"Almost There" and "Are You Somebody" by Nuala O'Faolain

The O'Faolain books are wonderful diversion from the heady stuff in life. But only for a moment.

"Are You Somebody", her first autobiography, is a summation of who she was. A middle aged Irish woman, writer for the Irish Times among others, at the rim of celebrity status, as a writer only can. The title, "Are You Somebody" speaks to that position; on the rim of public awareness. Her life, from family and onwards, was trying for sure. Abandoned in spirit, anyways, by her father, a small "c" celebrity in his own right, and by a mother whose attachment to her was always suspect. Her savior in all this strict anti-woman Catholicism was her reading. "The most useful thing I brought out of my childhood was confidence in reading."
Breaking through the Irish stereotypes and maleness of 60s and 70s culture was no small feat. She explored the culture of writing and the arts with the uncertainty of belonging; of knowing that at any one moment, this was her life. One of her mentors, a historian Raphael Samuel, "was a pioneer of the interdisciplinary approach. He believed that anyone who had done a specialist degree had been trained in incuriousity about everything else. He believed in starting again, from ignorance. I was rich in ignorance" O'Faolain writes. "I count it as one of the great lucky things in my life...".
It is probably this complete lack of hubris that make O'Faolain interesting. If you Google her name you will inevitably come across some radio interviews she did. And the sense of wonder, humor, and the purpose of literature is beguiling. Her second autobiography, "Almost There" is more of the present journey to where she wants to be. "Middle age is the least talked about of all the seasons of life, and yet it seems to me the most exacting. It is adolescence come again at the other side of adulthood - the matching bookend - in its uneasiness of identity, its physical surprises and the strength it takes to handle it." The book is less literary and more personal. Excluding the numerous and numerous times pointing to her first autobiographical volume "Almost There" is about finding place; of having a bit of breathing room; and the societal clumsiness of not being wed or having (or wanting) children. "It has been shouted at us for so long that we're second rate if we're not in a pair with someone else, that we've come to deeply believe it."
The two books are as much a cathartic experience for O'Faolain as anything else, the "needing to shed ballast for the rest of the journey", as she put it. And likely so as most writers of self and fiction, and artist do. And yet, the purpose or hook for reading any one of these books might be suspect. Maybe there is no "hook". I would suppose if you were a young male with a preoccupied here-and-now view of life there would be no experience enjoyed in reading these. If you're middle-age (man or women), a woman of youth or experience, or cross both gender boundaries and are literary minded, then, the O'Faolain autobiographical volumes should be consumed.
#0844 and #0846