Michael Collins in James Joyce’s Dublin

Portrait of the Irish poet Oliver St. John Gogarty painted by Sir William Orpen in 1911. Currently housed at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

(Dr Oliver St John Gogarty – companion of James Joyce and of Michael Collins)

On Bloomsday people all over the world celebrate the Dublin of Michael Collins’ life and times.

Is there any other work of fiction which has spawned its own international commemoration day? 

Many James Joyce fans know by heart the opening scenes of his seminal novel “Ulysses”.   Devotees may be aware that Joyce himself once shared an apartment in that same fabled tower with friends, including Oliver St John Gogarty. 

Gogarty, “a surgeon and man of letters,” was a noted poet of his day.  He published fictionalized accounts of Dublin life (Tumbling in the Hay, 1939), as well as a number of other works.

Joyce’ flatmate Dr Gogarty was also a close friend of Michael Collins.  It was he who fulfilled the sad duty of preparing his boon companion for lying in state.  It is believed that he also acted as official medical examiner, and may have produced an autopsy report … now apparently lost to history.

Gogarty’s  Witness Statement to the Bureau of Military History may be read in its entirety here .

Read more:

“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”

by S M Sigerson

Paperback or Kindle edition here:  
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

For all other e-book formats see Smashwords

page:  www.smashwords.com/books/view/433954

Best Reads of the Year – Rabid Readers Reviews
http://www.rabidreaders.com/2015/01/05/best-rabid-readers-reveiws-reads-of-2014/

Ulysses by James Joyce
amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-James-Joyce/dp/1494405490
Project Gutenberg ebook online
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4300/4300-h/4300-h.htm

 

As I Was Going Down Sackville Street
by Oliver St. John Gogarty

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1163144.As_I_Was_Going_Down_Sackville_Street

Ballots … and bullets

 

Electoral democracy provides for periodic, peaceful transference of power, from one political party to another, according to the people’s choice: society free from political warfare.

Do elections really matter? Political violence, aimed at influencing election outcomes, would seem to prove that they matter very much indeed.

 Some excerpts from the book on this subject:

“It is in the interests of entrenched political establishments, to encourage a general disbelief that any politician is going to be different. A general hopelessness that anything can change, is advantageous to the status quo.

“Such inertia keeps people away from the polls: they don’t bother to vote. This is good for entrenched establishments. The fewer people vote, the more likely that the usual suspects will keep their seats. Large voter turn-outs are generally good news for progressives, bad news for conservatives. When the public perceives a chance for positive improvements, when a candidate stands out as offering something genuinely valuable and innovative; when the public imagination is fired: then they stand up to be counted.

“It is therefore definitely in the interests of some political elements to discourage this sort of thing. Government by assassination is the most extreme form of that strategy. It is one very destructive and dangerous way to make sure that there will be only one kind of candidate.“

 Read more

“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
by S M Sigerson

Paperback or Kindle edition here: 
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

All other e-reader formats:
www.smashwords.com/books/view/433954

Read reviews:
http://www.rabidreaders.com/2014/12/03/assassination-michael-collins-s-m-sigerson-2/

Or ask at your local book shop

Easter 1916: The struggle continues

In commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, some excerpts from
“The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened at Béal na mBláth?”

 

From Chapter 20
Revolution: Don’t Try This at Home

 

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority.  –  Samuel Adams

 

… Ireland’s Proclamation of 1916 or America’s Declaration of Independence … are national treasures. They represent our highest values; our highest collective “self”, if you will. They may be the moral keystones of our national identity. And … but … they are not the whole story of who we are.

Such a proclamation or declaration may be the crest of a great tsunami of social change, which has been swelling beneath the waves for generations. It’s not the “happily ever after.” It’s not the end of the story by any means. It’s just the beginning. It’s a gauntlet thrown down on the bloody pages of history. Corrupt this. In a sense, it’s a declaration of war.

If nationhood is what happens after the proclamation, then the story of Michael Collins may be called a microcosm, even a skeleton key, if you will, of what follows.

Adulthood, for an individual, entails clearly seeing and accepting one’s own faults and weaknesses, as well as one’s strengths. Similarly for the adulthood of a nation: Doesn’t it mean facing the ugly facts of history, along with the heroic inspiration?

… So modern republics celebrate their founding revolutions, and canonize revolutionary leaders. But kids, don’t try this at home. Revolution is always a gamble, of the highest stakes possible. Its outcome can be “more unpredictable than the results of a first-rate European war.” ¹ The “good guys” don’t always win. Overturning an entrenched, abusive regime often means the shattering of social orders. Thus ripping the fabric of society opens the door to change: for better or worse. It can invigorate society with new ideas and opportunities; and/or expose it to opportunists and backlash, very far from the aims of idealistic insurgents.

… The assassination of great popular leaders, at a key cresting pinnacle of the monumental social upheaval which had brought them to prominence, in which they are the man of the hour … is one of the terrible tragedies common in revolution. Assassinations often occur in the context of such great convulsions, when the institutions of society are in flux. Under such conditions, suspects are many, circumstances are complicated, and mutating in unprecedented ways as the situation unfolds.

… These are risks not to be undertaken lightly. Neither can any lunatic fringe jump-start such changes. The leaders themselves are often very much taken by surprise.

 

Two kinds of courage enabled the nation to struggle out of bondage – the patient, enduring courage that willed survival in the long years of defeat; and the flashing, buoyant courage that struck manfully, challenging fortune. ²

 

Revolutions are born, not made. A movement for political change which has lain dormant underground for years, decades or centuries may, like in Ireland, suddenly rear up, and sweep all before it. Their greatest leaders don’t so much choose the time, as recognize, and seize it.

 

(1)   George Bernard Shaw

(2)  Florence O’Donoghue

READ MORE:

“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
by S M Sigerson

Paperback or Kindle edition here: 
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

“Michael Collins, a Musical Drama” at Kilkenny Musical Society

 

Collins’ life and times have everything that makes for great theatre of operatic proportions: love, war, heroism, villainy, high tragedy, ultimate triumph, and a cast of thousands.

Yet what librettist today would ever have the political saavy to tackle the complex and delicate issues of Collins’ story? What composer would be equal to rendering the epic nature of Ireland’s struggle for independence? No one, you might say …

Well, I have seen the musical. And it is that good.

Think “Les Miz” meets the Neal Jordan film. Above all, they get the story right. Or we should say he got it right: the show is entirely written by one Brian Flynn, who can hold his head up among both Collins aficanados and the best composers today. The music is hot and infectious. It ranges from the mysterious ambient to hopping latin-afro-celtic. Vocal solos, duets, trios and choruses of ravishing beauty and power just keep coming, throughout the evening.

“Michael Collins – A Musical Drama”
by Brian Flynn

Performances through Saturday 12 April
8 PM Tickets €12 – €18

Watergate Theatre
Parliament Street
Kilkenny, County Kilkenny
353 56 7761674
info@watergatekilkenny.com
Presented by Kilkenny Musical Society

Soundtrack album on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/michael-collins-musical-drama/id719056053

Read:
“The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”
by SM Sigerson
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

See photos from the original cast production:
http://www.bryanflynnproductions.com/michaelcollins.php

http://www.michaelcollinsmusical.com/

 

 

The Curragh Mutiny

Curragh Mutiny of British Army officers reported in Sunday Independent March 1913

The Curragh Mutiny was a major turning point in the struggle for Irish independence.  “Home Rule”, a measure of increased self-determination for Ireland, had been pressed for in the British Parliament for decades.   As it seemed on the brink of fulfillment, there arose the prospect of violent resistance to Home Rule by unionists in the northeast of the country.  This in turn meant that the British Army might be required to enforce Irish self-determination, against violent factions who wanted direct rule from London. 

In the Curragh Mutiny, a number of British Army officers declared that they would resign, if ordered to use force against unionist paramilitaries. 

It was a major disaster for the British government, and for Home Rule.  It ultimately meant the defeat of efforts to win Irish independence by peaceful, constitutional means: and so set the stage for the War of Independence. 

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.”  – John F Kennedy

Read more

“The Assassination of Michael Collins: What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”

by S M Sigerson

Paperback or Kindle edition here: www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

All other e-reader formats: www.smashwords.com/books/view/433954

Read reviews: http://www.rabidreaders.com/2014/12/03/assassination-michael-collins-s-m-sigerson-2/

Or ask at your local book shop

Read more about the Curragh Mutiny: http://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/articles/mutiny-in-the-curragh

 

The Riddle that was Erskine Childers

Excerpts from

“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened at Béal na mBláth?”

      Erskine Childers’ tragic fate has remained an enigma
      Was he a hero? Martyr? Traitor? Casualty of war?
      One thing is certain: he was near the scene when Collins was killed.

 

“Another prominent member of the anti-Treaty party who was near Béal na mBláth that day was Erskine Childers.

“… Childers’ contemporaries varied widely in their assessment of the man. From the usually mild-mannered Arthur Griffith, he drew more than one explosion of public denunciation. … Others openly lauded Childers as a man of outstanding noble qualities.

 “…There seems something remarkable in Collins’ own attitude to this enigmatic figure. During the Civil War, … [when] British sources advocated [charging Childers with] treason … Collins said to keep [him] in England on a misdemeanor. If carried out, this plan would not only have neutralized him as a threat, but would also have preserved Childers’ life until the Civil War was over. …

“. . . If the absolute fact lies somewhere between these extremes and unsolved riddles . . . and if he was near Béal na mBláth around 22 August 1922, . . . He certainly may have known something about workings behind the scenes on that tragic day.

“Childers was a key anti-Treaty tactician. … He was a decorated former British Army officer, accused as a secret service agent, and certainly had excellent connections in London. … even if entirely innocent of any foreknowledge about the attempt on Collins, he was likely to have a penetrating awareness of many details and secret manoeuvers, which have since been lost forever.

 “… Childers was an elected member of the Dáil. His shocking summary execution took place against a backdrop of bloody purge, cover-up and file-burning. In light of all of the above, we should ask whether his killing could have had anything to do with his inside knowledge about what happened at and around Béal naBláth.”

Read more
“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”

by S M Sigerson   
Paperback or Kindle edition here:
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

All other e-reader formats:
www.smashwords.com/books/view/433954

Read reviews:
http://www.rabidreaders.com/2014/12/03/assassination-michael-collins-s-m-sigerson-2/

 

 

21 January: The First Dáil & War of Independence

This gallery contains 1 photo.

On this date in 1919, Dáil na hÉireann, Ireland’s national legislature, met for the first time, as an outlawed body, in defiance of the British imperial establishment.  Michael Collins represented Cork South in the First Dáil; while also taking part in organizing the armed campaign for self-determination. (Excerpts from the book:) “On the day of […]

Why do we need to understand how Collins died?

“History repeats itself.  As do the methods used by those specializing in the elimination of leaders who unite people into a strong force for dignity, justice and self-determination.”

“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”

Paperback or Kindle edition here: 
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

Paperback now available online!

Buy the Paperback at: http://www.createspace.com/4528334
Kindle edition available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FZ1BCBA

“The Assassination of Michael Collins
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”

by SM Sigerson

This is the first book dedicated to this famous “cold case” since John Feehan’s landmark study of 1981. It presents the most complete overview of the evidence ever published; as well as an itemized catalogue of the various witnesses’ mutual contradictions and corroborations.

Michael Collins: why we lost him (excerpt from the book)

“The leaders of great revolutionary struggles often do not live to see the fulfilment of their own handiwork.  That is an occupational hazard.  One which they all accept at the very outset.  One  which Collins, judging from his own words on the subject, was thoroughly prepared for every day.

  All great leaders of this kind take on a very old system: an ancient imperialist war and political machine, oiled by centuries’ experience in putting down popular revolutions.  And in eliminating great popular leaders.”

–  excerpted from the new book:

“The Assassination of Michael Collins:
What Happened At Béal na mBláth?”

Paperback or Kindle edition here:
www.amazon.com/dp/1493784714

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