Sir,—Congratulations on the Spring 2003 edition; I found it very interesting and liked the variety of the subjects. I was especially interested in D.R. O’Connor Lysaght’s article on Redmondism. I wonder if you can help identify the spectacle-wearing character in the cartoon from the Irish Worker. I think it might be Pierce O’Mahony. I would … Read more
Thomas Bartlett, David Dickson, Dáire Keogh and Kevin Whelan (eds) (Four Courts Press, E50) ISBN 1-85182-430-8 Eleven years ago I wrote that the study of Ireland in the 1790s was still in its heroic phase. It was then, to be sure, in robust good health, as the work of Louis Cullen, Thomas Bartlett and others … Read more
Patrick M. Geoghegan (Gill and McMillan, E23.99) ISBN 0-7171-3387-7 Robert Emmet and the Rebellion of 1798 Ruán O’Donnell (Irish Academic Press, E59.50) ISBN 0-7165-2788-X Robert Emmet and the Rising of 1803 Ruán O’Donnell (Irish Academic Press, E27.50) ISBN 0-7165-2786-3 That Robert Emmet has been the subject of more than forty biographies is indeed incredible … Read more
On Sunday 13 July 2003 the people of Dublin were treated to an impressive parade of hundreds of marching pikemen and women who were commemorating both Bastille Day (albeit a day early) and the 1803 Robert Emmet Rising. The last Bastille Day celebration in Dublin was in 1803, when the United Irishmen gathered in Smock … Read more
The ghostliness of Robert Emmet is not just about the way he haunts the Irish historical imagination; it is sometimes suggested by the very evidence for his physical existence. It was Emmet himself who set the haunting note, insisting in his famous speech from the dock on a form of memorial absence—that his tombstone remain … Read more