[acornlive] Welcome to Acornlive (at last!)

Mark O'Sullivan (webmaster@dublinwriters.org)
Sun, 13 Dec 1998 19:57:46 -0000

Hi List,

This is to welcome you all to the DWW very own mailing list 
and extension which we've launched due to the buzz generated 
on our messaging forum. I've just set up the subscription form 
on our pages which will make it easier for everyone to join.

There have been some very interesting threads emerging lately.. 
notably the representation of Irish Cultural Identities in the face of 
the
current "Celtic Craze" that seems to be sweeping the world onto 
which so
many have jumped in order to make a fast buck. The contrasting 
the celtic
disneyland of "Riverdance" with the integrity of a bands such as 
Altan or
Kíla in Irish music has extensions into literature, where arguably 
works
such as McDonagh's"Leenane Trilogy" can be contrasted with 
the likes of
Pat McCabe. 

It seems that it suits quite a lot people to sustain the laughable 
stereotypes of paddywhackery as the tills ring. Indeed the very 
fact that this seems to be the primary discussion on the DWW of 
late, rather than simply discussing literature and writing in 
general seems to indicate that this stereotyping and branding of 
Irish cultural expression has overtaken the heterogeneous nature 
of a people's expression.

Looking forward to the discussions to come,

Mark

Hope you enjoy yourselves

Mark



*================*==================*
Mark O'Sullivan
The Dublin Writers' Workshop.
http://www.dublinwriters.org
mark@dublinwriters.org