`Ireland has changed so much'

EDITORIAL – September 1998

"Intuitions"

'Ireland has changed so much'. Such a refrain is heard in many circles and with varying tones. It can be an expression of surprise, voiced, for example, by visitors returning after a number of years and struck by the visibility of new wealth and its attendant life-styles. It may be a statement of worry, possibly on middle-aged lips, implying that older values are in danger of being lost. Or it can be a cry of victory, by those who fought for new approaches on various fronts and who are delighted to say goodbye to previously dominant assumptions.

For the group of writers who contribute to this special issue of Studies, a new confidence in Ireland's artistic creativity seems a key feature among all the changes. The exciting fact is that within the eighties and nineties many younger names have achieved prominence in the literary and dramatic arts. Nobody would claim, as yet, that they constitute a school or movement with any recognizable unity. But this generation is remarkable for its productivity, its quality and for the energy it displays, including such previously untouched fields as cinema. Those who write in this issue have many distinguished contemporaries who either were not approached on this occasion or who found themselves too committed to write anything for this number. One thinks of Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Marina Carr, Sebastian Barry, Roddy Doyle, Dermot Healy, Patrick McCabe, Colm Toibin, Medbh MeGuckian, Dermot Bolger, Emma Donoghue, Desmond Hogan, Josephine Hart, Martin McDonagh, Niall Williams, Conor McPherson. . . . .

It is an amazing galaxy for such a small island and in such a short space of years. This issue of Studies is an attempt to gather the intuitions of some of this generation, who are mainly between their early thirties and their mid forties. Something significant is afoot of which this explosion of talent is a summarizing symbol. The modest proposal was to ask these writers to comment on the significance of Ireland's cultural changes. The aim was to go beyond the more obvious level of analysis ('Celtic Tiger', 'Church disgraced', 'Artistic boom') and to reflect on what is happening to our Irish self images. Is there a major shift in sensibility? Are we losing our spiritual roots? Can one 'explain' the blossoming of new creative work? How have our assumptions altered over these last few decades? Diverse approaches to these issues will be found in these pages. Some contributors deliberately shun an analytical mode and furnish accounts of change through the filter of their own personal experience. Others are more willing to speculate and to offer provocative judgements. Together they provide a converging set of insights into how the current chapter of Irish culture is viewed by those involved in different artistic fields.

This review would not be faithful to its history if it did not raise further questions about what is happening to our self images. In particular are we at a moment of major cultural break with the Catholic tradition that has been so central in Irish history? Without any editorial prompting, several of the articles in these pages comment on the collapse of older forms of religious belonging. Indeed the Catholic strand in Irish life now seems in desolation, whereas creative and economic Ireland is booming. In the South most people shared a relatively tight and traditional culture until a generation ago. Now all seems in flux and fragmentation. Our very smallness seems to magnify the shock. Can roots be lost so fast?

Since we have just had a summer dominated for many by the World Cup, a football metaphor may help: it is as if Irish Catholicism finds itself drawn against Brazil but suffers an `own goal' in the opening minutes of the game. The own goal signifies not only the impact of shameful scandals but the fruits of a longer story of spiritual non-creativity. Irish Sunday church-going was until very recent times - the wonder of the western world. But it was a largely passive fidelity, rarely a real choice or an energizing source of life. Besides all the eggs were put in this basket. This is where we seemed strong. And complacent until we came up against Brazil.

What about Brazil in our parable? It stands for the emerging cultures in Ireland. It points to a new freshness and diversity in Irish life, reflected in a privileged way by creative writers. This culture is flourishing, while an older way of life seems confused and in retreat. Thus Brazil can seem unbeatable (as they did until the final).

But here the football analogy falls down. It is not a question of winning or losing. The issue is deeper and more crucial. The Christian tradition is the carrier of a rich humanism, even if talk about religion in Ireland often gets stuck at immature levels. Is it possible to foster mutual exchange between the Christian vision of humanity and the new Irish voices? Can we forge a worthy language to explore where we are and where we are going? If not, we fall into a damaging cultural impoverishment, where one side regards the other with distrust and remains unable to see the wealth of the other's spiritual horizon. Is there something more to us all than 'the immensities of our humanity'? (John Moriarty).

What is at stake is a quality of imagination, as well as its generosity of range. If culture - of which there are countless definitions - involves the cluster of meanings, values and images underlying our more visible ways of life, then the new generation of writers and artists are in a unique position to ponder this less visible battle zone, where our future is being shaped. These pages are at least an initial contribution to that necessary conversation.

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