Tiresome threesome's tome
Between War and Peace
The Political Future of Northern Ireland
By Bew, Patterson, Teague
Published by Lawrence and Wishart
I recently spoke to a group of European youth workers at the Sinn
Fein Youth office in the Short Strand. The theme of the
discussion was ``Sinn Fein, the peace process and young people'' At
the close of the debate one French delegate commented on how
optimistic I had been in my analysis of the present political
situation, and despite some short term reservations, my certainty
that the conflict would come to an end sooner rather than later.
The surprise of the delegate was partly if not wholly the result
of who they had been speaking to a little earlier. They had the
great misfortune to have visited Queen's University as their
first stop, and the even greater misfortune to have had to listen
to Paul Bew, of the Department of Politics.
Every time I read Bew's commentary on contemporary Irish politics
I get the impression of a man who is rapidly losing his
intelligence. From left wing critic of nationalist and
republician political history, Bew, along with his colleagues
Patterson and Gibbon, gave rise to the label Orange Marxism.
However, as the years have passed the Marxism has been eclipsed,
and left only a hint of liberalism attached to the now standard
unionism with a small ``u''.
Hardly surprising that Bew now rubs shoulders with the likes of
Auther Aughey and Graham Gudgen in the infamous Unionist think
tank, the Cadogan group. So it will come as no surprise either
that Bew's most recent offering along with Henry Patterson and
economist Paul Teague did absolutely nothing to change my cynical
view of Belfast's most tiresome academics.
The book is bland, predictable, uninspiring and not worth the
paper it's printed on. If you do happen to be given a copy of
this book, by someone who doesn't like you very much, I advise
you to return it to its authors with a voluntary contribution to
their retirement fund. It is very rare that I would advise
readers to avoid any publication no matter how much I didn't like
it. But this book is the exception to the rule. You would
honestly learn more by headbutting a shotput.
By Eoin O Broin
A bit of the Other
Book Review: Postmodernism and The Other: The New Imperialism of
Western Culture by Ziauddin Sardar Published by Pluto Press.
Reading a paper on Shakespearean drama in some learned journal or
other by the literary theorist Terence Hawkes recently, I came
upon the classic phrase ``the alterity of the scopic field''. After
pondering this for a while, it occurred on me that he what might
actually mean was ``the weird things the audience can see
happening on the stage''. `Alterity' and `scopic field', together
with `othernesss' and `discontinuity', are key words in
Post-Modernist theory, as is the concept of `identity'. The
problem is that they can also seem like self-indulgent, elitist,
incomprehensible, jargon.
This can alienate (another good post-modernist term) the reader
who, like me in the case of the Terence Hawkes essay, is liable
to sling the book across the room in preference to reading any
further.
This is a shame because Post-Modernism has been the single most
influential cultural theory over the past 30 years or so and is
actually quite useful to Irish republicanism. For example, it
holds that there are no universal truths, that moral values are
relative, that the concept of `human nature' is a myth and that
individuals and social groups construct identities for themselves
contingent on their geographical, historical and economic place
in the world.
`Other' is the term given by Post-Modernism to those who have
historically been marginalised, dispossessed, demonised,
disenfranchised, silenced. This includes colonised people, women,
homosexuals and the impoverished, all of whom have traditionally
been judged on how well - or how poorly - they conform to
prevailing western values.
Although this book cannot resist falling into the jargon trap, is
useful to those with an interest in cultural and literary theory
and its applications. The first chapter gives a coherent
breakdown of the basic tenets of Post-Modernism, charting its
emergence as a reaction to Modernism but also showing its links
with it.
At the risk of over-simplifying a complex philosophical and
intellectual argument, where Sardar parts company with
Post-Modernist theory, is in his contention that, in practice, it
is actually the closely guarded preserve of the very same white,
male, middle-class, European, intellectual elite whose values it
claims to question and subvert. While they presume to
provide a voice for the Other, those Others, particularly the
poor, are too busy simply trying to survive to care about
historical contingency or identity. The very concept of the Other
is now being used to reimpose another, but equally imperalist,
set of western values on non-western, non-christrian cultures.
It's an interesting thesis and worth the somewhat heavy-going
reading involved. Incidentally, this is one of few books I have
read on this subject which does not, to its eternal credit,
pre-suppose a total understanding of the theory on the part of
its readers. I recommend it particularly for cultural studies,
history and English undergraduates.
BY FERN LANE
Chuckle by degrees
Wasting by degrees
By Conor Bowman
Published by Ashfield Press
Price: £9.99
This is an easy going little rites-of-passage yarn about a young
Dublin lad, Dixton Larkin, who `escapes' to Cambridge University
to avoid the twin banes of his life, a domineering profoundly
Catholic aunt who he lives with and the curse of the drinking
classes: work.
Although the theme is far from original and is plagued by
thumbnail characterisation, Bowman has a relaxed style and an
inventive turn of phrase which rescues this book from mediocrity.
There are a number of scenes which are real gems including the
time that Larkin's Belfast friend, Johnny Pepper, tries to join
the University's rifle association.
All in all, not a classic tale but certainly one to raise a few
chuckles.
By Eoin O'Tuama
From Shelley to Dolly
Clone: The Road To Dolly And The Path Ahead
By Gina Kolata
Published by Penguin
Price £15.99
Gina Kolata is an unashamed and uncompromising advocate of the
chemical and biotechnology industries. This would be fine if she
worked as a lobbyist for corporate industry, but she doesn't.
Kolata, we are told by her publicists, is an award winning
science writer with the New York Times.
Those of you who see the mainstream media as advocates and
apologists for our material world and the capitalists who
construct it daily will not be concerned about this. Sadly not
enough of us are that enlightened. Many of us believe the media
stands for truth, honesty and justice, that it's role in society
is to inform, educate and entertain, that its job is to report
news and produce balanced essays and analyses.
Not only does the mainstream media not do this, it is first to
condemn others who would take a biased, imbalanced, advocacy
approach. The New York Times is such a publication. It stands on
the high moral ground and cries wolf everytime the integrity of
journalism is soiled by those who would present a view that does
not reflect the wonder of our material world.
Kolata, who has worked for the New York Times for more than a
decade, fits right in.
Now in collaboration with Penguin she has produced an apologist
tome for the scientists who want to emulate Herr Frankenstein -
disguising it as a scientific thriller. First the book, then the
movie. Spielberg has probably already bought the rights, Crichton
is probably doing the screenplay right now.
Isn't it strange though, how these mainstream publishers can find
the funds and resources to publish a book like Clone: The Road to
Dolly and the Path Ahead (which promotes without question the
inexorable march of technology) but can't find the money to
publish honest and factual books about the folly of our
dependence on a materialist world. Are we being brainwashed, you
ask? Wait for the movie!
What is also sad is that people will read this book and come to
believe that science and technology is capable of anything - when
in reality all it has really achieved throughout history is chaos
and destruction. This is not Star Trek, this is terra firma. Mary
Shelley said all there needed to be said about biotechnology in
1812. Kolata has added nothing new. A terrible waste of good
trees. And Frankenstein is a lot more entertaining.
BY ROBERT ALLEN
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