Dubliners are West Britons - Village Magazine

PB July-August 2023 July-August 2023 53

he Irish are obsessed with the past.

our past. Navel-gazing is the national

sport. Yet we seldom consider the

vast sweep of all that history – in

part, at least, because we are not

taught English history. It is particularly hard to

understand Dublin without ﬁrst considering the

experience of people who live in the

neighbouring island. To understand the Irish

capital, you have to look east.

When the Normans conquered the south of

England in 1066, they faced periodic rebellion

in the north of England and the Celtic regions.

The south had the better land, the better

climate and a quick boat to Europe. It was richer

and more prosperous than the Celtic regions,

and the most recent outbursts of English

nationalism can be traced to this ancient gripe.

History must be delineated in that broader

context to understand why the ‘English’, with

their own experience of being colonised by the

‘French’, would try to annex ‘Ireland’. (The

inverted commas indicate the looseness of

these terms – they are not historically accurate

– but the point remains.)

As the inhabitants of England’s ﬁrst colony,

the Irish played a role in a larger set of

experiences, with all parties struggling to forge

their own destinies. It is the fate of all siblings.

England went on to create an empire by

practising a form of moral barbarism that was

so polite, they almost got away with it. As

Dublin was the centre of the English, and then

British, colonial project, it was despised by

many Irish people. A century after

independence, are we ready to move on?

That depends.

Not when the Irish rugby team takes to the

pitch in Twickenham, and all that history

crashes into the present. Equally, when

someone from Cork arrives in Dublin, the past

is never far from top of mind. No wonder the

quintessential Dublin author James Joyce – the

son of a Corkman – called Irish history “a

nightmare from which I am trying to awake”.

We can try to deny the past. Denying its

complexity is one response to all this head-

spinning history. Leaving town is another. It

was Joyce who observed that the shortest way

to Tara was via Holyhead. But we cannot really

understand who we are without at least trying

to engage with the history of these islands.

One reason why ‘Ulysses’ is so remarkable

is because the author was well versed in the

complications of all that history. Another

reason is because Joyce’s identity as an Irish

nationalist who made his home in Europe

enabled the novelist to see the bigger picture.

That open-mindednessis a signal virtue of

THE great Dublin novel. It reminds us, too, that

to understand the city, it must be seen in the

broadest possible context.

Today, the Irish village that became a Viking

town and an English city is the capital of a

mature European republic. My new history

tells the story of the Hibernian metropolis

from its foundation as a village on the banks

of the Liey to its role as the multi-ethnic

capital of a take-me-for-granted democracy.

All cities are the remnants of individuals

who had to make room for other people. My

book sees Dublin through the eyes of Irish,

Viking, Anglo-Norman, Huguenot, Quaker,

Polish, Nigerian and Jewish Dubliners. New

blood can change how we see ourselves, but

Dublin’s history is that of these

islands not this country

By Trevor White

it is also true that outsiders sometimes come

from within: from James Joyce to Mary

Robinson, I celebrate individuals who have

tried to make something more beautiful and

more just than an ordinary city.

All manuscripts represent a working out. In

this case, the text interrogates my own

confusion about the very dierent histories of

Ireland and Dublin. How could a capital be so

alien to the place it represents? And what

separates the lived experience of people in

town and country?

One answer is that Dublin is an only child,

with its own character. Sui generis. But it’s

also true that Dubliners are related to

everyone. So, yes, understanding the story of

our capital may require more ﬂexibility than

the average act of navel-gazing. Is it worth the

eort?

I think so.

Reader, if you take a step back, and dare to

see the bigger picture, you may yet arrive at a

closer understanding of who you really are.



Trevor White is the author of “A Little History of

Dublin’ just published by Merrion Press.

Dubliners

are West

Britons

Today, the Irish village that

became a Viking town and

an English city is the capital

of a mature European

republic

OPINION