the journal of cross border studies in ireland - The Centre for Cross ...

McVitty, unarmed, was farming his landwith his twelve year old son when hewas shot and his assailants fled acrossthe border to the Republic.There is another duo who seem moreinteresting now more than twenty yearslater, who I did not connect in my mindor my book with each other at the time,although I grew to know both of themin the years after I wrote the book and,indeed, I grew to like them and admirethem. I will dwell on them now, two menfrom the border, one from each side,one from each religion, both woundedfigures and carrying their wound as adark charm, they were both the bestcompany you could meet, and they bothhad learned something about holdingyour dignity, standing alone and learningto forgive which we might find usefulnow in our own wounded society southof the border and indeed, in its partnerin woundedness, in the north.One is John McGahern, the other BobBain. One lived close to the border inthe Republic, the other close to theborder in the North. They were bothmen of independent views, in a countryknown, at least to me, for its conformity,and men of great charm, which is notsomething you see much in Irelandanywhere. They had both in differentways been wounded, they had bothbeen in the news, and they would bothbe pointed out to you or to others allof their lives. But they both carriedmarks of this within – what they showedbesides the charm, or maybe as partof it, was an immense privacy, a deepspirituality, which is not something yousee much in Ireland either, or in thePallars for that matter.John McGahern: the principle ofgood mannersMcGahern loved the border. It added aninterest to life, he felt. He went once aweek to Enniskillen and he enjoyed theidea that once he was over the borderhe was in a foreign country. The twoparts of the island, he felt, and I agreedwith him about this, would never cometogether, because they had grown apartin ways that even they themselves didnot understand. So there was no pointin talking about that, he would suggest,and anyone who did was foolish. Whatwas worth talking about instead, he felt,was how actual life for actual peopleon both sides of the border might beimproved, and he believed that therewas great room for improvement. Hethought that there was a simple principlethat people might apply to the politics oftheir lives, the principle he called goodmanners. He believed that if peoplenorth and south had good manners,with their families, their friends, theirneighbours, then a great deal couldbe achieved.His second novel The Dark was bannedin 1966 by the Censorship Board of theRepublic of Ireland. When he returnedto Ireland from a year abroad, he wasstill in his twenties and the author oftwo books which had been published inLondon in the knowledge, which provedtrue, that they were likely to becomeclassics. McGahern liked England ashe did France, not only their literatureand people, but he was also grateful toboth countries for how they had treatedhim as a young writer, the amount ofcare and respect he had been offeredin both London and Paris. In Ireland,26JOURNAL OF CROSS BORDER STUDIES IN IRELAND No.5