Irish Writer Edna O’Brien interview, 1976
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- ‘Mother Ireland’ the latest book from Edna O’Brien’s is a searing look at Ireland but not a rejection of the country.
On Howth Head in County Dublin Edna O’Brien talks to Tom McGurk about writing, how to tell a story and her latest novel ‘Mother Ireland.’
Edna O’Brien says that writers constantly write about the same themes but she believes it is not the story that is important but rather the perspective from which it is told.
It’s not the story we tell as writers but the point of view from which we tell it.
Her first book ‘County Girls’ published 15 years ago was about girlhood and girls observing the adult world around them in a sort of skittish and poignant way. Her latest book ‘Mother Ireland’ looks at the same landscape as ‘Country Girls’ but from a more mature and reflective perspective.
Tom McGurk puts it to Edna O’Brien that if he did not come from Ireland and read ‘Mother Ireland’, he would be presented with an image of a country that is extremely bigoted and oppressed, a world without laughter, humour or kindness. Taken aback by this suggestion and she says that in her experience, many English and American readers have remarked to her about how funny the book is.
If you think it doesn’t have humour, I think that’s your problem, not mine.
Edna O’Brien sees humour in religious folklore being passed from one generation to the next. She also refutes the assertion that ‘Mother Ireland’ is a rejection of Ireland, noting that it says in the book,
Irish, in truth, I would not want to be anything else.
Being Irish means being at odds with all other nationalities and having a different philosophy about pleasure, punishment, life and death. Rather than it being a rejection of Ireland, Edna says,
It’s a very searing look at my own country and myself but as for being a rejection of Ireland, it just isn’t so.
This episode of ‘Last House’ was broadcast on 20 July 1976. The presenter is Tom McGurk.
‘Last House’ was launched as a summer magazine programme featuring all the latest arts news in 1975. It was produced by John McColgan and presented by Tom McGurk and Áine O’Connor. It was so popular that it was converted into ‘First House’ for the autumn season, reverting to ‘Last House’ the following summer, when it was produced by Agnes Cogan.
Thanks Edna for sharing your intellect and your eloquent writing with us. Fell in love with you from my first reading fifty years ago. Totally relatable We are so proud of you
Wow! Once read and especially heard never forgotten. She was a breath of delightful fresh air with the morale courage to confront all the trials and tribulations of a staunchly Catholic and conservative Ireland. Her and one my favourite actors Richard Harris showed fearlessness in their outspokenness which led many to find that for those objectors the truth hurts.
The very great Edna O’Brien, a powerful writer and human being, she was total class plus she adored the works of that other great Irishman Samuel Beckett, may Edna O’Brien dear and kind soul rest in eternal peace in heaven
She was a beautiful woman amazing back in the day her book the country girl was great r I p
She a total Brit ashamed to be from same country as her ,never slept n Belfast or Derry same as Harvey MC dowell or slippy Kenny the failed teacher but know all the.problems ,if they read baklymurphy murders ,priest shot 22 times lying in field
She is not being arrogant at all, but confident. She knows herself and what she will do as a writer, which is be honest about her experience and devote herself to her craft.
She well handled the uptight guardian of The Establishment -- the guy (McJerk) wanted to sink her ship and failed.
She was a great writer, I loved her books.
Great interview, perhaps stating views already that we were aware of.
"Out lady blushes when a woman does such an indecent thing"... said to an 11 year old girl! When I was a kid (7?), the nun teacher told the class that there was a rumour going around that kids were spitting out the hold communion, but she said, if you do, it will bleed because it is the body of Jesus Christ. Of course, at the next holy communion, I kept the wafer in my mouth until the end of mass. By this time, it had dissolved into a mushy liquid that was just a gob of spit by the time I spitted it onto the ground. Not a drop of blood in sight! There's a moral in this story somewhere...
Cringe interview, the prick really did his best to knock her. RIP Edna.
Such a brilliant person. I feel the Scottish psych is very similar especially in certain areas both metaphorically and geographically
👍👍
a tribute
👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 ❤❤❤❤
To each question or accusation of his she gave a quiet, sometimes amused response and I don't even realise she was wiping the floor with him.
Irish Writer Edna O’Brien interview, 1976 1148am 29.7.24 the repugnant society he described is a tradition the world over. but there you go, she was probably telling him as it was.... or still is? there's a joke in that re: crossing one's legs, as dished out by the likes of bernard manning and george roper etc etc etc.... anyhow; she must be carla lane's go to fount of inspiration.
She had a soft spoken arrogance that most people missed, or bearly noticed.
. Haughey was arrogant. McQuaid was arrogant. Do you put her in the same space as those awful men
Tom McGurk's slow boil transition from D4 West Brit to RTÉ's "Green Nationalist" rugby pundit is the more interesting story here.
So you dont like Mr McGurk?
Edna was vastly more interesting than McGurk.
#DEDNA
How condescending and derogatory she was.
I have mixed feelings about her. She was a good writer and she obviously did not want to live according to the mores of the time. People were finding themselves after so many centuries of oppression; thinking about who they were; who they were supposed to be and what was expected of them. I know many who lived settled conformist lives and were very happy. She appears to have been a good mother and she deserves total credit for that.
She was anything but. Just rejecting the horrible oppression of the Catholic church at the time which has since diminished thankfully.
He, the interviewer, was indeed
condescending.
Would love to hear what you think she was condescending and derogatory towards. I wonder how worthy of unwavering blind faith it might be.