Madam, - Desmond Wilson (September 30th) sees John Bruton's examination of the 1916 rebellion as the normal "hankering after kings" which follows "a successful revolution or rebellion".
However, a critical examination of popular perceptions surrounding violent events in a nation's history suggests they are much more complicated, and indeed more important, than that.
There is a strong tendency after a violent conflict to present the conflict, and acts committed therein, as "inevitable", and "the only thing that could have been done at the time". An example of this phenomenon is evident in the collapse of Yugoslavia.
The perceived inevitability in this case was summed up in the "ancient hatreds" theory - i.e., that these groups historically hated each other so much that it was impossible for them to share the same country peacefully. While this idea is appealingly neat, it ignores the crucial role played by power-crazed politicians from all sides who created a climate of terror, corruption and violence, making themselves rich and influential in the process.
The point is that disregarding the notion that such defining events were "inevitable" allows for a deeper analysis, and thus a better understanding, of the dynamics behind episodes which have been so important in shaping our modern concepts of nationalism and identity. - Yours, etc.,
DONAL QUINN, Athenry, Co Galway.
Madam, - Blinded, no doubt, by burning tears of righteous indignation, Robin Bury (September 29th) failed not only to read my letter (September 23rd) but even to offer what literary critics nowadays call "a strong misreading".
Specifically, he did not notice that I was not attacking the Reform Movement but defending the Church of Ireland. In theological terms, I was deliberately apophatic: my assertion was, and is, that the Church of Ireland is not racist, supremacist, West British or unionist. I made no assertion whatever about what the Reform Movement is.
Mr Bury describes this as "a scurrilous sideswipe". To be accused of scurrility is, for me, not a light matter. Scurra in Latin means "a jester or buffoon", and it is true that I have earned a living for nearly 30 years as an actor, not infrequently entertaining children as a buffoon, which I particularly enjoy. But in modern English "scurrilous" connotes "grossly or indecently abusive" (Concise Oxford Dictionary), which I was not - neither to Mr Bury nor his Reform Movement.
My letter in defence of the Church of Ireland was wholly serious and should not be trivialised by a lazy misreading.
If he will dry his tears, Mr Bury will see that the real target of my letter was that prize buffoon John Bruton, whose fatuous naïveté and culpable ignorance led him into unwarranted and unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of the Church of Ireland.
Talk of "silencing by abuse and misrepresentation" a movement which has the active support of the British Ambassador has nothing to do with my letter or my intentions. To me, the very phrase smacks of scurrilous sideswipes, which I heartily deplore. - Yours, etc.
NIALL CUSACK, Ashley Avenue, Belfast 9.
Madam, - From time to time The Irish Times's Letters page throws new light on history. I congratulate you on providing space for Dermot Meleady (September 20th) to show that the sequence of the Boer War, German atrocities in Belgium and the signing of the Home Rule Bill fully account for Redmond's position and provide honourable motives for Irishmen to volunteer for the British army. - Yours, etc.,
MÁIRE MULLARNEY, Main Street, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.