He was the greatest living Irishman of my generation. Now he is the greatest dead Irishman of my generation. For the first time I realise what Gore Vidal meant when, watching the funeral of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1962, he remarked: "Well that's that. We're really on our own now."
Not quite.
His books beckon a new generation. They will warn them against what he called "sacral nationalism", that murderous mix of religion and nationalism which seduces each new era by dressing in new garb.
But at least the form it took in my generation, that of the Provisional IRA, is finished forever.
That vampire of violence is in the grave with a stake through its heart. Written on the wood is one name: Conor Cruise O'Brien.
Eoghan Harris on Conor Cruise O'Brien.
2 comments:
Excellent reminder, that of the dangerous mix of religion and nationalism.
Just who is Cromwell a hero to these days?
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