Experiences of an Irish R. M.
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'The stories are rich in dialogue - indeed on many pages there is only dialogue - while the quick exchange of words beats out the rhythm of history on the move' CLAIRE CONNOLLY from her preface to The Experiences of an Irish R. M.
The stories in Experiences of an Irish R. M. are almost entirely concerned with the doings of Skebawn in south-western Ireland and its surroundings. At the centre is the figure of Major Yeates, the Irish Resident Magistrate, who muddles through life as best he can and whose adventures always tell worse against himself. Each short tale offers a dazzling succession of incidents, quickfire dialogue and turnabouts of fate. They contain linguistic verve, dense social detail and what was termed by a contemporary, 'demoniac energy'.
The tough, roving humour of these sharply observed stories brought Edith Somerville and Martin Ross financial security and critical success.
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Edith Somerville (1858 - 1949) and Martin Ross (the pseudonym of Violet Martin, 1862 - 1915) were Irish authors and second cousins. Experiences of an Irish R. M. brought them critical and commercial success upon publication.
Claire Connolly is Professor of Modern English at University College Cork. She has written and edited many books and essays on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Irish culture.
