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' ' f ' ‘ . x . l .1: . fi‘f .1. . .. .. , .. .a: ‘ . y . 2' * -. f a .~ 2"» '51.“.«21. -. .1. " ' a. ‘ a _- .. .: . .m. -. Hecate-ya. N: 523*.- ‘-‘ a134>§fit~f£fisi3ffiw3vfix , i 2 . . . ' - . 9 i drinks in his loeal and a late night I all-time epie biography. Bragg
l reading his noyels. llis lile sentenee i “'0”th carel'ully (but not too
. eontrasts with that ol Bert \Vatson. carefully) through the deluge ol’
l stll'l‘ering ‘a kind ol emotional material. It is to his eredit that it
i ; dyspepsia‘ ashe \yatehes syyeaters rarely gets the lietterol him.
pile up in his laetory. and l'eels his l laying gutted the \yorld‘s
l ‘ soul siiriyelling lieneath knoyy ledge ol' Burton. lie
responsibility. sueeessl'ully liuilds up. liriek by
l L (’asual eneollnters and hopeless l‘l'lk‘l's. a lnassiye and L'\ll‘;ltil‘tllllill‘ll\
l histories iostle tor attention in this eohesiy e pieture ol tlte aetol' and the
eolleetion. bringing the dignil'ied man. l‘orelnost a man land a sturdy. resignation ol' the eaged and rugby -pla\'in§; \Velsli one \\ ith a
prisoner ill lail \yliopl'otestsat A . l . I lurkm‘mllllll.(~l”.l\lm.l\Dam”. despondent palnlullylntoloeus. passlonlor poetry at that). Burton ' .\lelly.lnney’stoueh lseonlident. surprises his biographer liy lilsdepth
eaeli is haunted liy dlllinled dleanls.
poet trapped in the hosiery trade; a
wa|klng wounded \\ lllllllll lllwwd l“. “luau.” Ul lllllk. sliek and eonipassionate and. while and eonlple\ity. lle \yas liy nature Melly anney ( l lodder £10.95) 'l'cll‘lllcrll'la pillhm “ llll llllmm”. he plays only in one key. the outstanding: in his generosity. inlils l-‘ramed \yithin laliiiliar (iraithnoek Tylellyanney drau's a gallery ol'tlie “'l‘“_"“”” “l “"19 "ml ‘L‘L‘lli‘l'l’ , ‘llllll‘l'lii- ”‘ h'h L‘llk'l‘fl.‘ ll” l'lC- ”‘ h" territory. the industrial yyest ol' ' yaliant. the yyronuly-dllite-liy. the l l“””“”° h" cmlu‘m- “WWW Vi'l’i‘Y'll' “l ‘1‘” "l l‘“ U “ml
Scullaml. lllc Charachs in ; lll_lulul_ ‘l-lmuuh [hall lulurm all. (Rosemary ( iorlng) 3 ol eourse tn his aetlng.v alullty. lie was
- - ~ . x | ' M .
l Mellyanney sstoriesllye their lileak. theyare rarelysell-liltylnu. ln - ' 'l”'l‘m‘l"‘“"l“."-\‘ mm“! m h"
' ' 7 ' - ~ ' ' ' ' i ? I‘llL‘lll 'lnd su ierstitiousol'it‘ l’oor dreary liyes in working men s pulis. .llrr‘k .y' [My eaeh endless. - . _ . ; _‘ l. - l - in dint—[V flats. or beneath the glare ol' . tliielttlilii}‘etl hour is driyen home. ' “ML The “'8 0' R'Chard Bum)" l mm. Rth.lm-\' all unloruiyinu SPUUSC. lrom late risith ill a spartan. Peelinu 3 MC'VY” Brill—Tl l l lmlsls‘l' «V NONE—4110” Brut-‘14 ‘ll-‘l‘li‘lV‘ 4' "illuli'l
A seemingly drali spinster \ylto , liedroom and a yisit to eolleet “5) MW“ “ “h m“ 34”“ In” it undu‘qilmilng “1 m" “‘“l'” 0’
\years exotie underwear; a would-lie \yesterns at the lilirary. to a ten 'm'm"l”l”lf~' 1"‘k “l “ “1'”? U” T “WNW “l “'5 mIL‘l'l‘l'k‘li‘lll‘llh 1m"
IRISH IRREVERENCE i facility/V /«*.j‘~-é\¢. it.There‘sone saintwho'sthe patron f hermeticliveswere probably/either
. w ,-\ saintolgardeners.taxi-driversand ' homosexual.eccentric.epilepticor
. fl." , FrankDelaney.like manyex-Catholics l . g“ of“ lhosewmswe'lmm haemm'ho'ds
rem.” lcannlgllslll‘aze 0" .hbizs as .an aniljri’lir'iiiiizerarildillll‘istigled manuscripts aaps:;?|?n';|'; 00537838”: rglsigrl'on. His by Irish monks are still extant all over
l , Europe—the monkstravelled larand 'aleSl book A Walk '" The Dark Ages wide. They also held considerable traces the lmaglnary travels of an
. . . . socio-political power. ‘The 1.23%},"§;ZZ,§?.3:."‘"”"'3" monk on ms monasteries were huge. There were
, , , 150 monks on lona-itwould be hard to There ,'5 a la" amounl 0' ev'd‘ince lit 150 people on the island, let alone concerning the wanderings ol lrlsh l
l l 150 monks. Otten sons without monks In "19 Dark A988. but 08laneV S inheritances went into the Church. It travel book is largely a leat ol the
, , , , , , wasquitesomethingtogetyourson lmaglnatlon. ‘It s a journey otthe mind
into a good monastery— he became a 'ea'lV- we "0‘" know "‘9 geography 0' scholar. learning Greek, Latin and Europe so well. that it's necessary to maybe some Hebrew. ll was lind new ways at viewing it. You get involved in one ol the most absorbing cold, gale-lorce winds, and using exercises ol all, which is comparison.
slightly touched. Orthey became religious lanatics. In monasteries. there was a great PR job involved. It you got a reputation tor holiness— it you were seen praying your knees oll — yourchances ol becoming abbotwere much greater.‘
‘A Walk in the Dark Ages‘ is intended to be a travel book. In an ironical parallel with the imaginary monk‘s learnings and spiritual revelations. Delaney had his spiritual suspicions conlirmed. ‘I think I reinforced my view that lormal religion is no good it you‘re interested in sell-development. l was conlirming what I long suspected even as a boy growing up in Ireland in an appallingly oppressive religion. My motherwill be thrilled.
‘They say “once a Catholic. always a Catholic". They also say “there‘s no-one so vehemently anti-Catholic as
Delaney lollowed as closely in the lootsteps of his monk as he could.
sullering similardownpours.heatand llemendously plesllglouslllndlhere I
. . wastrequentlya natural and very Slmllat‘ methods at transport where powerlul allegiance balween a
You can land on Iona and know that possible. The Scottish section otthe monaslewandlhe local chlellaln.
what you see is roughly what my monk journey-lrom Iona down to Galloway. . tln "lose days. lhe Church
saw. llound mysell getting quite close : and across the Borders to Lindislarne — acknowledged lhal ll was pollllcal _ it
to the idea at being able to understand is still manageable today. as the
. didn‘t have the hypocrisy it has now.‘ an ell-Catholic." I What? mail In "18 7m cemurylwals l well-known pilgrim routes ol the time The popular stereotype otthe dutilul. ‘It is always with me. I know I use it in a l GXDBFIBHCWQ. Why ".8 W33 “0'09". "'8 l remain delined. ’ holy monk has. says Delaney. been dillerentway. Itno longeroppresses l People he was mBFl'ngi "‘9 300'3' i Delaney's quirky interest in monks l deliberately perpetrated by the Church me.‘ (Kristina Woolnough) I William“ U00" hlm-The concepllm g spranglrom ‘the cultural imprintthey , to beelup its own publicimage. ‘Alot ‘A Walkln The Dark Ages‘ is published ‘ Europe and "19 concepl Ol lfaVelllng l lett in Europe. Almost every early ' ol the monks were nutcases. The by Collins at £15. l through Europe changes In trontotvour l Roman Catholic liturgical calendar in l anchorite monks ol Ireland who went i Very BVBS- | every European city haslrish saints on into thetiny beehive huts and led
' . MEET Wllllam McIlvanney reading from "WALKING WOUNDED",
his new Collection of inter-connected stories,
at 6.30 pm. on Friday 20th January 1989
'(GLASGOW) LTU
I, 57 St Wnc’en’t’sr " in John Smith & Son, 57 St Vincent St, Glasgow GLASGOW ‘32 573 Please telephone if you wish to
Telephone 041-221 7472
reserve a copy. WINE.
! l l
45 The List 13 — 26 January