The Irish tradition has long been that on Nollaig na mBan, this final day of the busy Christmas season, women get to put their feet up and enjoy a day of socializing. In some versions of the tradition, men take over the household chores.
Ireland
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
John Banville: notorious literary esthete—and crime novelist
John Banville is surely the only crime novelist in recent memory who has won the Booker Prize and is regularly rumored to be in the running for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Movie Club
‘Brooklyn’: a story of welcoming the immigrant, now and then
Sometimes you have to leave home to find home. That’s the paradox of the immigrant experience, portrayed beautifully in “Brooklyn.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
In ‘Small Things Like These,’ Cillian Murphy confronts the misery of Ireland’s ‘Magdalene laundries’
“Small Things Like These” is dedicated to the girls and babies who went through the Magdalene laundries, the last of which closed in 1996.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Sally Rooney’s ‘Intermezzo’ is occasionally interesting, frequently frustrating and ultimately insufficient
Rooney’s novel ends up as an overlong interlude, poised between significant moments, not substantial enough to compose its own movement.
Posted inArts & Culture, Interviews
Interview: Colm Tóibín on ‘Long Island,’ sequel-writing and the delight of a Costco chicken
Colm Tóibín’s new novel, ‘Long Island,’ is a sequel to perhaps his best-known book, ‘Brooklyn.’ What was it like to take up the story again two decades later? He tells us in this interview with America.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
‘Irish Patriots’ and Ulster loyalists find a shared scapegoat in Northern Ireland: Immigrants
Loyalist paramilitaries played a central role in organizing the unrest in Belfast, but it was a surprise on both sides of the northern Irish border when they were joined by self-proclaimed “Irish patriots” from the Republic of Ireland.
Posted inArts & Culture, Culture
The Portal: Where Dublin and New York greet each other—and learn something about themselves
All summer long, New Yorkers and Dubliners have had a unique chance to wave at one another—and sometimes more—through a unique public art installation. America’s three new O’Hare fellows took a trip to see The Portal before it closes next week.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Edna O’Brien: the quintessential Irish writer (who was occasionally banned in Ireland)
Edna O’Brien, who died on July 27, seemed to be in many ways the quintessential Irish writer. But her career began with a highly acclaimed novel that was widely condemned on the Emerald Isle.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
City council prayer has been challenged in Cork. Is this the future of a more secular Ireland?
A newly elected city councilor in Cork, Ireland, wants to stop the practice of opening meetings with a prayer. He also calls for the removal of a crucifix from the council chamber.