Oscar Wilde? Blah blah blah. W. B. Yeats? Blah away, O human child. Jim Bob Joyce? Blah, blah. Blah: blah. Ten million web pages devoted to each of those well-known bastards.
You'll find no hype here. No rehashed university essays. I'm highlighting Ireland's overlooked, equally noteworthy literary talent, and I'm doing it in my own words.
On 27 November, 2004, I had an appointment reserved to meet Kildare-based author, Martin Malone. I blew him off and went to the Opera instead. D'oh! By way of apology, allow me to shamelessly plug The Broken Cedar, his critically acclaimed novel about life, death, and Irish military policemen in Lebanon.
Lebanon (I hear you DFA surfers thinking), that place where two hundred and forty-one US Marines were savagely killed in 1983?
I thought the Irish were neutral, anyway. What were they doing in such a hellhole?
Malone was, until his recent retirement, a career soldier in Ireland's Defence Forces. Yes, we are neutral here, but not helpless. Help is what we offer. In the last fifty years, Ireland's 10,000-strong army has taken part in many peacekeeping missions, from the Congo to Cyprus to Kosovo, Somalia and Iraq. Mick's imaginary beatnik beanie is off to this foreign policy, charitable assistance without self-interest. Forty-six Irish peacekeepers have paid the ultimate price in southern Lebanon alone, serving the mission to bring resolution to conflicts we had no part creating.
The Broken Cedar is a novel that explores the tragedies and terrors that arise from this situation. The central character is a Lebanese Muslim named Khalil, haunted by the brutal lynching of an Irish peacekeeper. Years later, as terminal cancer is closing its grip on Khalil's body, the son- following in his father's honorable peacekeeping footsteps- comes knocking on Khalil's humble shop door, seeking answers. "Why?" [Khalil replies] "To drive through a village in morning for its dead- [escorting an American soldier,] the main ally of their sworn enemy! Ah, Sergeant, come now."
But war and politics are only part of the story. Khalil- and this novel is a character piece, above all- is not what that spa Rush Limbaugh would lead one to expect. In 306 pages, Malone explores the point of view of a Muslim who is not a bloodthirsty extremist. Here comes the brutal human truth, from an author who spent five tours of duty among these people.
Lest anyone think that this is a The Empty Cistern of a book, allow me to abandon obscure Michener references long enough to reassure: Malone has written a mystery, one whose secrets are not revealed until the very last page. Sex. Death. Hash. Shotguns and rockets, domestic disputes, cash in hand and cheap electronics. Khalil twists, helping the Irish son locate his father's remains, without unearthing a past that is still uneasy in its grave. There's plenty to enjoy as well as much to consider. The book satisfies both the need to understand and the need to be entertained.
In 2004, The Broken Cedar was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, a worldwide prize that carries €100,000 in booty. Fair play to Malone, one of only three Irish authors to be tapped! The winner will be announced in June 2005. Me, I've got my fingers crossed. Four stars out of five, and a promise not to let the opportunity slip if I get another chance to hear what this man has to say.
- Added to the DFA Guide, January 2005.
Guide Index. Red words? Check the Dub Glossary!