IRISH STORIES, WELL TOLD
ERIN’S ORANGE LILY: ULSTER CUSTOMS AND FOLKLORE, by Sam Hanna Bell; Dennis Dobson, Irish price 12/6. T is not so long ago since it could be said that Northern Ireland was a part of the British Empire which shared with New Zealand the singularity of never having produced a poet or a novelist regarded as of permanent worth. Not so now. When he died recently, Joyce Cary was probably the best wnovelist writing in English. And there is also Benedict Kiely, of Land Without Stars and In a Harbour Green. Although rather below their standard, Sam Hanna Bell is a reputable writer in whose books one can enjoy some good Irish stories well told. Nor does he let politics enter more than they must in Ireland. Three of the nine counties of Ulster are in the Irish Republic and ‘six in Northern Ireland, but Sam Hanna Bell succeecs in convincing one that the province of Ulster is in many ways a unit. If St Patrick returned to Ireland today he would be found at some hearth listening to Gaelic tales of pagan Ireland, says Sam Hanna Bell; and talking of Irish speech there is the story of the two friends lunching together. At the next table a couple were talking in rapid Gaelic. Said one onlooker, "What are they saying?" Said the other carefully swallowing his salmon, "They are discussing the pens of their respective
aunts."
F.J.
Foot
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570719.2.20.6
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 936, 19 July 1957, Page 14
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242IRISH STORIES, WELL TOLD New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 936, 19 July 1957, Page 14
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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