It is penned
in the literary style of stream of conscious made famous by James Joyce,
but unlike my reading of Ulysses, O’Neill’s book remains comprehensible
throughout. Which is not to say it is an easy read, it is not. The
languages/dialects used in the book alternate from the traditional Irish, to
the formal Latin of the Catholic Mass, the formal English of the landed-British
colonial aristocracy and its Anglican Church, and the common English spoken by
the general population.
While Joyce influenced
the writing style, it is another Irish writer, Oscar Wilde, who heavily
influenced the storyline of the book. Wilde’s trial, conviction, and
imprisonment took place in 1895, just 20 years before the timeline of O’Neill’s
book.
At Swim, Two
Boys takes place in 1915-1916, and is set in Ireland, at the time a British
colony. With limited employment opportunities at home, Irish men often served
in the Empire’s military, including India and South Africa – two other British
colonies. During the course of the story, Irish men are again being actively
recruited, this time to fight in the first World War.
Two of the characters
in the book, Mr. Mack and Mr. Doyle, are proud veterans of the Boer War in
South Africa and the British occupation of India, having served together in
the Second Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Their sons are two of the
three main characters of the book.
Mr. Mack’s
son Jim is a teen who is just finishing school and is bound for
college on scholarship. The Macks are not rich, but they are relatively
well-off and run a general store. His older brother Gordie will enlist in the
army early in the book.
Mr. Doyle’s
son, known as Doyler, is the same age as Jim. The Doyle’s are dirt
poor with little prospects at a better life. Doyler has attended school only sporadically
due to the need to hold down a job to help support the family.
The third
main character is Anthony MacMurrough. He is living the nightmare
of Oscar Wilde, having been just released from a two-year imprisonment for an
affair he had while in college in England. He watched his partner die while
they were imprisoned. Although he was born in England, he spent his childhood
summers at his Aunt’s estate in Ireland. With his reputation destroyed by the
trial he has now returned to the Estate as a virtual refugee to figure out what
to do with the rest of his life. And while his Aunt Eveline is not one of the main
characters in the book, she is clearly one of the most interesting.
The controversies
in this book are many – the Catholic Church and the politics of the Mass; the
diocese structure vs. the religious orders; the Anglican Church as the protestant
denomination of the English overlords, the colonial administration’s attempts
to outlaw the Irish language, both Church’s policies of outcasting “fallen”
parishioners (gay men, pregnant unmarried women, etc); Nationalists, Loyalists,
and budding Socialists; the police and their allegiance to the Crown and church
leaders; the rich vs the poor; rural vs. urban, and family generational divides.
O’Neill’s book helps readers understand all of this history, because it never lets
you forget we are talking about real people.
The book
concludes with the Easter Rising.
Recommendation: Yes, absolutely.
