英美概况之爱尔兰4

Chapter

14:Irish

Culture:

Language,Literature

and

ArtsLanguageThe

issue

of

language

is

heavilypoliticized.

Traditionally,

the

Irish

peoplespoke

their

own

language,

called

Irish

orErse.

It

is

a

very

ancient

(and

difficult)language

with

a

rich

oral

culture.LanguageUnder

English

colonial

policy,much

pressurewas

brought

to

bear(推动）

to

stop

the

Irishpeople

speaking

their

own

language

and

to

learnstandard

English

instead.SincetheIrish

peoplefelt,instinctively（凭觉）,that

to

lose

their

language

was

to

lose

theirnative

culture,they

resisted

this

policy

stronglUntil

the

mid-19th

century

Irish

was

still

spoke

widely

by

the

peasant

classes.LanguageThe

death

blow

to

the

Irish

language

was

the

Great

Famine

of

1845-48,

in

which

abouttwo

million

Irish

people

emigrated

or

died.Most

of

the

Irish-speaker

were

peasants.After

the

first

Irish

national

state

was

set

up(the

Free

State

of

1922),

under

Eamonn

DeValera’s

government,theschoolsystem

wasreconfigured

（重新恢复）so

that

it

taught

theIrish

language

to

all

Irish

children

from

the

age

ofour

until

they

left

school

at

fifteen.LanguageNo

one

may

enter

the

civil

service

or

thediplomatic

core

or

the

teaching

profession

infirst-

and

second-level

schools

without

havinga

certain

level

of

competence

in

the

Irishlanguage.Despite

such

official

pressures,

the

language

that

is

spoken

universally

in

theRepublic

of

Ireland

is

a

version

of

standardEnglish

known

as

Hiberno-English.Oral

CultureAlthough

the

Irish

do

not

generally

now

speakIrish,

they

do

retain

one

element

of

their

nativculture:

they

talk.The

Irish

value

good

talk,

and

they

love

a

goodstory.The

basis

for

this

is,

of

course,

in

the

originapeasant

culture,

which

made

the

transfer

froman

oral

to

a

written

culture

only

slowly

in

thelate

19th

century.Art

CultureIreland

is

a

traditional

culture

and

it

is

truesay

virtually

every

art

form

in

Ireland

derivesfrom

its

rich

folk

heritage.In

Ireland,

writers

may

publish

in

either

theIrish

or

the

English

language.In

dance,Ireland

is

known

throughout

the

world

for

the

intricacy(错综复杂）

and

fervour（热情）

of

its

folk

dances,rearranged

andmodernized

in

the

current

stage

production

ofRiverdance.LiteratureThe

first

stories

told

in

Ireland

were

not

onlyoral,

but

were

recited

in

the

Irish

language,

ait

was

the

first

language

of

land.The

first

poem

identified

as

“Irish”,

forinstance,

is

the

saga

of

the

Tain,

which

wastransmitted

orally

for

centuries

before

it

waswrittendown.LiteratureIn

modern

times

alone,the

territory

that

hasbecome

the

Republic

of

Ireland

has

been

thehome

of

four

winners

of

the

Nobel

Prize

forLiterature:the

poets,W.B.Yeats(济慈1865-19and

Seamus

Heaney(1939-);and

theplaywrights,George

Bernard

Shaw(肖伯纳1856-1950)and

Samuel

Beckett(毕吉特）1906-1989).Self-conscious

avant-garde:

Oscar

Wilde

(18561900),

James

Joyce(1882-1941)

and

SamuelBeckett.In

Ireland,

the

poet

and

the

writer

are

honoredabove

all

other

artists.Music

and

DanceThe

oldestform

of

music

is

that

embodied（体现）by

the

sean

nos

or“old

style”ofsinging.Traditionally,sean

nos

is

sung

bythe

unaccompanied（无伴奏）

voice.Thesinger

will

often

close

his

eyes

and

hold

onehand

behind

his

ear,to

hear

himself

better.The

words

are

always

in

Irish.Usually

thesong

is

about

unrequited

（无结果的）loveand

is

a

lament（伤心）

for

lost

love.The

lastline

is

spoken,not

sung.The

Irish

pipe

（风笛）is

distinctive.Music

and

DanceDancing

is

traditionally

part

of

Irish

culturFiddlers

（小提琴手）became

common

in

theearly

19th

century

in

Ireland

and

Irish

fiddlertodayarewell-known

for

their

repertoire（多种剧目）

of

jigs

and

reels,

hornpipes

andslides（快步舞，旋转舞，号笛及U字型滑音管）Visual

CultureIf

one

looks

at

Ireland’s

accomplishments（成就）

they

are

in

literature

and

music—arts

of

the

ear,particularly

as

they

aremanifest（表演）

in

the

old

oral

culture—notof

the

eye.Sports

CultureThe

performance

culture

which

elicits

（表现出）the

most

passionate

response

in

the

Irishpeople

is

sports,such

as

soccer

or

football,rugby

football（橄榄球）,hurling

（爱尔兰棒球）and

golf.Other

widely

popular

sports

are

sailing,tennis

and

running.

But

that

nearest

the

Irishheart

must

be

the

sport

of

horse-racing.Watching

horse

racing

combines

severalelements

that

the

Irish

particularly

enjoy:

itvery

sociable,

involves

valuable

and

elegantanimals,

and

is

an

occasion

for

placing

a

bet.What

Is

Irish

about

IrishCultureIreland

is

a

culture

where

art

flourishes,although

the

arts

that

flourish

mostvigorously

are

those

associated

with

the

ear,not

the

eye.Ireland

is

alsoaverypeople-oriented（以人为本）society,which

regards

the

family

ascentral

to

its

values.What

is

clear

today

is

that

Ireland

is

still

anation

that

is

making

itself—and

the

firstplace

a

nation

makes

itself

is

in

itsimagination.What

Is

Irish

about

IrishCultureToday

Ireland

is

considered

to

be

one

ofthe

most

globally-oriented

（面向世界的）societies

in

the

Western

world.One

of

thereasons

that

Irish

people

look

outward,towards

the

larger

world,is

that

they

havehad

a

history

of

emigration.What

Is

Irish

about

IrishCultureThe

Irish

diaspora（海外侨民）:as