Thallabawn and his early life on the south coast of England which gives us an understanding of his relationship with his environment. Divided into twelve chapters each dealing with a particular month, “A Year’s Turning”, a contender for the Stg5,000 BP Natural World Book Prize, leads us into the Vineys’ idyllic life but does not gloss over the difficulties of independent living in a remote rural setting.

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The Old in Rapallo by Rory Brennan
- Reflecting his sojourns in different lands, the poems of Rory Brennan in his latest collection, “The Old in Rapallo” explore such diverse themes as nostalgia for the Greek childhood of his two daughters in “The Dot Children” and the world of the old in the title poem who “inhabit the dripping canopy of death”. His use of metaphor and simile lends a vividness to his work, as when describing a time spent watching kite-flying in Beijing,
“The sky was an alloy colander Leaking steam.”
And in “The Crannog at Lisserlough” the poet tells us that,
“The lake displays its levels like an unscoured bath;”
Rory Brennan can also be disturbingly realistic in his descriptions, notably in “The Turnspit Dog” which gives a stomach-turning account of culinary hygiene or the lack thereof.

Erin’s Orange Lily by Sam Hanna Bell
- Sam Hanna Bell, who died in 1990, was a former features producer with BBC Northern Ireland who not only wrote novels but also travelled the province collecting folklore. This material he gathered together in “Erin’s Orange Lily”, in which he describes many traditional aspects of Ulster life from the Lambeg drum through the Good Neighbours (the fairyfolk) to the hiring fair. The author was also noted for his short stories, again dealing with the people of the North, and a collection entitled “Summer Loanen” has been issued with “Erin’s Orange Lily” in one volume. “The Broken Tree” contains a particularly graphic account of the death of a much-cherished heifer, but it is in his recreation of childhood that Sam Hanna Bell is at his most effective. In both the title story and in “This We Shall Maintain” he successfully reflects both the joys and sorrows of the young boys whose lives he portrays.

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