Postcard 10 - Sub-genre - 'Irishness'

Dear John,

Last week I told you I was reading a few travel books written by Bill Bryson and Shaun Briley. The books were both very funny to read - especially How Not to Live Abroad by Briley - and some classmates and I are going to give a presentation about the sub-genre ‘Sense of Place’ in a few weeks. Marlous, Jennifer and Tessa gave their presentation about their sub-genre this evening and it was about ‘Irishness’. Well, I hadn’t ever heard about that, but their presentation was so much interesting that I want to give you a summary of it.

Those girls had read some books about their theme and they had done some research. They had read the lovely books Angela’s Ashes, T’is a Memoir and Jaywalking with the Irish, and they told us something about the content. Irish people are known for their friendliness and warmth and these facts were also shown in those books. The strange thing they detected during their research, was that Irish people often leave their country and decide to start a new life anywhere else. But, after years of discontent, they come back to Ireland and start to live there again.

This group of students wasn’t able to tell us if there is a reason for this phenomenon and they called it the ‘secret of the Irish’. If it will remain a secret I don’t know, but it sounded remarkable to me. Maybe it’s an option for you to go to Ireland and write a detailed travel book or story about the people living there. I’ll look forward to buy it!

All the best,
Neline