The Untilled Field

by George Moore

Originally published in 1903, The Untilled Field proved to be one of Moore's works that pleased Moore best for its affectionate portraits of Irish rural life. Though modeled initially on Turgenev's Tales of a Sportsman, the stories soon became original inspirations woven out of Moore's memories of the peasants who lived and worked on his family estate in Mayo. It is one of the richest and most perfectly written of his works. This new printing of the text of the 1931 edition includes two stories that Moore had originally omitted.

Genres: Ireland

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1903

About the author

George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.

As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola. His writings influenced James Joyce, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann, and, although Moore's work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist.

Reviews

[Fionnuala]

There is no story in this collection that shares the overall title, The Untilled Field, but there is the sense that all the stories contain some variation on the notion of 'untilled' whether in its literal sense, a tillage field left fallow, or its metaphorical sense, a resource unused or resting, but also the sense of things wasted or lost.

Irish author George Moore wrote these stories between 1888 and 1903, just before the novel that is considered his best work: The Lake (which I recently reviewed, in case you're wondering where you heard the name George Moore before). In fact Moore had originally intended The Lake to be included in this 1903 edition, feeling that it was an intrinsic part of the patchwork of scenes from rural life he'd sketched for The Untilled Field collection. And the priest character of The Lake shares some traits with clerical characters in these stories. But the story of The Lake grew and grew until it was clear to Moore that it wouldn't fit with the other pieces, and it was eventually published as a standalone novel in 1905. I'm glad I read it separately, but it left me keen to sample the other material Moore had been writing around the same time.

Moore originally conceived this group of stories as an Irish equivalent to Ivan Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album, the 1852 book that may have helped to bring about the emancipation of the Russian serf. Like Turgenev, Moore was interested in agrarian reform—in spite of his family being landowners who rented out their estate in small parcels to tenants who could barely grow enough in their scrappy fields to feed their families, never mind pay rent to the landlord.
At that very time, struggling tenants across Ireland were being asked by their bishops to contribute to the building of elaborate churches in every parish, churches that strike Moore as being ridiculously oversized considering the populations of the villages were getting smaller not bigger.

Because yes, this was not only a time of disease and early death but also of major emigration. Although encouraged by the Church to have large families, the people's small holdings couldn't offer a future for more than one of their offspring so the rest took the boat to England or the United States. There are several such families in these stories, and when it happens that the remaining son on a farm finds that the neighbour girl he planned to marry has followed her brothers and sisters across the Atlantic, he goes too, and his ageing father's fields are left untilled, his future children no longer destined to fill the pews of the big local church.

George Moore circles all this waste of people and land in interesting ways. He creates politically-minded characters who write pamphlets urging reform, and conscience-stricken priests who write to their archbishops urging leniency on their parishioners for the construction costs of the big churches. One such character writes to Rome with a novel solution for Ireland's rural problems. He points out that the best-fed, best-dressed, best-housed people in every parish are the clergy. He asks therefore that the Pope make an exception for Irish priests: the healthiest and best educated children would be those born in the priest's own house were he allowed to marry, and those children would be a major resource in building a better country.

The stories in this collection are like the road in the following quote: "Sometimes the road went straight on, sometimes it turned suddenly and went up-hill."
Some of the stories mosey along quietly, others suddenly surprised me.

[Homelessghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seriously do not understand people's negative criticism of this work. It is almost absurd. It is "outdated"? it was written in the 20th century! The stories might sound bland to some but these are stories from rural Ireland, stories of peasants. Without a doubt, it lacks the charm of the city as we can see in Dubliners (since it was compared to Dubliners most) but this book is a great reflection of the Irish Catholic Church and the life in parishes, very simple and not to mention poor. Moore shows the different opinions of and about clergy. He is anti-clerical but he does not demonise the religion. It is more about the transformation and the power of the church. It also sheds light to the issue of emigration great deal.

[A. Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are gently paced stories that create pictures of country life. Moore was an observer rather than a participant in this life, in that his people were landed, but his stories do not ridicule the poor. The power of the parish priest is evident, as is Moore's lack of respect for this figure, but the parishioners do not exhibit dog-like obedience at all times. The stories show resistance as well, and while I wouldn't say the collection presents a fully drawn image of rural life, the stories have real charm.

[Seattle Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Frank O'Connor and James Joyce are more accomplished short-story writers, Moore's "The Untilled Field" is a sharp and fascinating look at Ireland at the last turn of the century (19th to 20th). The work is a "Winesburg, Ohio" hybrid--in other words, part short-story collection and part novel. The dominant theme is the dominance of the church in Irish life and culture. Is the church stifling art, Gaelic culture, job opportunities--is its hold on Ireland leading to mass migration to America, encroaching Protestantism, and the loss of a true Irish heritage? "The Untilled Field" renders this period in Irish history vivid through the stories of individuals, including members of the clergy.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people might read these connected short stories of village life at the turn of the last century as simplistic stereotyping of the Irish. Moore’s characters are uneducated and poor. They drink too much and have a superstitious fear of priests (one comments that the priest could turn them into rabbits if he got angry). Their choices are narrow: The men can farm, become priests, or leave for America. The women’s choices are even narrower. The power of these stories is that beneath the surface, Moore gives his characters a surprising emotional complexity that raises them above what we might consider “lesser” lives to reveal universal human characteristics. Surely James Joyce studied Moore’s short fiction before writing Dubliners.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of the short stories were really, really solid pieces of naturalist work. I especially liked The Window (although it's called something else in other editions). Some of them fell a bit flat, but the general theme of Irish expats to America was engaging.

[Bassam Al Hachem · Rating 5 out of 5]

احدى قصص الكتاب بعنوان " قصة بغية الكاتب "
جورج مور ...
هو من رواد النهضة الأدبية الايرلندية وأحد أبرز رواد الطبيعية في الأدب الانكليزي .. متأثرا ً بإميل زولا ..
رواياته :
* أستر ووترز وهي من أشهر نماذج الرواية الواقعية في الأدب الانكليزي ..
* البحيرة
* غدير كريت
ومن أشهر مجموعاته القصصية:
حقل لم يُحرث .. حيوات عازبة ..
" قصة بغية الكاتب "
إحدى قصص مجموعة ( حقل لم يُحرث ) ..
وهي تحكي قصة ادوارد دمبسي
الموظف القميء والوحيد بعد وفاة والدته التي كان يعيلها .. يعمل موظفاً بصفة كاتب في أحد المصارف .. ملتزم بعمله الذي ينجزه على أكمل وجه .. أول من يدخل الى العمل وآخر من يغادر
لم يحصل طيلة ثلاثين سنة في وظيفته تلك الا على إجازة واحدة ليوم واحد فقط ( زار خلاله المصرف لاطمئنان على سير العمل !!!!!)
بقي على روتينه القاتل ذاك حتى أثارت عواطفه في أحد الأيام رائحة عطر تبين لاحقاً أن مصدرها إحدى رزم الحوالات .. وفي تلك الليلة عاودته ذكرى الرائحة مجدداً فثارت أمواج فكره العاصفة.. فأصبح يترقب أخبار الرائحة عبر الحوالات وكان على موعد مع هزيانه ذاك مرة كل شهر .. حتى توصل إلى اسم صاحبة الرائحة( هنريتا براون ) فعصفت الأفكار والخيالات والتساؤلات برأسه حولها ( صبية أم عجوز.. جميلة أم قبيحة .. متزوجة أم عازبة .. الخ ) فرسم لها بمخيلته الاف اللوحات المزيفة ولما لم تجديه تخيلاته اكتفى بحقيقة الاسم والعطر .. تمخضت أفكاره في النهاية عن قرارات مجنونة فقام بتدنيس مدخراته التي جمعها بعد وفاة والدته واشترى قطعة مصاغ وارسلها برسالة إلى هنريتا فعادت رسالته مع الهدية مع رد مختصر تطلب إليه عدم تكرار ذلك والا ستضطر لاعلام مسؤوله.. الا أن ذلك الرد لم يردعه فعاود الكرة ثانيةً وثالثةً مدفوعاً بغريزته الحيوانية التي تحركه .. وفي كل مرة كانت تعود رسالته والهدية بالرفض وأضحى كثمل فاحت رائحته حتى افتضح امره في العمل فتم تهديده بالفصل إلا أنه لم يكترث لذلك وابدى ردة فعل سلبية مستهترة لا مسؤولة .. فتم الاستغناء عن خدماته الأمر الذي لم يعني له شيء .. فقرر بدافع أحلامه الوردية أن يزور معشوقته المفترضة مصطحباً المجوهرات التي كانت قد تراكمت لديه .. وفي الطريق إليها دخل احدى الحانات بعد تأخر الوقت فقابل فيها شخصين من الأشرار أسرّ لهما ببغيته فاحتالا عليه وأخذا المجوهرات واختفيا بلا أثر..فهام في الطرقات مقتاتاً على ما تجود به أيدي المحسنين .. وفي إحدى الليالي الصيفية اسلم نفسها على قارعة أحد الطرقات وهو يُمني النفس بهنريتا .. حتى لفظ زفرته الأخيرة ..

[Charles Sheard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read Moore's naturalist, rural short-story cycle of the Irish identity a decade before Joyce's more famous urban offering (Dubliners), and I wonder whether it perhaps offers a more truthful depiction of the Irish of the time. However, the quality of the writing is not consistent here, and many of Moore's complaints are repeated far too often without variation throughout. I did like several of the shorter tales (especially: "The Exile". "Home Sickness", "Julia Cahill's Curse" and "The Wedding-gown"), but the longest tale ("Some Parishioners") was a painful head-scratcher, rambling all over the place incoherently as if it were the drafts of several poor tales that all get mixed up at the printer. I enjoyed how so many of the stories echoed one another, however, which is one of the reasons I am fan of short-story cycles in general.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:


In the clay--
*Some parishioners--
The exile--
Home sickness--3
*A letter to Rome--
*Julia Cahill's curse--
*A playhouse in the waste--
The wedding gown--
*The clerk's quest--
"Alms-giving"--
*So on he fares--
The wild goose--
The way back--
***
Albert Nobbs
A faithful heart
The lovers of Orelay

[Matt Micucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst the book has some wit about society in Ireland at the time, oppressed by poverty and the Catholic Church, this book is widely outdated and much too sparse to be enjoyed thoroughly by an audience of this time.