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From: Mary Lyons <melyons>
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 12:13:49 -0500
Merri asked:
What other books would you
like to comment on that highlight an orphan's life? Why do you think
this is a theme that never seems to grow old?
[Mary Lyons] The idea of fatherless boys was much on my mind when I wrote Knockabeg: A Famine Tale. During and after the Great Famine of 184552 in Ireland, millions immigrated (many thought of it as as exile). Children were often left behind with relatives because parents feared they would die on the ship. This was the case with my grandfather. He was two years old when his parents came to America; he didn't see them again until he immigrated at fourteen, so he passed through childhood without a father. He died when my father was two, leaving another boy to find his way without a dad.
Nory Ryan's Song was published while I was working on Knockabeg. I studiously avoid reading children's books when writing my own, but after Knockabeg came out, I read Giff's book. It was no surprise to see the same theme of children forced to make it on their own. According to native Irish descendants of famine survivors, some parents, mad with hunger, simply wandered off and abandoned their children. I have also read accounts of cannabalism within Irish families. I just can't go there, so I don't know if the reports are true.
Forgive the obvious psychology (this has probably been addressed many times in professional literature), but I think the theme of being orphaned or abandoned never grows old because it is every child's deepest fear. It comforts them to read a book in which most things turn out well, often because the character discovers resources she didn't know she had. Nory Ryan has to make difficult decisions, as does Eamon in Knockabeg. So did my grandfather, I presume, and my father.
For a native Irish writer's critique of Nory Ryan's Song and Knockabeg, read "Children of the Quest: The Irish Famine Myth in Children' Fiction" in the special history issue of Horn Book. Take it with a grain of salt. The writer has her own myth about Irish Americans, and her of knowledge of Irish folklore and idiom is surprisingly sketchy (see my response and others in the forthcoming March issue). But at least we've got our first serious look at the neglected subject of famine literature, which by definition has to include the breakup of Irish families.
Thanks for listening,
Mary E. Lyons www.lyonsdenbooks.com
Received on Fri 15 Nov 2002 11:13:49 AM CST
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 12:13:49 -0500
Merri asked:
What other books would you
like to comment on that highlight an orphan's life? Why do you think
this is a theme that never seems to grow old?
[Mary Lyons] The idea of fatherless boys was much on my mind when I wrote Knockabeg: A Famine Tale. During and after the Great Famine of 184552 in Ireland, millions immigrated (many thought of it as as exile). Children were often left behind with relatives because parents feared they would die on the ship. This was the case with my grandfather. He was two years old when his parents came to America; he didn't see them again until he immigrated at fourteen, so he passed through childhood without a father. He died when my father was two, leaving another boy to find his way without a dad.
Nory Ryan's Song was published while I was working on Knockabeg. I studiously avoid reading children's books when writing my own, but after Knockabeg came out, I read Giff's book. It was no surprise to see the same theme of children forced to make it on their own. According to native Irish descendants of famine survivors, some parents, mad with hunger, simply wandered off and abandoned their children. I have also read accounts of cannabalism within Irish families. I just can't go there, so I don't know if the reports are true.
Forgive the obvious psychology (this has probably been addressed many times in professional literature), but I think the theme of being orphaned or abandoned never grows old because it is every child's deepest fear. It comforts them to read a book in which most things turn out well, often because the character discovers resources she didn't know she had. Nory Ryan has to make difficult decisions, as does Eamon in Knockabeg. So did my grandfather, I presume, and my father.
For a native Irish writer's critique of Nory Ryan's Song and Knockabeg, read "Children of the Quest: The Irish Famine Myth in Children' Fiction" in the special history issue of Horn Book. Take it with a grain of salt. The writer has her own myth about Irish Americans, and her of knowledge of Irish folklore and idiom is surprisingly sketchy (see my response and others in the forthcoming March issue). But at least we've got our first serious look at the neglected subject of famine literature, which by definition has to include the breakup of Irish families.
Thanks for listening,
Mary E. Lyons www.lyonsdenbooks.com
Received on Fri 15 Nov 2002 11:13:49 AM CST
