TMO is, in part, an Irish magazine, so it’s no surprise we’re interested in Irish culture. We term culture broadly, so you’ll find articles/essays/posts grouped here on Irish history (including our popular essays on the Irish war of indpendence), Irish writers (interviews with contemporary writers alongside profile and criticism for authors like James Joyce, Flann O’Brien, Sean O’Casey and many more), Irish music (reviews and interviews with the likes of Glen Hansard, Luka Bloom, Bell X-1, the Dubliners to name but a few). And we’ll throw in some shamrocks, and St Patrick’s day stories to keep up with passing stereotypes!
Extracting Gold – Mary Costello interview
Mary Costello is the author of The China Factory, a collection of short stories which was published by The Stinging Fly Press. It has received much acclaim and renown for its intensity and sensitivity. Costello has an amazing capacity to reveal characters’ lives through understated encounters, be it the restraint of two strangers in The [...]
‘Hell goes round and round’: Flann O’Brien and the search for identity
Anyone who knows anything about Flann O’Brien knows he was a man of many names. Flann O’Brien was the pen name for Brian O’Nolan, who wrote journalism under the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen. He used different spellings of his names and most of the discussion and arguments on his
Terrorism in Dostoevsky and Conrad – a Response from Irish History
The romantic view of terrorists as misfits and lost souls, presented by Dostoevsky and Conrad in their work, is very much at odds with the practical and structured guerilla warfare that was seen during Ireland’s War of Independence
Sinead O’Connor – How About I Be Me (And You Be You)
There’s a quote, from an article that Germaine Greer wrote back in the 70s,which springs back in to my mind continuously when listening to certain albums: “When Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho the walls came tumbling down. That’s revelation. The holy Ghost talking. So it can be done. The way to crack a mirror or shiver [...]
Seán O’Casey – Portrait of the Artist as an Outsider
Ever since, as James Joyce remarked, we have become “Jung and easily Freudened” it has become necessary, when dealing with a writer, to refer not only to his work but to his private life as well. This is particularly true in the case of Seán O'Casey, one of Ireland's great literary icons. In fact, O'Casey [...]
Excreting Songs – Glen Hansard of the Frames
Firing questions at anyone for a half an hour about their motivations and identity is bound to produce contradictions, but an interview with Glen Hansard, chief songwriter from Irish band the Frames, throws up more than its fair share. It’s not that he’s confused, or indeed confusing. Rather, the context that he and The Frames [...]
As clear as mirror glass. John Banville in interview
John Banville’s new novel, The Sea, presents us with Max Morden, recently widowed (or is that widowered? as Max mordantly wonders) and returned to the sea-side resort of his childhood. While turning over fragments from his married life with Anna, Max also recalls the strange bond he formed many years ago with the dazzling Graces, [...]
Bloomin’ Marvellous! Joyce and Trieste.
As the world and his wife, in Joycean terms, turn their attention to Dublin, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the fictional event of Bloomsday, it seems almost as if a lone Irish voice is reminding us that Joyce wrote most of his work outside of Ireland, and in particular a large part of it [...]
Classic Albums – Rum Sodomy & the Lash, The Pogues
Anyone who has caught “Reeling in the Years,” RTE’s knock-off of the BBC’s “The Rock’n’Roll Years”, in which contemporary music is spliced in with archive news footage would quickly be reminded that Ireland in the 1980s was a basket case. Moving statues, hunger strikes, mass emigration, and Miami Vice-style jackets all featured prominently in the [...]
Truth is an odd number, and Death is a full stop. Flann O’Brien – Ireland’s comic Genius
Tim Pat Coogan describes interviewing Flann O’Brien in 1964 after the publication of The Dalkey Archive. The interview was carefully planned. Apart from getting him to talk, there was one other main objective: to keep O’Brien away from the drink. It was to take place at 8.30 on a Saturday morning so that he could [...]
5 Things to do in Limerick City
Co. Limerick has a fairly distinct advantage over the Republic of Ireland’s capital, Dublin, in terms of its scenic setting. Limerick city itself curves around the full rush of the river Shannon- the largest river in Ireland and is the main touchstone location of the mid-west or Shannon region. Now, despite what you may have [...]
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2
The 11th studio album from U2, How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb has already debuted at #1 in charts around the world, but is it any good?
Flock – BellX1
Third album from Ireland’s Bell X1, former band-mates of Damien Rice – though don’t let that put you off.
Live at the Olympia – Damien Dempsey
Live albums are usually a bad idea – Damien Dempsey’s live at the Olympia is the exception to the rule.
Ireland and the Palestine Question 1948 – 2004 by Dr. Rory Miller
In a hitherto neglected area of study, Dr Rory Miller of King’s College at the University of London, adresses the history of the relationship between Ireland and the Palestine Question.
Michael Collins and the Organisation of Irish Intelligence, 1917-21
Michael Collins and the Irish war of Indpendence In the first of a series of articles, Colm McInerney details events surrounding the Irish War of indpendence. For an brief introduction to the period click here Introduction &ldquoOur only way to carry on the fight was by organised and bold guerilla warfare. But this in itself [...]
The Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Irish Civil War
The Treaty It is hard to understand how any young Irishman of sensibility could remain unmoved in [January] 1922 at the sight of a British regiment of soldiers marching out under the great arch of Dublin Castle as our own bedraggled lads marched in, heads high, to take over that fortress of imperial rule- Dermot [...]
The Glorious and Immortal Memory. Commemoration at the Dublin Statue of King William of Orange.
Those who might think that student pranks are of recent origin should consider the following tale of events in the eighteenth century that followed the erection of an equestrian statue to commemorate the famous William, Prince of Orange. The victory of the Protestant King William of Orange (King 'Billy') over the Jacobite army of the [...]
