Bould Tady Quill
11-07-2006, 04:32 PM
'We can do without Irish' a deir Richard Waghorne!!!
Ta an lad seo ag dhéanamh amadán do fein go brea leis fein ach má tá aon rud le rá agat ar an piosa thios is feidir teachtaireachtaí a fágaint do anseo nu ag a riomhphost : richardwaghorne@gmai l.com
We Can Do Without Irish
Not just as a compulsory subject in our schools, but altogether. Irish is about as much a part of our heritage as are famines, which is to say we should keep the memory of it alive and make sure a few specialists know it well, but be glad that in the end it's a part of the past, not the present. While it's correct to say that Irish is a part of our heritage, it's a distinctly unimportant part. There is nothing particular to the Irish language that is essential to valuing Irish heritage.
By any reasonable definition, there are two aspects to taking one's heritage seriously - history and culture. Neither require Irish. The Irish language is not needed to be more than adequately appraised of Irish history and culture. In fact, approaching each through Irish rather than English puts you at a distinct handicap. Irish history happened through English for the most part and at the least for the last number of centuries. The great works of Irish culture - all of them - are through English. Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, and Shaw aren't just better known because they wrote in English, they're better known because the worked in the greater European literary traditions - and because they were better. There is no writer in the Irish language that anyone need bother reading if looking for Irish literary contributions - there are more than enough Irish writers in English of truly first-class stature without excavating a dead language for literary fossils.
Nor can Irish music be taken as much of a contribution to Western arts. In fact, Irish music is better understood as resistance to Western artistic achievements. Rather than learning from the musical advances of Europe in the second half of the last millenium, Irish music is characterised by the primitive harmonic and melodic structures characteristic of peasant music from here to India. The self-conscious attachment to this artistically barren music is a cultural form of clinging to the soil. Again, looking for the Irish contribution involves looking past 'Irish' music. Irish composers of enduring note such as Field and Stanford are immeasurably superior standard bearers for Irish culture and heritage.
The conflating of Irish language and Irish heritage traps us in the idea that the oldest most primitive forms of heritage on this island are somehow they authentic ones. They're of marginal value only, but no more. The great contributions of Irishmen and women were almost uniformly made through English or in the greater traditions of Western civilization. The Irish language embodies little of our true heritage and obscures the rest. We can do without it. Leave Irish to the specialists and let's stop pretending our heritage lies in its dead hands.
Posted by Richard Waghorne (http://siciliannotes.blogsp ot.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://siciliannotes.blogsp ot.com%E2%80%9D) ::
http://siciliannotes.blogsp ot.com/2006/07/we-can-do-without-irish.html
Ta an lad seo ag dhéanamh amadán do fein go brea leis fein ach má tá aon rud le rá agat ar an piosa thios is feidir teachtaireachtaí a fágaint do anseo nu ag a riomhphost : richardwaghorne@gmai l.com
We Can Do Without Irish
Not just as a compulsory subject in our schools, but altogether. Irish is about as much a part of our heritage as are famines, which is to say we should keep the memory of it alive and make sure a few specialists know it well, but be glad that in the end it's a part of the past, not the present. While it's correct to say that Irish is a part of our heritage, it's a distinctly unimportant part. There is nothing particular to the Irish language that is essential to valuing Irish heritage.
By any reasonable definition, there are two aspects to taking one's heritage seriously - history and culture. Neither require Irish. The Irish language is not needed to be more than adequately appraised of Irish history and culture. In fact, approaching each through Irish rather than English puts you at a distinct handicap. Irish history happened through English for the most part and at the least for the last number of centuries. The great works of Irish culture - all of them - are through English. Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, and Shaw aren't just better known because they wrote in English, they're better known because the worked in the greater European literary traditions - and because they were better. There is no writer in the Irish language that anyone need bother reading if looking for Irish literary contributions - there are more than enough Irish writers in English of truly first-class stature without excavating a dead language for literary fossils.
Nor can Irish music be taken as much of a contribution to Western arts. In fact, Irish music is better understood as resistance to Western artistic achievements. Rather than learning from the musical advances of Europe in the second half of the last millenium, Irish music is characterised by the primitive harmonic and melodic structures characteristic of peasant music from here to India. The self-conscious attachment to this artistically barren music is a cultural form of clinging to the soil. Again, looking for the Irish contribution involves looking past 'Irish' music. Irish composers of enduring note such as Field and Stanford are immeasurably superior standard bearers for Irish culture and heritage.
The conflating of Irish language and Irish heritage traps us in the idea that the oldest most primitive forms of heritage on this island are somehow they authentic ones. They're of marginal value only, but no more. The great contributions of Irishmen and women were almost uniformly made through English or in the greater traditions of Western civilization. The Irish language embodies little of our true heritage and obscures the rest. We can do without it. Leave Irish to the specialists and let's stop pretending our heritage lies in its dead hands.
Posted by Richard Waghorne (http://siciliannotes.blogsp ot.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://siciliannotes.blogsp ot.com%E2%80%9D) ::
http://siciliannotes.blogsp ot.com/2006/07/we-can-do-without-irish.html