At Swim, Two Boys
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| At Swim, Two Boys | |
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| Author | Jamie O'Neill |
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| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fiction |
| Publisher | Scribner |
| Publication date | 2001 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 643 pages |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7432-0713-0 |
At Swim, Two Boys (2001) is a novel by Irish writer Jamie O'Neill. The title is a punning allusion to Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds. The book is written in a stream-of-consciousness style, which has led to favourable comparisons to James Joyce.
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[edit] Plot summary
Set in Dublin before and during the 1916 Easter Rising, At Swim, Two Boys tells the love story of two young Irish men: Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle. Jim has a scholarship for a college - he is quiet, studious, thoughtful, and naïve. In contrast, Doyler is outspoken, rebellious, brave, and affectionate. Doyler might once have made a scholar like Jim, might once have had prospects like Jim, but since Doyler withdrew to find work and support his impoverished family, they have grown apart. They have an additional connection through their fathers, who served in the army together during the Boer War and were once best friends.
[edit] Events of 1915
As told by his father, Jim attends a Catholic school, regularly visits church, and plays in the church's flute band, where he is the object of the parish priest's obsession. Brother Polycarp likes to take Jim to extra prayers; Jim makes him to remember his own past times. Unknown to his father, Jim is getting close to a vocation to be as well a Brother in church. As Doyler enters the flute band, their old friendship relives. Doyler takes Jim out at the Forty Foot for swimming, a well known swimming place in Dublin Bay. The two boys make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter Sunday of 1916, they will swim to the distant small island of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves. As their friendship grows, the idea of a vocation steps back, Brother Polycarp is physically struck and has to resign.
Meanwhile, patriotic characters appear on the novel's stage: Madame Eveline MacMurrough keeps on supporting the idea of Ireland's liberty. The clergy as well supports the patriotic body of thought, in particular as priest father Amen O'Toiler pushes the boys church's flute band into a patriotic soldier-alike band. Even Jim's father Mr. Mack, who is proud having served as a soldier in an Irish Battalion, parades swollen with pride the boys in MacMurrough's garden, all wearing uniformly kilts.
Only Anthony MacMurrough, the nephew of Eveline MacMurrough, strains away from patriotic thoughts. After his return from imprisonment in England for acts of gross indecency, his nationalist aunt Eveline MacMurrough is determined to redeem his reputation through a prosperous marriage. In a garden party, Eveline MacMurrough introduces him to the Irish society, puts him forward to follow patriotic ideals. However, MacMurrough is still caught in his thoughts to the imprisonment, monologising with his ghostly past friend Scrotes on his fate of being homosexual.
In the meantime, Doyler works to help support his family, which has been driven to poverty by Mr. Doyle's alcoholism and illness. Hidden to others but knowing of his sexual desires, he can make an earning out of it. MacMurrough and Doyler meet intimately, but MacMurrough fails in attracting the boy. Doyler being a vehement Socialist and outcast by the patriotic society of his home place, joins the Irish Citizen Army at Dublin leaving home.
[edit] Events of 1916
Jim, left alone from his pal of his heart Doyler, befriends with MacMurrough. He becomes a mentor to Jim, teaching about swimming as well as homosexuality and philosophy. MacMurrough finds that he is unable to rid himself of his fascination with the two boys, their relationship and their pact to swimming, claiming the Muglins. The night before Easter Sunday, Doyler leaves his duties as army member and visits Jim: They renew their pact, confessing their love for each other. The next morning, Easter Sunday, Jim and Doyler successfully swim to the Muglins. Not only they are claiming the islands with an Irish green flag, but they are as well loving each other. On their swim back to Forty Foot, as Doyler is close to drowning, MacMurrough rescues both of them.
While Doyler rests and recovers at MacMurroughs house, Jim feels responsible for the duties his friend cannot carry out. As the Easter Rising takes place, Jim grabs the uniform of Doyler and joins the fighting for the Irish Volunteers at Dublin downtown. Meanwhile, MacMurrough does not realize Jim's action. Moreover, MacMurrough is attracted by the physical presence of Doyler in a way he cannot withstand.
When Doyler discovers what Jim has done, both Doyler and MacMurrough go searching for Jim. As they approach downtown Dublin where the fighting is occurring, Doyler sees Jim standing in the open. Just as the two are about to be reunited, Doyler realizes that a weapon is about to shoot at Jim. Doyler flings himself over Jim for protection and is himself fatally wounded.
[edit] Characters in "At Swim, Two Boys"
Jim is the son of shopkeeper Mr. Mack, running a small shop for everyday people's needs at Glasthule, close to Dublin. Jim is depicted as a rather naïve scholar boy and has a shy appearance:[1] Jim Mack is worried about self-abuse and going to hell as he tries to obey to rules of church. When getting close his very first kiss in love and touches of love, he cannot withstand and withdraws. Still he has a clear mind, sharp ideas and thoughts. He identifies the swimming to the Mugglins of both boys as their unification, their very own experience no one can ever take them away.
Doyler is the dark diamond son of Mr. Doyle, who is Mr. Mack's old army pal. Doyler has grown up under poor circumstances, hence he already knows quite a lot about life and is not naïve any more at all. Doyler used to be Jim's friend when they were about twelve, but Doyler left town looking for work and his Irish roots for some time. As Doyler returns and the story takes places, Jim and Doyler are both aged 15 to 16 years old. Doyler is patriotic to the Irish workers front and joins the Irish Citizen Army.
Madame Eveline MacMurrough is depicted as the daughter of a famous republican figure in the local patriotic history. She supports the troops with socks to warm the soldiers' feet's in the name of Ireland, organizes a garden party to enliven the patriotic society and its clubs. Finally, she even backs up the Republicans by providing them with weapons for the Easter Rising.
Anthony MacMurrough is the nephew of Eveline MacMurrough. Jim calls him McEmm as the story develops. At the novel's outset, MacMurrough has stayed in prison serving two years' hard labour for acts of gross indecency, due to him being engaged with a chauffeur-mechanic boy. As he returns to Ireland, his previous cellmate Scrotes follows in his mind, providing an internal ghostly friend, supporting the soliloquizing of MacMurrough. Staying at the home of his nationalist aunt Eveline MacMurrough, she pushes him to become a patriotic Irishmen, mentoring and leading, eventually getting married. However, MacMurrough is not happy at his determined role, rests drawn back in the idea of being earmarked for his homosexuality. It is only when he becomes a mentor to Jim and Doyler individually, teaching them about swimming as well as homosexuality and philosophy, he opens.
[edit] Awards and Nominations
2002 Lambda Literary Award, section Gay men's fiction
2002 Ferro-Grumley Literary Award
[edit] Film, TV, theatrical or dance adaptations
2005 Earthfall Dance Company [2] [3]
[edit] External links
- Homepage of Jamie O'Neill
- Map at Google of The Muglins and Forty Foot
- Forum focussing on the novel
- Interview with Jamie O'Neill on his novel (MetroWeekly)
- Essay by Aída Díaz-Bild
- Critical essay: Intertextual re-creation in Jamie O'Neill's "At Swim, Two Boys"
[edit] Sources, references, quotations
- ^ Lark, L.: "At Swim, Two Boys", RALPH, The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities, Volume XXXI Number 3, published at RalphMag.org, Early Fall 2002
- ^ Farrier, P: "At Swim Two Boys", The Stage, The Stage Reviews, 20 May 2005
- ^ Leask, J: "Boys will be Homo-erotic Slip Slidin' Away with Earthfall", The Dance Insider, Flash Review, 5-12, 2006
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