Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland
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Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin AFIS (Association of Franco-Irish Studies) Books Publications 2019 Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland Eamon Maher Technological University Dublin, [email protected] Eugene O'Brien Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/afisbo Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Maher, Eamon and O'Brien, Eugene, "Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland" (2019). Books. 2. https://arrow.tudublin.ie/afisbo/2 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the AFIS (Association of Franco-Irish Studies) Publications at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Books by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland STUDIES IN FRANCO-IRISH RELATIONS VOLUME 14 SERIES EDITOR Dr Eamon Maher, Technological University Dublin – Tallaght Campus PETER LANG Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien (eds) PETER LANG Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National biblio grafie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Cover image: Faded Glory (shop front now demolished), Strokestown, Co Roscommon. © Paul Butler, a photographer based in County Leitrim. For further information: www.paulbutler.me. Cover design: Peter Lang ISSN 1864-273X ISBN 978-1-78874-660-1 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78874-661-8 (ePDF) ISBN 978-1-78874-662-5 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78874-663-2 (mobi) © Peter Lang AG 2019 Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers, 52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom [email protected], www.peterlang.com Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this Work. All rights reserved. All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. This publication has been peer reviewed. Printed in Germany To our families, whose support and understanding of the work we do make it both possible and enjoyable. Contents List of Figures xi Avant- propos/Preface xiii Acknowledgements xv Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien Introduction: Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland 1 Part I Coming to Terms with Patrimoine 11 Eugene O’Brien 1 Metanoia and Reflexive Thinking: Towards a Deconstruction of Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage 13 Eóin Flannery 2 Debt as Inheritance 35 Harry White 3 ‘We did not choose this patrimony’: Irish Musical Inheritances since Independence 57 Part II Tourism and Culture 79 Tony Kiely 4 ‘Protestant Strangers and Others’: Re- imagining the Contribution of French Huguenots and their Descendants to Ireland’s Ancient ‘Patrimoine’ 81 viii Catherine Maignant 5 The Reification of Sceilg Mhichíl 103 Déborah Vandewoude 6 Faith- based Tourism in Ireland and France 121 Part III Linking Products to Patrimoine 141 Patricia Medcalf 7 Irish Cultural Heritage through the Prism of Guinness’s Ads in the 1980s 143 Brian Murphy 8 A Traditional Irish Family Butcher Shop: ‘Harnessing the power of Patrimoine’ 163 Julien Guillaumond 9 ‘Butter them up’: When Marketing Meets Heritage – The Case of Irish Butter in Germany 185 Part IV Literature and Patrimoine 203 Maguy Pernot- Deschamps 10 ‘Enfants d’ici, parents d’ailleurs’ 205 Mary Pierse 11 George Moore: A Case of Dúchas/Patrimoine in Flux? 219 Grace Neville 12 ‘I don’t think I could have made a decent living without the French’: An Analysis of Reviews of Irish Literature in Le Monde, 1950–2017 237 ix Notes on Contributors 257 Index 263 Figures Figure 7.1. No beer comes near (Matt Doyle) 152 Figure 7.2. No beer comes near (Ray Houghton) 153 Figure 8.1. Brian Murphy, Lucy Murphy and Michael Murphy on the final day of M. J. Murphy’s Butcher Shop 163 Figure 8.2. The Fourth Space Model 167 Figure 8.3. Key strands of the Fourth Space Model 168 Figure 9.1: Butter production in selected EU countries (1,000 t) in 2015 190 Figure 9.2. Detail of Kerrygold logo 196 Figure 9.3. Detail of Kerrygold website first page 197 Figure 9.4. Details of Kerrygold myths 197 Figure 9.5. The grass is greener on the other side – welcome to Ireland 200 HE Stéphane Crouzat, French Ambassador to Ireland Avant- propos/Preface I am delighted and honoured to preface this significant essay collection on how patrimoine, that elusive and multifaceted concept, applies to France HE Stéphane Crouzat, French Ambassador to Ireland and Ireland. It is true, as is stated in the editors’ engaging Introduction, Avant- propos/Preface that the term has a myriad of meanings in French, so much so that one could almost argue that it is untranslatable. The English version that is used by the editors, ‘cultural heritage’, does come close to capturing what patrimoine encompasses, and the various essays similarly treat of its many manifestations in French and Irish society. Hence we come across discussion of subjects as diverse as: debt inher- itance; the support by French publishers and Le Monde newspaper of Irish writers in French translation; religious tourism in France and Ireland; the UNESCO heritage site of Skellig Michael, the Atlantic island off the south- west coast of Ireland that was home to a monastic settlement many centuries ago; the traditional Irish butcher’s shop as an example of patrimoine; the impact of French Huguenot settlers on the built environ- ment, the banking system and other aspects of Dublin’s heritage; Irish musical inheritances, and so on. This overview is atour de force, another remarkable accomplishment in the long list of books brought out under the auspices of the National Centre for Franco- Irish Studies, located in Tallaght, and its ancillary organization, the Association of Franco- Irish Studies (AFIS). Essay collections around a specific theme like this one generate real insights and supply an outlet for original scholarship. The AFIS has been exemplary in bringing together scholars from France and Ireland to debate issues and discover, in many instances, a shared patrimoine, common beliefs, but above all a deep- rooted friendship that is the fruit of centuries of exchange and cross- fertilization between our two countries. xiv HE Stéphane Crouzat, French Ambassador to Ireland Mes félicitations s’adressent aux éditeurs de cet ouvrage, Eamon Maher et Eugene O’Brien, ainsi qu’à tous les contributeurs, pour le travail qu’ils ont investi dans ce projet. Le résultat est à la hauteur de nos attentes, un recueil riche et passionnant. Acknowledgements The editors are most appreciative of the support of the French Embassy in Ireland; the Department of English Language and Literature; the Mary Immaculate College Institute for Irish Studies, and the other sponsors, who facilitated the running of the conference from which this collection emerged. Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien Introduction: Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland Assessing something as all- pervasive as cultural heritage can run the risk of resorting to clichés and stereotypes, even though these very things are Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien also an integral part of what constitutes the patrimoine of any given soci- Introduction ety. The French are rightly acclaimed for their fashion, wines, gastronomy, literature, philosophy, regional specificities, architecture, and café culture, to name but a few of the Hexagone’s most distinctive traits. Ireland, on the other hand, has its pubs, its writers, many of whom traditionally spent far too much time in the aforementioned pubs, its fighting spirit, its greenness, its historic struggle with its nearest neighbour, perfidious Albion, its beef and its Guinness. Patrimoine is what marks one country out from any other country; it is what makes it distinctive, different, sometimes appealing, at other times, unappealing. Therefore, when the organizers were considering the theme for the AFIS 2017 conference in Limerick, the former Conseiller Culturel at the French Embassy, Frédéric Rauser, suggested it could be both interesting and worthwhile to examine how cultural heritage plays out in both countries. The view beforehand was that the French are more adept at underlining their heritage, even at commodifying it, than the Irish are, but some of the essays you will read in this collection illustrate the fact that the Irish are starting to catch up in this regard, as the country begins to attract more and more tourists to its shores and to see the potential that has for economic prosperity. There are several reasons why Irish writers and artists were attracted to France, but patrimoine was certainly a significant factor in their migra- tion. After the Revolution, France overthrew the monarchy to become a Republic, which distinguished it in Irish eyes from England. Then there was the indisputable Catholic heritage that was shared by the two countries, 2 Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien although practised in very different ways, a heritage that shaped them in ways of which they were sometimes unaware. Irish seminarians went to France to study for the priesthood during the Penal Laws; the French were Ireland’s closest ally in its centuries- old struggle against England and, more recently, in their support of Irish agriculture within the European Union, a goal that was closely aligned to France’s own national interests.