Insurrection

by Liam O'Flaherty

Insurrection is a novel of rebellion and of man's enchantment with it. Bartly Madden is caught up in the Easter Rising thigh a series of accidents. He joins a small band of insurgents, and bravery, cowardice, and terror struggle for supremacy -- these individuals are defined not by what they live for, but by what they are prepared to die for.

Genres: Irish Literature, Fiction, Ireland, Historical Fiction, Novels

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

People know Irish writer Liam O'Flaherty especially for his short stories, collected in Two Lovely Beasts (1948) and The Pedlar's Revenge (1976).

This significant novelist, a major figure in the literary renaissance, also wrote short stories. Left-wing politics involved him as was his brother Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty (also a writer), and their father, Maidhc Ó Flaithearta, for a time.

Reviews

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce roman historique a été écrit par Liam O'Flaherty, un écrivain irlandais natif des îles d'Aran, au large des falaises de Moher. Il s'agit ici de relater au travers d'un personnage de fiction, Bartly Madden, l'insurrection de Pâques 1916 à Dublin, lorsque une bande de patriotes gaéliques menés par Patrick Pearse décident de proclamer la République Irlandaise.

Bartly Madden, originaire de Castlebar dans comté de Mayo, ne se sent au début pas le moins du monde concerné par l'insurrection qui éclate sous ses yeux dans la capitale de l'Irlande, mais les circonstances vont faire de lui l'un des principaux meneurs: assommé lors d'une bagarre, il sera remis sur pieds par les bons offices que vont lui prodiguer une femme dont le très jeune fils est parti accompagner les insurgés. Cette dernière le supplie de prendre soin de sa progéniture. Peu à peu, gagné par l'enthousiasme des meneurs, la honte de ne pas faire honneur à sa bienfaitrice, la sensation de puissance que lui procure une arme pris à un soldat, il est pris par degré par un des partis de la bataille qui s'annonce.

J'ai trouvé que ce roman, quoique tout à fait partial dans sa présentation des événements, ne manque pas de qualités, et m'a tenu en haleine jusqu'au bout. Le déroulement de la bataille qui aboutit à l'échec des insurgés est bien rendu, ainsi que l'état d'esprit des combattants.

[César Lasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo leí hace muchos años y lo único que recuerdo es que había tiros y mucha tensión entre los protagonistas. Se trata de una novela histórica de uno de los autores irlandeses más importantes del siglo XX. El escenario: el alzamiento de unos patriotas irlandeses, en la Pascua de 1916, contra el imperio colonialista británico.

[James Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sexist

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very odd novel about the Easter Rising of 1916. It's main character is not one of the Volunteers or Citizen Army men who turned out on Easter Monday, but some bloke from Galway who has lost all his money after a drinking session and gets talked into taking part by a mother he bumps into on O'Connell Street, desperate that he look after her Volunteer son. This son, far from being the heroic warrior of Republican legend, legs it halfway through the Rising and isn't seen or heard from again. By this time, however, the Galway chap has developed a weird fixation with his commanding officer.

In 1950, when this book first appeared, the Rising was being mythologised. Brave men, it was said, had sacrificed their lives selflessly for the cause of Irish freedom. They were Ireland's Founding Fathers, secular saints, no less. In this context, the fact that Insurrection's main characters have such a collection of varying, highly personal motivations (not to mention the very un-nationalist behaviour of the average Dubliner here depicted), makes you wonder if there isn't a strong element of 'proto-revisionism' here. If so, this is to be applauded, but it is not entirely successful. The main character makes hardly any sense at all.

The book does have some excellent descriptive passages; its account of the fighting at Boland's Mill is excellent. It is a shame, then, that it concocts a climax for its frankly deranged protagonist by abandoning its historical accuracy and creating an event that didn't actually happen.

[Diogo Almeida · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very straight-forward, journalistic writing, but with two or three interesting and complex character constructions. It gives a good view of the 1916 insurrection that, although it failed, lead to the Irish independence.

[L Parks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spent most of it trying to figure out whether it was a parody or not, most of the characters seemed like puppies made into people, rushing frantically from one emotion to the next, all of them fervent. Came to no conclusion

[Stephen McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Maybe I am biased in that it deals with a pivotal period in my nation's history but I found it absorbing. The characters are well defined and different in motivation. The action is vividly captured and it maintains a tension throughout.
It presents the horror of war with a very human face and gets across the background issues and clashes of ideology that made for a very complicated event.

[Estelle]

Read in French.

[KarenH · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 | reading this at a time when i'm starting more research into Easter Rising made it appropriate but similar to my last read, i didn't care for it much. this book was written in the 50s and it shows especially in its casual misogyny and mischaracterization/erasure of women's roles and overly mythologized depiction of the Rising. that being said, i treated this book essentially as a historic source itself and found it interesting to see how the Rising was characterized in this era. the writing had a romantic and idealistic quality that very much gave me les mis vibes which i was not mad about. i got swept up in the vigorous, sweeping emotions (except for madden tbh my god i was so tired of him) but i was still very detached from the characters and the story simply in being a 21st century reader coming at it from a different angle. not an amazing read but enlightening for certain reasons

[Jorge Almeida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na Páscoa de 1916 as forças conjugadas dos socialistas e dos nacionalistas irlandeses levantaram-se contra o domínio colonial inglês, o mais poderoso e militarizado país da época. Em poucos dias a insurreição foi afogada em sangue. Os dirigentes rebeldes foram presos e executados de forma barbara.

Este romance segue o percurso de vários combatentes irlandeses desde o dia do levantamento até ao momento em que, completamente cercados pelos ingleses, se renderam.

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[Umberto Rossi · Rating 5 out of 5]

You read Easter 1916, by W.B. Yeats. Then you read this. Then you get back to Yeats's poem, and begin to understand it. A book on a failed revolution, a revolutionary book.