It is in the vivacious hub of the city with blossoming flowers and bustling trams that the Dublin Writers Museum is located. The Museum embodies the full Irish literary experience, including the greats such as James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, W.B. Yeats and many more. The proprietors radiate a strong sense of pride, since the mission statement justifiably reads: "The writers featured in the Museum are those who have made an important contribution to Irish or international literature, on a local level and to the literature of Dublin." To ensure this measure, the Museum is located in an eighteenth-century house at No. 18 Parnell Square. The original idea for the Museum was presented by Maurice Gorham, the late author and journalist, to the Dublin tourism board thus in 1991, the Museum opened its doors to the literary public. Dubliners and visitors received a first look at the house, which features golden-painted hallways, dark-wooden staircases and Cathedral-like stained glass windows.
The Museum itself is divided into two rooms. The first showcases writers from the end of the nineteenth century to the Literary Revival. For instance, Bram Stoker, author of Dracula was born in a suburb of Dublin in 1847. It was fifty years later, he published his greatest work as an epistolary novel, in other words, a series of documents collected from numerous years of research on European folklore and vampires. The novel is dissected into newspaper clippings from Stoker's imagination, diary entries and letters from the main characters. This resulted into Dracula's enormous popularity throughout generations thus spinning off many theater productions and films. At the Museum, early editions of the book are on hand, a rarity in today's world. Following suit is Lady Gregory, one of the driving forces of the Literary Revival. She acquired her title of "Lady" by marrying a knight, who was thirty-five years her senior, thereby bestowing upon her a roaming eye and a wandering heart. Thus Gregory committed adultery with an English poet named Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, which spurned the literary creation A Woman's Sonnets. However, Blunt published the book in his name, yet in later years, Gregory published many more works of literature, including forty plays, and co-founding the Abbey Theatre, the Irish Literary Theatre. On display at the Museum is Lady Gregory's lorgnette, which are a pair of eyeglasses with a long handle, most often used for watching operas. Meanwhile, her contemporary and another sire of the Literary Revival is W.B. Yeats, whose inscribed book resides at the Museum. The poet, known for his spiritual works of Irish myth and folklore, was strongly influenced by Romantic writer Percey Bysshe Shelley. Yeats took part in the Irish nationalist movement as well as making acquaintances with Ezra Pound. Along with Lady Gregory, he inaugurated the Abbey Theatre thus owning part responsibility to the infamous Playboy Riots. When John Millington Synge, noted Irish playwright, premiered his work The Playboy of the Western World in 1907, the audience rioted due to its sexual content, too progressive for conservative Ireland.
The second room focuses on the figures of the twentieth century, however, living authors are not included, even if they are established. Samuel Beckett, Nobel laureate, matriculated from the Portora Royal School to Trinity College in Dublin. Beckett eventually met James Joyce, which led to him to assisting with the research of Finnegans Wake. Beckett maintained the unusual habit of writing in French, even originally penning his most famous story, Waiting for Godot, in the language. The author's telephone sits quietly in the twentieth century room, while Mary Lavin's teddy bear curls up in a corner. Lavin's life began in Massachusetts, however her Irish immigrant family returned to their homeland when Lavin was ten years old. Her tales of Irish country life were eulogized throughout Ireland, including her outstanding letters, making her a trailblazer in women's writing. Also included in this era is Patrick Kavanagh, the Irish poet who suffered ridicule by many of his contemporaries and critics since they thought his poetry exemplified the lowliness of the peasant's lifestyle. However, Kavanagh received the last laugh since many Irish men and women list him as a favorite amongst the greatest poets to come out of Ireland--only second to W. B. Yeats. Kavanagh's best-known work is On Raglan Road, but it is The Great Hunger that is exhibited at the Museum. The poem, in first edition, showcases one stanza, actually written in Kavanagh's handwriting, which the bashful publisher did not print. Perhaps one of the highlights of the second room is the inscribed book to Brinsley McNamara from James Joyce, arguably Ireland's most influential writer. Joyce's global success stemmed from Ulysess, which proves to be one of the most difficult texts to read in the English language. The author breaks into his own fictious language and alludes to other works of literature, including The Odyssey.
The dates of the tour also coincide with special events that will be held at the Museum. The "Yeats Exhibition - Life and Works" will display original manuscripts and other artifacts donated by Yeats' wife and son. The collection is owned by the National Library of Ireland, where over 2000 Yeats items are stored, including old photographs, prints and drawings, newspaper clippings, and many more. Meanwhile, a more historically-based event is the "Kingship and Sacrifice" exhibition which will unveil the remains of two Iron Age humans; also known as Ireland's Bog Bodies. After their discovery in 2003, researchers have linked kingship rituals and other sovereign findings to them, since horse trappings, textiles and boundary markers are the objects related to this discovery. This and the fact that these customs may be traced back to the Bronze Age brings forth a breakthrough theory in the scientific world. On a less serious note, the Museum encourages visitors to join "The Irish House Party" held at Toners Pub, every Thursday night in central Dublin. Guests learn about Irish music and dance through a multimedia presentation by a "fear an ti" or "man of the house." Also provided are a lesson of a traditional song in the Irish language, folk dancers, and a musical session. Due to rising popularity, it is best to book in advance.
Please visit the Dublin Writers Museum website for more details and events:
Advertisement:
