SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE ANNUAL IRISH AMERICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE AWARDS
SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE ANNUAL IRISH AMERICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE AWARDS ON WEDNESDAY, 28 OCTOBER, 1998
I am particularly pleased to be here this evening to present the annual Irish American Cultural Institute Awards. The awards which were established in 1967, have in their history honoured the life achievement of more than fifty novelists, poets, essayists, biographers and visual artists. The list of award recipients is an honoured roll-call of the very best of the Irish creative imagination.
We are all very proud that Ireland has an extraordinary record in producing artists of distinction - the calibre of whose work has been consistently recognised far beyond our shores. Of course other countries have had their share of writers, poets and artists - but surely few countries have exercised such a profound influence over the hearts and imaginations of those who have been born or lived in them as Ireland has.
It is impossible to define the uniqueness of the Irish character. Sigmund Freud said that the Irish race were the only race which could not profit from psychoanalysis and one of his followers split up human psychology into two categories – Irish and non-Irish. I suspect that for the Irish, the writing of a story, the painting of a picture or the composition of a poem is the equivalent of endless sessions on a psychiatrist’s couch.
While we have always something to write about, the themes, and the styles of our stories and poems defy generalisation. What they have in common is an awareness of the verbal tradition. When a word is used it carries not only its present meaning but a tradition of meanings and sounds which stretch back to the bardic times. Perhaps it is because Irish literature depends so much on the ear, that it seems to follow that it does best in the poem and short story.
All traditions in Ireland are justifiably proud of the achievements of their kinfolk in the United States particularly in the field of American writing, where there exists a strong Irish language and voice.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O’Neill, James O’Hara,
Thomas Flanagan, Jimmy Breslin, Mary McCarthy,
William Kennedy, and more recently Frank McCourt are among those whose voices have contributed to the exceptional body of literature which America has produced.
Frank O’Connor, an Irishman with an acute sense of national identity once called the American short story “a national art form”. The history of the American short story is a faithful record of America’s literary and cultural heritage: From Poe to Twain, Faulkner, Flannery, O’Connor, Raymond Carver, John Updike, Alice Walker and the immense wealth of authors writing short stories in America today.
There is a new voice in the Irish-American culture, the voice of those who made their way over to America from the early to mid eighties onwards. They are a confident generation, highly educated and highly motivated. Described as the New Irish they created their own artistic output. In their work they reflect on the loneliness of exile but they also embrace and absorb the influence of the new. Their poems, stories and art help give a voice and a sense of identity to this new wave of emigrants.
The Irish American Cultural Institute has shown great generosity and commitment to the study and promotion of the Irish cultural patrimony which brings together people in Ireland and people of Irish heritage all over the globe. As one of the premier organisations in the United States dedicated to advancing awareness of Irish culture and heritage on both side of the Atlantic, the Institute has helped build many important links across the ocean. Any person, whatever their nationality, has a right to admire and celebrate Ireland’s culture and heritage, but it helps to be of Irish ancestry, to empathise with Ireland, and to have a sense of what it is to be Irish.
More than 40 million U.S. citizens currently lay claim to having ancestral roots in Ireland, and the Irish in America have been making significant cultural contributions since the 17th Century when the first Irish immigrant ships began arriving on America’s Eastern shores.
The Irish American Cultural Institute has been working hard over the years supporting a wide range of heritage projects, all of which have brought benefits in their different ways to the communities in which they are located. In recent years the support of the Heritage Council and Bord Failte has enabled the IACA to increase the Heritage Award which honours Irish efforts to interpret Irish History, and to promote an appreciation of its diversity at community level in Ireland.
The Institute has also given recognition to the work of contemporary Irish artists. Since 1989 it has presented an award to visual artists - particularly those who have stimulated or guided other Irish artists. The impact on the National and International art scene of contemporary Irish artists in the past few years has been phenomenal and I have no doubt that these awards have helped put the spotlight on the richness and diversity of Irish art. I am honoured to continue the tradition established by my predecessors of being patron of the Irish American Cultural Institute. The Institute has done much to assist an insight and understanding of Irish Lives, culture and heritage and I look forward to continuing to support the Institute in its present activities and its future plans.