Playing Catch-up (Part VI)

This morning I overslept (thanks to a rather misleading dream where I was up and getting ready for class) and didn't have time to eat or shower before class, and then after class Bonnie's and my attempts to print some important information about our flights to Spain was foiled by the idiotic library's computers here, which won't let us log into our Carleton emails, and now it's pouring out and we have to leave soon for a Yeats exhibit at the National Library that will, I'm sure, be absolutely thrilling. In other words it's a bad day. So I'm just going to write some more here instead of doing anything productive.

Okay, so on our first Tuesday in Dublin we were introduced to our "Ulysses" professor, Declan Kiberd. He is one of the foremost "Ulysses" scholars in Ireland, if not the world; he edited and wrote the introduction to our Penguin edition of the text and is generally renowned amongst Joyce scholars for his knowledge of the book. Needless to say, we were all both excited and terrified of meeting him. But Declan is a charismatic, modest, and accomodating teacher, and he's nowhere near as intimidating as I'd expected. He really listens to whatever his students have to say and is equally interested in both learning from us and teaching us. On the other hand, since he's read the book 35+ times (no easy feat; it's over 900 pages and its accessability is questionable at best), he has a whole lot of his own theories and beliefs that are sort of difficult to grasp for us first-time readers. But it's still a great class, even if the book is a monster to get through. During our time in Dublin, we have his class on Tuesdays & Thursdays and Connie's class on Mondays and Wednesdays. I'm not really going to mention them from now on, but I promise - we are doing work here!

On Tuesday evening, we all went on the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl. Basically, this involves two actors leading a group of tourists to about 4 pubs throughout Dublin while periodically stopping to re-enacts scenes from works by Irish writers. It was enjoyable, but not as enjoyable as you might expect. I don't really know what to say about it.

On Wednesday, most of us attended a talk given by none other than Declan himself at the National Library, which is holding a "birthday celebration" in honour of Yeats. Declan spoke about "W.B. Yeats and the Celtic Tradition," and it was interesting to hear him speaking in depth about someone other than Joyce. That half of our class couldn't get in because the room was just packed to its fullest is a testament to his status among the literati here in Dublin; he's a big name and draws a big crowd.

Afterwards, we all headed to the Peacock Theatre (a more independent offshoot of the Abbey Theatre) to attend a performance of "Terminus," a brand new play written and directed by Mark O'Rowe, an Irish playwright. None of us knew what to expect, but we certainly didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. There were only three actors, and they all had one spot on the stage in which they remained throughout the duration of the play. They had about 3 or 4 monologues each - all incredibly depressing/tragic/shocking - and their stories all connected at the end. There was serial killing, suicide, a flying demon... it was kind of insane. The actors were pretty amazing, however, so I suppose it was a decent experience.

Thursday involved a visit to Sandycove, a beachy area just a little out of Dublin city. We visited the Jocye Museum, which is housed in Martello Tower, where the first chapter in "Ulysses" is set. It had an impressive view of the sea (bay?) from the top and also had a collection of various types of Joyce memorabilia, from books to letters to his guitar. So that was pretty neat.

On Friday, we had an all-day trip that took us out of County Dublin. This was one of the best day trips, even if it was tiring. Our guide, Danielle, was an archaeologist from Trinity, so she really knew what she was talking about when she took us to a variety of amazing sites. We first visited Tara, seat of the ancient high kings of - okay, I want to say Gondor here but I won't - Ireland. This is worth a Wikipedia read-up if you don't know about it. The audiovisual presentation here showed us lots of pretty aerial views of the large hills that were build up in ring shapes, which was helpful because when we were walking through the sheep poop strewn grass, it was difficult to tell exactly where we were. Tara is one of Ireland's most important historical sites, even if it doesn't look like much today. In the past there wer lots of incredibly important rituals that Ireland's kings had to perform at Tara to prove that they were worthy and ready to lead. Today there's a big controversy over a proposed plan to build a road through Tara; there are lots of activist groups who advocate diverting the road and saving Tara, while others feel that it's just an old hill and that progress is high king nowadays. Personally, I side with the former group.

Anyway, after Tara we visited Loughcrew Cairns. After clambering up yet another hill, we were able to enter into a passage grave. They were once used as burial chambers, and from the outside look like hobbit holes, built right into a hill. The entrances are lined with rocks engraved with various Celtic symbols, and inside, the main passage is arranged into a kind of rough cross shape. All the arms of the cross, and all of the passage in general, is comprised of these stones decorated with more engravings. On one particular day of the year - most likely a solstice or equinox; I can't remember which - a beam of sunlight follows a direct path into the cairn and illuminates a carving of the sun. As it moves it follows a particular line of engravings until it finally vanishes from sight... very Raiders of the Lost Ark, minus the treasure. This was an amazing place.

Next we headed to the town of Kells, which was built around another monastic settlement and where the Book of Kells was once kept. It has a round tower and a beautiful old church with some of the most well-known and intricately carved Celtic crosses; Danielle showed us what lots of the engravings meant. The 10th century (I think?) house of St. Columba, who is speculated to have worked on the Book and eventually started a monastic settlement on Iona in Scotland, is also here. The house (it might've been a church once as well) is completely made of stone, including the steeply pitched roof. It might've had a second story, but the wood has long since rotted away. However, after the keeper of the keys, a little old lady who narrated a history of the building, let us in, we were able to climb a rather tall ladder up into the "attic," where monks might've spent their time as they worked on their manuscripts. It was dusty and cramped and dark and we had to crawl for a bit before there was room to stand, but it was amazing and kind of surreal to see.

We also visited Trim Castle, where, interestingly enough, most of "Braveheart" was filmed. This castle could've been built for defense, but Danielle was more of the opinion that it was used for psychological purposes - landholders build it to assert their authority and power over the poor peasants. Makes sense to me. The castle itself wasn't what you'd typically expect to see; it wasn't all lofty towers and creeping vines... it was more angular and compact and kind of ugly, to be honest. Still, it was worth a look.