Empire is a Man’s Business: Unionist Loyalties, Imperial Masculinities and Ulster’s Campaign Against Home Rule

This is a somewhat edited (and also less formal) version of a paper I gave this past weekend at St Michael’s College, University of Toronto.  The one-day symposium, hosted by the Celtic Studies Institute, was to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1912 Home Rule Bill.  I, however, thought it was to mark the 100th anniversary of the Ulster Covenant (an error to which I readily confessed and for which the kind audience forgave me).  Sometimes academic specialization really does skew one’s view of the universe…

There is a famous story about the first time that Edward Carson – the future leader of Ulster Unionism during the Home Rule Crisis of 1912-14 and the godfather of a partitioned Ireland – met Queen Victoria.  It was the 1890s and Carson was newly London’s most famous barrister.  Prior to Home Rule, of course, Carson had made his name as the barrister who famously had cross-examined Oscar Wilde at the latter’s libel trial against the Marquess of Queensbury in 1895; Carson was also the inspiration for the barrister in David Mamet’s The Winslow Boy, a play first written by Terence Rattigan in 1946.  (Carson, incidentally, looked NOTHING like Jeremy Northam.  As an historian of imperial masculinities, it’s an important distinction I feel I need to make.)

Bookiness – Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) by E. L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fifty Shades of Grey…

Right, if you haven’t been aware of the hype, or you’re underage in your particular jurisdiction, you have been warned. Spoilers abound…

Bookiness – Black Venus (1980) by Angela Carter

Black Venus’s Tale by Angela Carter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I adore Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, and Black Venus has been sitting on my book shelf unread for nearly two years; something had to be done. As with nearly all short stories I read, it was a bit hit-and-miss in terms of holding my interest. I think I would have appreciated the tale of Baudelaire’s mistress if I had read any more Baudelaire before. The different take on “Peter and the Wolf” was fun, and highly reminiscent of “The Company of Wolves”, while the set-up to Lizzie Borden’s forty whacks was thought-provoking, if nothing else. If I had to choose between the two sets of stories, there’s really no contents: The Bloody Chamber strikes many more archetypal notes for me. Still, reading any of Carter’s prose is, for me, a joy. I hope to get through her Book of Fairy Tales before high summer sets in…

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Bookiness – Foe (1986) by J. M. Coetzee

Foe by J.M. Coetzee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first time I read Robinson Crusoe, it was as a picture book for young readers. Crusoe was Nordic-looking and heavily bearded; Friday had shoulder-length hair and was quite grateful once he was no longer on a spit waiting to be dinner. Crusoe’s fur hat was quite memorable, as well. The thought of a woman on that island honestly had never crossed my mind – blame patriarchy if you will, or the speed of the turn-the-page-chimes on the record player, but a feminized version of the story was a novel thought.

There were parts of Coetzee’s work that I thoroughly enjoyed, particularly those on the island, the appearance of the “daughter”, and the attempts to let Friday speak through music. That said, my mind kind of switched off after Foe and Susan became lovers. Coetzee’s Disgrace remains one of the most pulverizing books I have ever read; Foe didn’t quite live up to its sister work, but it has made me want to read more: of both Defoe and Coetzee. Maybe that’s more than enough to expect from a desert island.

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Bookiness – “Lapsed Protestant” (2006) by Glenn Patterson

Lapsed Protestant by Glenn Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up at the American Conference for Irish Studies, as the title already had me snorting with laughter. I love things that make me smile sardonically, and this was no exception.

This is a collection of Patterson’s various radio and print commentaries, roughly between 1994 and 2005.  He was a bit hard on Canada at times, as his experience here in the 1970s decidedly involved Orange parades.  Outside of small bits of Toronto and even smaller sections of Eastern Ontario or the Eastern Townships in Quebec, I don’t know how much luck you would have in stumbling across one of those today… or, to be more precise, in about three months from now.  I had the same criticism of the documentary series, The Irish Empire (very intriguing title), as it made out Canada to be the most Orange and racist country on the face of the earth.  Now, we were nasty for a long time, I don’t deny it, but things really have changed (somewhat) since that pesky little thing called the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1982.  Trust me.  Honest!

Getting back to the actual book, my two favourite chapters/essays were Patterson’s comparison of Belfast in the early twenty-first century with Borges’ “The Lottery in Babylon” and his near-final piece on diasporic themes. (In fact, I might have future students read the latter… hmm…) My best friend gave me a book of Borges’ essays for Christmas this past year and now I feel torn as to what I should first read next: more Borges or more Patterson.

For those who know Belfast or who those need a primer on anything Northern Irish, this is a great bird’s-eye-view over several years of upheaval and change that combines insight with wit. Fat Lad and That Which Was are now definitely on my to-read list. Plus, laughter before going to sleep is always a good thing.

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Bookiness – Mockingjay (2010) by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, I didn’t hate the ending. I’m not going to give away any spoilers, but — unlike too many novels that I’ve read in the past decade — the final hundred pages did not make me want to stab out my eyes with a sharpened pencil.

Someone mentioned to me yesterday that she thought the writing for each book had become weaker and weaker… and perhaps so. The first Hunger Games novel is certainly the tightest.

That said, I have absolutely no regrets in having read the series — in fact, I’m delighted that I did. I’m terribly happy that, in a post-Potter world, there are more books that can grip younger and not-so-younger readers alike.

And, best of all, no one “sparkled” at any point on any page. *very big grin*

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Late Night Thoughts – Part II – “The Big Fella”

I’ve been thinking a lot about Michael Collins today… and Michael Collins.  Near the end of this year – Christmas Day, to be precise – I will be the exact same age Collins was when he was assassinated.

Michael Collins

I have the type of historical mind that plays games like this: who was what age when what happened to them and how that contrasts with my own life.  Nine times out of ten, I end up feeling that I haven’t done enough yet.  Try as I might, I can pretty much guarantee that when I am 36, the number of times I think of both Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe will border on the ridiculous.

Collins, to me, is one of the most complex figures that I have had to deal with (peripherally) in my career.  I remember the first time I held a document at the PRO (now NA, I know, but PRO was better) that he had touched.  Every so often in an archive, you get a frisson down your spine and nerves stand on end – this was one of those moments.  For days, I poured over his various telegrams to Churchill about the goings-on in the new state of Northern Ireland – his take on the Special Powers Act was especially rich.  My work thus far on the 1910s to 1940s period has not focused on the Irish Free State or any key republican figures – I’ve been too busy sorting through all of the Edward Carson paraphernalia and Craigavon’s speeches at Stormont.  As my future projects now turn to the Irish-Canadian connection, I can guarantee that I’ll rarely, if ever, write an official word about “The Big Fella.”  But, in their own odd way, both Michael Collins and Michael Collins have cast large shadows over what I’ve done, and what I’ve yet to do.