Rossa's Recollections, 1838 to 1898: Memoirs of an Irish Revolutionary - Softcover

O'Donovan Rossa, Jeremiah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592283624 ISBN 13: 9781592283620

Publisher: Lyons Pr, 2004

Synopsis

In this colorful, detailed account, nineteenth-century Irish patriot and revolutionary Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa describes his life's experiences, tracing his early boyhood growing up on his grandfather's farm in Renascreena, his thirteen-year imprisonment for his involvement in the Fenian movement, and finally his exile to America, where he continued his activities in support of Irish independence.

In this epic memoir he tells of learning the Irish language as a child, of sitting around turf fires and hearing tales of fairies and battles, of landlords seizing the wheat crop for rent when the potato crop failed, and of his family being evicted from their home. Through it a portrait emerges of Ireland in the mid- to late 1800s, revealing what life was truly like for the Irish people.

Rossa's rambling style, with frequent digressions and asides, makes the narrative read like a fireside conversation between friends. He tells his story with frankness and honesty but without bitterness. Although he died six years before his beloved Ireland won its independence, his words no doubt influenced the next generation of revolutionaries.

About this title

About the Author

Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was born in Rosscarbery, County Cork, in 1831 and in 1856 founded the Phoenix National and Literary Society "for the liberation of Ireland by force of arms." He was jailed in 1858, accused of plotting the Fenian Rising in 1865, tried for high treason, and sentenced to penal servitude for life, but was released in 1871 and exiled to America. While in New York he edited the United Irishman, raised £40,000 for the Fenian movement, and funded the Holland Submarine Project. He died in New York City in 1915 and was returned to Ireland for a hero's burial, with Patrick Pearse delivering his famous oration at his graveside.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Many of the neighbors used to sit skurreechting at night at my father's fireside, and it was here I learned many matters of Irish history before I was able to read history. It was here I came to know Tead Andy, of whom I wrote thirty years ago, when I was in an English prison:

In songs and ballads he took great delight,
And prophecies of Ireland yet being freed,
And singing them by our fireside at night,
I learned songs from Tead, before I learned to read.

That fireside was a big open hearth. . . . Then with a turf fire and a big skulb of ver in that fire that lighted the plates on the dresser below with the photograph of all who were sitting in front of it, I, standing or sitting in the embrace of one of the men, would listen to stories of all the fairies that were 'showing' themselves from Carrig-Cliona to Inish-Owen, and of all the battles that were fought in Christendom and out of Christendom."

About this edition

• Publisher: Lyons Pr
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1592283624
• ISBN 13: 9781592283620
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432
• Illustrator: O Luing Sean