Roddy Doyle Talks to
Joanna KosmalskaThis interview is part of a literature project DEC-2011/01/B/HS2/05120 financed by the National Science Centre

Kosmalska, Joanna

Roddy, Doyle

Text Matters

English

Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego (University of Lodz Repository)

JOANNA KOSMALSKA: In some of your recent works you tackle the is-sues of migration. Tell me, have you ever lived outside Ireland?RODDY DOYLE:<HV,bKDYH,bVSHQWğYH PRQWKV LQ :HVW *HUPDQ\,b OLYHG LQ /RQGRQ IRU VHYHUDO SH-riods, which, added together, DPRXQWHG WR DERXW Db \HDU /DWHU,bZHQWWR1HZ<RUNIRUVL[PRQWKV:KHQ,bZDVDbVWXGHQW,bZRUNHGLQGermany and London. The sum-PHUVZHUHYHU\ORQJ,bZRXOGOHDYHWKH GD\ DIWHU WKH H[DPV ğQLVKHGDQG ,b ZRXOG FRPH EDFN QRW RQthe day when college started, but on the day when you’d be struck off the register if you didn’t turn XS2QFH ,b OHIW LQ HDUO\0D\ DQG,bFDPHEDFNLQ1RYHPEHUJK: How about New York?RD:,Q1HZ<RUN,bZDVWHDFKLQJLQDbFROOHJHLQ0DQKDWWDQIRUDbVHPHV-WHU,bORYHGWKHFLW\DQG,bZRXOGQĳWmind spending more time there. We stayed in the States right through the winter. It was spectacular. Al-though we did not get any hur-ricane, we experienced the snow-IDOO ZKLFKZH KDYH KDG Db ELW QRZin Ireland for the last few years, but at that point me and my chil-dren would have never seen snow DQG WKDWZDV Db GDLO\ RFFXUUHQFH LQNew York in the wintertime. As for WKH WHDFKLQJ VLGH RI LW ,b KDG EHHQDb WHDFKHU IRU IRXUWHHQ\HDUV ,b KDGHQMR\HGLWEXW,bZRXOGQĳWOLNHWREHteaching all the time. Even though it was college teaching, so it was quite GLIIHUHQW,bGRQĳWWKLQNLWZRXOGEHDbJRRGPRYHIRUPHWRJREDFNLQWRWHDFKLQJ-XVWDVDbYDULHW\QRZDQGthen. Besides, it gave me the ex-cuse to live in New York, which was wonderful.JK:+DYH\RXKDGDbFKDQFHWRYLVLWPoland?RD: ,bZDVLQ3RODQGLQ,WZDVDb ORQJWLPHDJR,bZDVDbJHRJUDSK\VWXGHQW LQ 8&' EDFN WKHQ DQG LWThe Privilege to Write What  You WantRoddy Doyle Talks to Joanna Kosmalska18QLYHUVLW\RIöGě 7KLVLQWHUYLHZLVDbSDUWRIDbOLWHUDWXUHSURMHFW'(&%+6ğQDQFHGE\WKH1DWLRQDO6FLHQFH&HQWUHBrought to you by | Uniwersytet LodzkiAuthenticatedDownload Date | 4/29/15 4:29 PM245Roddy Doyle Talks to Joanna KosmalskaZDVDbSDUWRIRXUSURJUDPPH,bWUDY-HOOHGZLWKDbJURXSRISHRSOHRQWKHbus. We went through West and East *HUPDQ\ LQWR 3RODQG ğUVW DFURVVthe country into Warsaw and then south to Wadowice, where the pope ZDVERUQ,WZDVDbEHDXWLIXOFLW\JK: :KDW ZHUH \RXU ğUVW LPSUHV-sions?RD: You have to bear in mind that ,bZDVYLVLWLQJDb&RPPXQLVWFRXQWU\RUZKDWZDVDQDWWHPSWDWDb&RP-munist country. I’d just come through Germany, and I’d been to East and West Berlin, so the differ-ences were very stark. Really stark. One of the things that struck me immediately while driving through (DVW *HUPDQ\ ZDV KRZ ĠDW LW DOOwas, and how few divisions of land WKHUHZHUH-XVWYDVWDUHDVOLNHRQHKXJH ğHOG ,WPD\ KDYHPDGH HFR-nomic sense but it was all dreary to look at. It was so boring. Then we went to Poland and it also seemed ĠDWTXLWHLQFRQWUDVWZLWKP\RZQFRXQWU\1RVHD,bFRXOGVHHDQ\ZD\Warsaw struck me at the time as DbSODFHWKDWKDGEHHQEXLOWLQDbKXU-ry, which was true. The reconstruc-tion works were going on at the WLPHEXWLWZDVVWLOODbYHU\QHZSUR-ject. That was interesting itself. The 3DODFH RI &XOWXUH ZDV OLNH VRPH-thing taken out from George Or-well’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. In fact, it may well have been. The couple RI GHSDUWPHQW VWRUHV WKDW ,b ZHQWinto were almost empty. Empty of variety. People queuing up outside the shops. A lot of queues. A lot of vodka. People were friendly.JK: Any second thoughts on the visit?RD: My politics has always been to the left. What the visit had done ZKHQ,bFDPHKRPHDQGLWDOOEHJDQWRVLQNLQZDVVKDSHP\EHOLHIV,bZDVZKHQ ,bZHQW WR3RODQG%\ WKHWLPH,bWXUQHGP\SROLWLFDOYLHZVZHUH PRUH SUHFLVH DQG ,b ZRXOGQĳWKDYHFRQVLGHUHGP\VHOIDb&RPPX-QLVW ,b GLGQĳW OLNHZKDW ,b VDZ DIWHUWKH%HUOLQ:DOO,bWRRNDbYHU\NHHQinterest in the Solidarity movement LQ WKH ODWHV ,bNHSWP\VHOIXSto date and when any books were DSSHDULQJ ,b ERXJKW WKHP LPPH-GLDWHO\ ,b UHDG YLUWXDOO\ HYHU\WKLQJ,bFRXOGOD\P\KDQGVRQHVSHFLDOO\Db ORW RI 7LPRWK\*DUWRQ$VK+HKDGDbJUHDWIDPLOLDULW\ZLWK3RODQG(DVW*HUPDQ\DQG&]HFKRVORYDNLD$V ,b VWDUWHG WR ZULWH DURXQG WKDWWLPH ,b UHDOL]HGZKDW Db SULYLOHJH LWwas to write exactly what you want. People can react with it and say it is rubbish. But there is no one to say you can’t write that whereas that was the case with the intellectuals in, what was then called, Eastern (XURSH ,W ZDV Db IDVFLQDWLQJ YLVLWBut it was almost like visiting histo-U\7LPHWUDYHO,bKDYHQĳWJRQHEDFN\HWZKLFKLVVWUDQJHLQDbZD\JK:,UHODQGLQWXUQWRRNDbOHDSIRU-ward. What would you say has been WKHPRVWVLJQLğFDQWFKDQJH LQ,UH-ODQGVLQFHWKHV"Brought to you by | Uniwersytet LodzkiAuthenticatedDownload Date | 4/29/15 4:29 PM246Roddy Doyle Talks to Joanna KosmalskaRD: ,b ZRXOG VD\ LW LV UHĠHFWLYH LQthe census, in the proportion of people who weren’t born in Ireland but are living their lives here. Effec-tively they are citizens, even though OHJDOO\ WKH\ DUH QRW ,W LV Db KXJHproportion of population and it’s Db PXFK PRUH FRPSOLFDWHG SLFWXUHthan it used to be the case. That is for me the most important change. JK: How did Irish people cope with this massive wave of immigrants?RD: One thing that reassures me that we didn’t cope too badly with it is the fact that immigration has QHYHU EHHQ Db SROLWLFDO HOHFWRUDO LV-sue. Nobody has ever jumped up and claimed that there was an ex-cessive amount of immigrants. 1RERG\ KDV VDLG WKHUHZDV Db KLJKnumber of unemployed people and if we got rid of the immigrants, ZHZRXOGKDYH Db ORZHUXQHPSOR\-PHQWUDWH7KDWKDVEHHQDb VLPSOHstupid mathematics often in the UK and their far-right parties that have seats in councils and seats in Europe, not in the House of Par-OLDPHQW ,bZRXOGQĳW FDOO LW UDFLVW DVsuch, but that extreme negative point hasn’t been made out loud in Ireland because nobody wants to hear it. If any politician or peo-ple who aspire to political ambition felt that it would grant them extra support, they would start shout-LQJ$QG,bKDYHQĳWKHDUGLW7KDWLVDbJRRGWKLQJOn the other hand, the fact that I’ve QHYHUVHHQDbEODFN*DUGDLVZRUU\-ing. By now we should hear Garda speaking accents other than rural Ireland. We should be seeing Garda that either haven’t been born in Ire-land or whose parents haven’t been born here. We haven’t seen that in WKH SXEOLF VHFWRU \HW ,b WKLQN WKDWintegration is needed. Efforts have to be made to bring immigrants into the institutions of the state to UHĠHFW WKH IDFWV WKDWKDYHEHHQ UH-vealed in the census. JK: 7KHUHDUHDbORWRI3ROLVKSHRSOHamong the immigrants. How do the Irish perceive Poles?RD:$V IDU DV ,b FDQPDNHRXW ,ĳYHnever heard about any hostility to-wards the Polish people. In fact, the attitude of the Irish is quite warm. 7KH\IHHOFHUWDLQDIğQLW\(YHQSHR-ple like myself, who have no religion, EXWWKH\ZHUHEURXJKWXS&DWKROLF7KH\XQGHUVWDQGLW,I,bDPZDONLQJRQDbSURPHQDGHRXWVLGHRQDb6XQGD\,bFDQRIWHQWHOOZKRWKH3ROLVKSHRSOHare because they are dressed in their Sunday clothes. That used to happen KHUHLQWKHVDQGVZKHQ,bZDVDbNLG7KH,ULVKSHRSOHGRQĳWGRWKDWanymore. But the knowledge of it is still bubbling away inside them. The Polish people are here to remind us what we used to be like. There is also Db FHUWDLQ UK\WKP WR WKH 3ROLVK OLIHthat is probably very similar to the  $FFRUGLQJWRWKH&HQWUDO6WDWLVWLFV2IğFH WKH HVWLPDWHG QXPEHU RI 3ROLVKimmigrants in Ireland amounts to about Brought to you by | Uniwersytet LodzkiAuthenticatedDownload Date | 4/29/15 4:29 PM247Roddy Doyle Talks to Joanna Kosmalskarhythm of the Irish life. The Poles are also similar in that they land in DbQHZSODFHDQGRUJDQL]HWKHPVHOYHVinto communities straightaway. The Irish do exactly the same when they go abroad.-. ,V WKHUH Db VWHUHRW\SHRI Db3ROHin Ireland?5'$OO,bHYHUKHDULVWKDWWKHVWDQG-ard of work by Polish men is bril-liant. And they clean up after work, unlike Irish guys. They turn up on WLPH<RXGRQĳW VPHOO DbGULQN ,ĳYHnever heard anybody say “Bloody 3ROHVĵ DQG ,b GRQĳW WKLQN WKHUH KDVbeen any change of the attitude de-spite the crisis.JK: Some of your recent works de-pict Polish characters. One of them is “The Bandstand.” How did it come about?RD: ,b DSSURDFKHG WKH HGLWRUV RIMetro Éireann &KLQHGX 2Q\H-jelem and Abel Ugba, and asked WKHP LI ,b FRXOG FRQWULEXWH WR WKHmulticultural magazine they were JRLQJDKHDGZLWK,bVWDUWHGWRZULWHshort stories for them, which were SXEOLVKHG LQ LQVWDOPHQWV )RU WKHğUVW WLPH ,b KDG WR ZRUN FORVH WRthe deadlines, under more pressure than I’d been used to. JK: Have you tried to mirror the way Polish people speak?RD: I’ve noticed that most Eastern Europeans have really good Eng-lish. They are very articulate and ĠXHQW %XW WKHLU ODQJXDJH LV RIWHQunnaturally formal, as if taken from DbFRXUVHERRN<RXFDQWHOO WKHUHĳVVRPHWKLQJQRWTXLWHULJKW6R,bXQ-derdo the characters’ English to mark that it is not their mother WRQJXH ,b SXW Db OLWWOH FUDFN LQ WKHsentences now and then. It doesn’t hinder the understanding but sig-nals that it’s their second language. JK: Are your characters based on real people?RD: 1RWKH\DUHQĳW,bNQRZVRPHAfrican people but not many Polish. “The Bandstand” came out of an ar-WLFOH,bVDZLQThe Irish Times. It was Db VWRU\ RI Db 3ROLVK JX\ZKR FDPHKHUH ZLWK Db XQLYHUVLW\ GHJUHH EXWQR(QJOLVK+HFRXOGQĳWğQGDb MREand ended up homeless but was too SURXGWRJRKRPH7KDWZDVDbVWDUW-LQJSRLQW7KHQ,bGLGVRPHREVHUY-ing in pubs and streets. It got my imagination going.JK: Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today.   WORKS CITED&HQWUDO6WDWLVWLFV2IğFH3UHVV5HOHDVH&HQVXV3URğOH0LJUDWLRQDQGDiversity. :HE&622FW:HE0DUrought to you by | Uniwersytet LodzkiAuthenticatedDownload Date | 4/29/15 4:29 PM

The Privilege to Write What You Want

Biblioteka Nauki - repozytorium artykuÅÃ³w

http://dspace.uni.lodz.pl:8080/xmlui/bitstream/11089/8527/1/text_matters_vol4_2014_244_247.pdf

The Privilege to Write What You Want

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Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego (University of Lodz Repository)

Biblioteka Nauki - repozytorium artykuÅÃ³w

The Privilege to Write What You Want

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego (University of Lodz Repository)

Biblioteka Nauki - repozytorium artykuÅÃ³w

Biblioteka Nauki - repozytorium artykuÅÃ³w