THE CELTIC CONNECTION • OCTOBER 1991
Page 11
Singing the Sacred
By Treasa O'Driscoll
(Continued)
Like every child of my generation in Ireland, I was encouraged to sing, the more because it did not escape the notice of the nuns that my acute shyness only seemed to fade when I was put on a stage, a paradox which still applies to me to some extent. The Irish songs they taught me led to my winning medals but were not integral to the English-speaking world of my childhood.
When I was twelve, however, I became a border in a convent in a remote and beautiful part of Connaught where only Irish was spoken and where the majority of my peers hailed from the still Irish-speaking districts of Connemara and the Aran Islands. I was spellbound as Synge must have been at the musical, imaginative speech that surrounded me, and by one teacher, Mairead Nie Dhonncha, in particular, whose use of the language left me breathless in part of the spirit I had never experienced before.
Through her coaching and encouragement I began a process of listening which in time earned me the ability to sing in the "sean nos" (old way) style. I now sing only a selected few of these songs in public; the others I sing as a form of meditation for myself to enhance my sense of well being and general aliveness, and outof love for the song and the melodies themselves. They are my means of increasing the ever growing calm of my own presence.
Singing the songs to myself, I become more aware of the inwardness that they require and why it is traditional singers customarily close their eyes when singing to an audience or indeed why people close their eyes when listening. It took me some time to give myself permission to "keen" on stage, lest I betray this ritual of honouring the dead.
Behind it lies the realization of the vibrational, etheric orenergy forces that connect us to one another. The keen was instrumental in releasing the departing soul from these earthly bonds and in providing a means through which grief might be indulged. I experience an increased atten-tiveness in an audience when I perform what fragments of keening I know, leading to a deeper communionbetween me and my listeners.
On this note, I shall end, sensing in it a beginning as denoted in every Celtic spiral, communion being the be-all and the end-all of our strivings.
Joyce and The Law
Conference was a first in Vancouver
By LB. NADEL
Between June 11th and 15th, more than 175 people attended the first international James Joyce Conference to be held in Canada. Entitled "Joyce and The Law", the five-day gathering took place at the University of British of Columbia ana Simon Fraser University'sHarbour Centre campus in Vancouver. Speakers from Europe, the United States and Canada dealt with topics as diverse as popular culture in Joyce's work to "Computers and Joyce". Other papers dealt with Joyce and Irish history and the problems of teaching Joyce.
Among the highlights were talks by: David Hyman of the University of Wisconsin and author of the newly published The Wake in Transit,
Thomas F. Staley, of the University of Texas and author of An Annotated Critical Bibliography
OYCE
IN VANCOUVER
Classic Irish Recipes
Katholine's Irish Soda Bread
of James Joyce,
Judge Conrad Rushing of California speaking on Joyce and jurisprudence.
"The Bloomsday Concert," directed by Gerald Plunkettand "The Joyce Matinee" were two musical performances. His Excellency, Dr. Edward Brennan, Irish Ambassador to Canada, opened the conference.
Next year's Joyce conference will take place in Dublin from the 14 th to the 19th of June. Individuals interested in attending should write to David Norris at Trinity College, Dublin, for more information.
Life with a demanding and difficult man A REVIEW BY SHARON GREER
Nora - A Biography of Nora Joyce BRENDA MADDOX 589 pages Octopus Press Paperback $10.95
Virtually little or nothing has been written on the subject of Nora Joyce. Brenda Maddox's biography, Nora, is a remarkable story about Nora Barnacle, who shared her life with James Joyce for over 35 years. This is an extensive, careful study of a woman who lived with a very demanding and difficult man. Ironically, the book reveals more about Joyce himself but also shows us a woman well-equipped to deal with him.
She was a very powerful influence in the life and writings of her husband. But, outof all this knowledge of Joyce, emerges a womanofincredible stamina and endurance. So often in the past, she has been portrayed as an illiterate, coarse chambermaid, but through Maddox she is revealed to us as a strong, passionate figure who was far from being ignorant.
There were many tragedies in Nora's life, yet she seemed to bear them with extraordinary strength. The saddest of all for her must have been her daughter, Lucia, who suffered from a mental illness. Her daughter's breakdown and subsequent treatment are handled in a straightforward, unsentimental manner by Maddox. In fact, the
SHARON GREER
biographer's whole approach to the book is presented in this fashion.
Nora's relationship to her son, Giorgio, is also of interest. You somehow always manage to feel sorry for him throughout the book as he comes across as a lost and confused man who seemed to always live in the shadow of his father. Nora had a close kinship with her son even though he apparently manipulated her. He appears to have been a sad and tragic character in her life.
A noteworthy person in this work, who snowed herself as prominent and unusual as Nora, was Joyce's benefactress, Harriet Shaw Weaver. She deserves, at the very least, a mention, as this woman was an unbelievably altruistic and truly generous hu-
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This recipe makes one loaf of delicious wheaten Irish Soda Bread.
1/4 cup of all-purpose white flour
3/4 cup of stone ground wheat flour
(1/4 cup of 12 grain or 4 grain
Flour also optional as long as recipe makes up two cups)
1II tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbs, sugar
(brown recommended) 1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbs. softened butter or margarine
(Catholine uses half and half)
1/4 cup raisins 1/4 cup currants
2 tsp. caraway seeds (optional) 1 cup buttermilk (may require
more depending on how much wheaten flour used)
Sift together flour, soda and baking powder, sugar and salt.
Cut in butter and/or margarine, add raisins, currants, caraway seeds and buttermilk.
Mix thoroughly (should not be too dry)
Turn out on a floured bread board and knead for two or three minutes.
Place in a greased nine-inch pie pan and spread evenly. Cut across on the top with a floured knife. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm with butter, jam and tea. Delicious!
Best Wishes to The Celtic Connection from
The Federation of Irish Associations and Societies of British Columbia
for information contact Jim Rochfort at (604) 596-6040