Lady Gregory's Toothbrush

Departure from New York -- Dialogues wih the poor -- Visit to the country of Wicklow -- The Church of Kilbride -- The seconds cabin of a canal-boat -- Cabin life-Urlingford Spa -- The spirit of caste injurious in Ireland -- Nunnery at Thurles -- A miserable Protestant lodging-house -- Walk to Loughrea -- Novel interior of a cabin -- Start for another tour -- Public buildings in Wexford -- Reception from father Mathew -- Cloyne -- Exploration in Bantry -- Rambles in Glengariff -- Accident at Kenmare -- Fellow travellers on the Kerry Mountains -- An Americanized Irishman -- Rough road -- Sunrise on the Kerry Mountains -- Tralee -- Sail up the Shannon to Limerick -- Clifden -- Misfortunes in Clifden -- Sunday sermons -- Mr. Nangle's notice. 'Bernard Adams has produced a terrific biography of a truclent maverick' - Neil Donnelly, Irish Independent 'This excellent biography will undoubtedly stimulate further interest in the work while providing fitting tribute to a remarkable Irishman.' - P.J. Mathews, Irish Times 'A masterly biography. Rarely was a biographer better served by his subject. Johnston was an enthusiastic archivist who left a wealth of secret diaries, autobiographical writings and recordings, scrapbooks and unpublished memoirs in his wake. These sources are judiciously used and amplified by the author's keen sense of Johnston's milieu to provide an intriguing narrative of a fascinating life.' - P.J. Mathews, Irish Times 'Bernard Adams sets out from a secure base and he tells his story of Johnston's life fluently.' -W.J. McCormack, Sunday Business Post 'Denis Johnston: A Life is clearly a labour of love. It is also a thoroughly good read.' - Emer O'Kelly, Sunday Independent This is the first biography of Denis Johnston, barrister, theatre director, film-maker, pioneering television producer, war correspondent, essayist and celebrated playwright. Johnston was of Ulster Presbyterian stock, born into Edwardian Dublin, where he was briefly held hostage in his family home at Lansdowne Road during the 1916 Rising. Son of a Supreme Court judge, he was schooled at St Andrew's in Dublin, in Edinburgh and Christ's College, Cambridge, and at Harvard University. He made the name of the Gate Theatre in 1929 with his astonishing first play The Old Lady Says 'No!', created the radio epic 'Lillibulero' for the BBC in Belfast, and earned an OBE for his war reporting from North Africa, Yugoslavia and Buchenwald. In 1950 he decamped to New York and taught for many years at colleges in Massachusetts, founding the Poets' Theatre in Boston. An Irishman of wide horizons and wit, and a prodigal dissenter, his multi-faceted life illuminates the cultural history of the past century. He was turbulently married to the actresses Shelah Richards and Betty Chancellor, and had four children, among them the novelist Jennifer Johnston. In this masterly biography, Adams draws upon Johnston's copious and intimate diaries, letters and uncompleted autobiography deposited in Trinity College, Dublin, cataloguing the 'untidy museum' of his subject's past. The result is an enthralling narrative of the extraordinary secret life of a complex, self-doubting individual, which brings new light to bear on one of the twentieth century's most original Irish writers. BERNARD ADAMS, a Dubliner with Ulster roots similar to Johnston's, went to school at Portora in Enniskillen and read English at Trinity College, Dublin. He became a journalist in Belfast and had a long career as a BBC television producer in London. He is now a full-time writer. 'It is the battle between those who use a toothbrush and those who don't.' So wrote Augusta Gregory to W.B. Yeats; she was referring to the riots at the Abbey Theatre over The Playboy of the Western World, and she knew which side she was on. In this remarkable biographical essay, Colm Toibin examines the contradictions that defined the position of this essential figure in Irish cultural history. The wife of a landlord and MP who had been personally responsible for introducing measures that compounded the misery of the Irish peasantry during the Great Famine, Lady Gregory devoted much of her creative energy to idealizing the same peasantry — while never abandoning the aristocratic hauteur, the social connections or the great house which her birth and marriage had bequeathed her. Early in her writing life, her politics were staunchly unionist — yet she campaigned for the freedom of Egypt from colonial rule. Later she wrote plays celebrating rebellion, but trembled in her bed when the Irish revolution threatened her property and her way of life. Lady Gregory's capacity to occupy mutually contradictory positions was essential to her heroic work as a founder and director of the Abbey Theatre — nurturing Synge and O'Casey, battling rioters and censors — and to her central role in the career of W. B. Yeats. She was Yeats's artistic collaborator (writing most of Cathleen Ni Houlihan, for example), his helpmeet, and his diplomatic wing. Toibin's account of Yeats's attempts — by turns glorious and graceless — to memorize Lady Gregory's son Robert when he was killed in the First World War, and of Lady Gregory's pain at her loss and at the poet's appropriation of it, is a moving tour de force of literary history. Toibin also reveals a side of Lady Gregory that is at odds with the received image of a chilly dowager. Early in her marriage to Sir William Gregory, she had an affain with the poet and anti-imperialist Wilfred Scawen Blunt and wrote a series of torrid love sonnets that Blunt published under his own name. Much later in life, as she neared her sixtieth birthday, she fell in love with the great patron of arts John Quinn, who was eighteen years her junior. Lady Gregory's Toothbrush is a sharp, concentrated, witty and much-needed reassessment of a major cultural figure who has been oddly taken for granted and often badly misunderstood. 'It is the battle between those who use a toothbrush and those who don't.' So wrote Augusta Gregory to W.B. Yeats; she was referring to the riots at the Abbey Theatre over The Playboy of the Western World, and she knew which side she was on. In this remarkable biographical essay, Colm Toíbín examines the contradictions that defined the position of this essential figure in Irish cultural history, The wife of a landlord and MP who had been personally responsible for introducing measures that compounded the misery of the Irish peasantry during the Great Famine, Lady Gregory devoted much of her creative energy to idealizing the same peasantry – while never abandoning the aristocratic hauteur, the social connections or the great house which her birth and marriage had bequeathed her. Early in her writing life, her politics were staunchly unionist – yet she campaigned for the freedom of Egypt from colonial rule. Later she wrote plays celebrating rebellion, but trembled in her bed when the Irish revolution threatened her property and her way of life. Lady Gregory's capacity to occupy mutually contradictory positions was essential to her heroic work as a founder and director of the Abbey Theatre – nurturing Synge and O'Casey, battling rioters and censors – and to her central role in the career of W. B. Yeats. She was Yeats's artistic collaborator (writing most of Cathleen Ní Houlihan, for example), his helpmeet, and his diplomatic wing. Toíbín's account of Yeats's attemts – by turns glorious and graceless – to memorize Lady Gregory's son Robert when he was killed in the First World War, and of Lady Gregory's pain at her loss and at the poet's appropriation of it, is a moving tour de force of literary history. Toíbín also reveals a side of Lady Gregory that is at odds with the received image of a chilly dowager. Early in her marriage to Sir William Gregory, she had an affain with the poet and anti-imperialist Wilfred Scawen Blunt and wrote a series of torrid love sonnets that Blunt published under his own name. Much later in life, as she neared her sixtieth birthday, she fell in love with the great patron of arts John Quinn, who was eighteen years her junior. Lady Gregory's Toothbrush is a sharp, concentrated, witty and much-needed reassessment of a major cultural figure who has been oddly taken for granted and often badly misunderstood. "In this biographical essay. Colm Toibin examines the contradictions that defined the position of this essential figure in Irish cultural history. The wife of a landlord and MP who had been personally responsible for introducing measures that compounded the misery of the Irish peasantry during the Great Famine. Lady Gregory devoted much of her creative energy to idealizing that same peasantry - while never abandoning the aristocratic hauteur, the social connections or the great house which her birth and marriage had bequeathed to her. Early in her writing life, her politics were staunchly unionist - yet she campaigned for the freedom of Egypt from colonial rule. Later she wrote plays celebrating rebellion, but trembled in her bed when the Irish revolution threatened her property and her way of life." "Lady Gregory's capacity to occupy mutually contradictory positions was essential to her heroic work as a founder and director of the Abbey Theatre - nurturing Synge and O'Casey, battling rioters and censors - and to her central role in the career of W. B. Yeats. She was Yeats's artistic collaborator (writing most of Cathleen Ni Houlihan, for example), his helpmeet, and his diplomatic wing. Toibin's account of Yeats's attempts - by turns glorious and graceless - to memorialize Lady Gregory's son Robert when he was killed in the First World War, and of Lady Gregory's pain at her loss and at the poet's appropriation of it, is a moving tour de force of literary history." "Toibin also reveals a side of Lady Gregory that is at odds with the received image of a chilly dowager. Early in her marriage to Sir William Gregory, she had an affair with the poet and anti-imperialist Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and wrote a series of torrid love sonnets that Blunt published under his own name. Much later in life, as she neared her sixtieth birthday, she fell in love with the great patron of the arts John Quinn, who was eighteen years her junior."--BOOK JACKET "In this biographical essay, Colm Toibin examines the contradictions that defined the position of this essential figure in Irish cultural history. The wife of a landlord and MP who had been personally responsible for introducing measures that compounded the misery of the Irish peasantry during the Great Famine, Lady Gregory devoted much of her creative energy to idealizing that same peasantry - while never abandoning the aristocratic hauteur, the social connections, or the great house that her birth and marriage had bequeathed to her. Early in her writing life, her politics were staunchly unionist - yet she campaigned for the freedom of Egypt from colonial rule. Later she wrote plays celebrating rebellion, but trembled in her bed when the Irish revolution threatened her property and her way of life.". "Lady Gregory's capacity to occupy mutually contradictory positions was essential to her heroic work as a founder and director of the Abbey Theatre - nurturing Synge and O'Casey, battling rioters and censors - and to her central role in the career of W.B. Yeats. She was Yeats's artistic collaborator (writing most of Cathleen Ni Houlihan, for example), his helpmeet, and his diplomatic wing. Toibin's account of Yeats's attempts - by turns glorious and graceless - to memorialize Lady Gregory's son Robert when he was killed in the First World War, and of Lady Gregory's pain at her loss and at the poet's appropriation of it, is a tour de force of literary history.". "Toibin also reveals a side of Lady Gregory that is at odds with the received image of a chilly dowager. Early in her marriage to Sir William Gregory, she had an affair with the poet and anti-imperialist Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and wrote a series of torrid love sonnets that Blunt published under his own name. Much later in life, as she neared her sixtieth birthday, she fell in love with the great patron of the arts John Quinn, who was eighteen years her junior."--BOOK JACKET. This Is The First Biography Of Denis Johnston, Barrister, Theatre Director, Film-maker, Pioneering Television Producer, War Correspondent, Essayist And Celebrated Playwright. Johnston Was Of Ulster Presbyterian Stock, Born In 1901 Into Edwardian Dublin, Where During The Easter Rising He Was Briefly Held Hostage In His Family Home On Lansdowne Road. He Made The Name Of The Gate Theatre In 1929 With His Astonishing First Play, The Old Lady Says 'no!', And Went On To Become One Of The Most Celebrated English-language Playwrights Of The Time With The Moon In The Yellow River. During The 1930s He Worked For The Bbc, Creating The Radio Epic 'lillibulero' And Playing An Important Role In The Infancy Of British Television. He Earned An Obe For His Reporting From North Africa, Yugoslavia And Buchenwald During The Second World War, An Experience Chronicled In His Greatest Prose Work, Nine Rivers From Jordan. In 1950 He Decamped To New York And Later Taught For Many Years At American Colleges. He Was Turbulently Married To The Actresses Shelah Richards And Betty Chancellor, And Had Four Children, Among Them The Novelist Jennifer Johnston. An Irishman Of Wide Horizons And Wit, And A Prodigal Dissenter, His Multi-faceted Life Illuminates The Cultural History Of The Past Century.--jacket. Bernard Adams. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.