The Great Irish Famine was a disaster hard to comprehend - two million people emigrated between 1846 and 1855. It seems strange that the famine barely appears in Irish poetry or literature. This book studies the way it was remembered and recorded.'
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Colm Tóibín's The Irish Famine is a superbly pithy account of the controversies surrounding the failure of Ireland's potato crop from 1845-1848. Moving freely between historical sources and personal reflection, Tóibín asks why existing accounts of the famine focus on statistics and government policies instead of considering the experiences of those who died, were bereaved, or emigrated during the calamity. Tóibín acknowledges the Famine's political significance but he avoids simplistic accounts of "genocide". In arguing for a more informed analysis of the crisis, he raises vital questions about the writing of history. How can we tell an "official" story without losing sight of more intimate, intensely personal tragedies? How can we write about an event which was marked by the complete erasure of its victims? One way forward is through myth. Although mistrustful of partisan versions of the Famine, the book argues that fantasies about the Famine can sometimes be as revealing as "facts". As one of Ireland's most prominent contemporary novelists, Tóibín is also well placed to deal with the literary echoes of the crisis. Indeed, it's astonishing that he manages to get so much thought-provoking material into less than a hundred pages of crisp, highly readable prose. -- Vincent Quinn
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'Colm Toibin's opening essay [is] quite outstanding - a very model of wisdom, of profound moral engagement and of scholarship, the very same qualities which inspired Diarmaid Ferriter's choice of documents. This small but brilliant book reaches right into the heart of the most tragic period in Irish history. I recommend it unreservedly' - Kevin Myers, Spectator 'Unusual and fascinating' - Sunday Independent (Dublin)
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First Sentence
The house at Coole has gone now; razed to the ground. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The house at Coole has gone now; razed to the ground. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Reprinting contemporary documents gives an insight into contemporary attitudes and their complexity, beyond simplistic political sloganising. Toibin's summary is thoughtful, though at times difficult to follow.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
this is a great book for anyone doing the family tree, it help,s you live threw their life of what it would of been like to live in your ancestors shoes, how they were treated and just how hard, ad painful those days really were, it should never be forgot, and although I was born in N,I. I never knew nothing about this terrible hunger and poverty, and the way this country is going at the moment, well the working man, the real worker,s of UK "not the MP,s" the working man is only 2 weeks away from poverty if he losses he job. so it does wake you up a bit to what,s going on and how easy it is for a country to fall juring this credit crunch.
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By S. Foster
Format:Paperback
A dissapointing book. It seemed to quote loads of other books all the time. Long winded.
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