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 [...]
Drowning the Shamrock. The place of drink in the Irish national holiday, St. Patrick’s day.
It is March 18th, the day after the day before. Ireland is suffering from a giant hangover. Callers to radio shows throughout the day describe how the Irish have made a show of themselves in front of the whole world, and newsreaders are suggesting that the level of disgraceful drunkenness was unprecedented. Things have never [...]
Ambushed and Frozen- A Keith Wood Interview
Keith Wood is in a jovial mood at the University of Limerick Ulster Bank this morning. He is here as an ambassador for the RBS Six Nations tournament and is accompanying the Six Nations trophy, as well as a considerable PR entourage, on a whistle-stop tour of Limerick city this icy Monday. Three Monkeys loiters [...]
Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective. Dr Ulf Erlingsson locates Atlantis, in Ireland.
In the 21st Century, as we try to assess the impact of mass industrialisation on our environment, and as fears grow over climate change, the popularity of the myth of Atlantis, as presented by Plato in his Dialogues is understandable. The story of Atlantis has exerted a powerful hold over the imagination of the Western [...]
The voice of Gaelic Games – Micháel O’Muircheartaigh in interview.
Some broadcasters become synonymous with their sport. Murray Walker will always be associated with Formula One. Peter O'Sullivan is the voice of horse racing, while Sid Waddell's unique style means that a darts tournament is not the same without him. For the many GAA followers in Ireland and abroad, Micháel O'Muircheartaigh fills a similar role. [...]
From Dún Síon to Croke Park – the autobiography of Micheál Ó’Muircheartaigh
Autobiography of Ireland’s favourite sports commentator, the voice of Gaelic Games, Micheál Ó’Muircheartaigh.
Wild Cat Strutting Thing – Interference in interview
Cause baby I'm a wild cat strutting thingPride of lions feeding thingA history of hearts loving thingWild cat strutting[Wild Cat Strutting Thing] – Interference In many ways it seems as if time has finally caught up with one of Ireland's most influential bands Interference. Caught up in the sense that they were always, to an [...]
Restoration and Invention: The role of language in the invention of the Irish and Norwegian Nations.
Nations are not such new phenomena. The concept of Irish and Norwegian Nations dates back to medieval times. What is relatively new however, is an acknowledgement on the part of the general population of their membership of the Nation. Humans are social animals and have since earliest times tended to define themselves as X, son [...]
Raining Down Arrows – Mundy in interview.
Irish singer/songwriter Mundy recently embarked on an extensive nationwide tour to promote the release of latest album 'Raining Down Arrows'. This is the Offaly troubadour's third album and the second on his own label, Camcor Recordings. Its entry into the Irish charts at number one and the ease with which he can fill venue after [...]
Lost Souls. Michael Collins in interview.
Michael Collins is the author of The Meat Eaters, The Life and Times of a Teaboy, The Feminists go Swimming, The Emerald Underground, The Resurrectionists, The Keepers of Truth and Lost Souls. The last three novels are mysteries that present a bleak portrait of the failed side of America: declining industrial towns pinning their hopes [...]
It’s in the blood. The Citizenship referendum in Ireland
The 1916 Proclamation declared that, 'The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, … cherishing all of the children of the nation equally'. This was further upheld in the Constitution, which declared all citizens equal before the law. So who are the citizens of Ireland? According to [...]
