#anthony macmurrough

[michaelpeukert]

Anthony MacMurrough

©Michael Peukert

[kindnessinsilver]

"-It won't do, will it? he said. I can't pretend myself into acceptable shapes. His Majesty's Wandsworth has seen to that. Besides, it's not the doing, it's the being that's my offense. You could see that on Kettle's face. The doing is neither here nor there. Doing only offers an opportunity to be caught. -You know, he continued, they make it so damned difficult. They make a thing so deeply wrong that no morality can afterward apply. It doesn't matter how we go about it, kindly or coldly. No good is so good as to mitigate; all further wrong is a feather's weight upon the deed itself. See it in the newspaper reports. One can be a gentleman thief. One can be a love-struck murderer. We're just unspeakable, we're sods. -Who are we? asked Scrotes. -People of my kind. -You have a kind? said Scrotes. -Yes, and we are easy to find. Under bridges, at the back-end of piers, in parks when parks are closed, in the shadows of others, in the night."

Anthony MacMurrough on the plight of gay men in the early 20th century in Ireland and England, At Swim, Two Boys, Jamie O'Neill

The punctuation in this passage makes a bit more sense if you know that Scrotes is just a voice in his head.

[kindnessinsilver]

At Swim, Two Boys

Spoiler-y Type Things: Random Thoughts

Not quite half way through yet. It's a bit of a dense read with all the layers that make it up. Not to mention that I hear most of it with a fairly passable (if I do say so meself) Irish accent that gets stuck in my head. Beautiful prose from O'Neill and every once in awhile the beauty of a line will really strike you out of nowhere. Following the thoughts of Anthony MacMurrough, though, damn is that rough. He's loony, and though I totally understand why, it's still a bit difficult.

I love Doyler of course and I really wish MacMurrough would leave him alone. He's a poor boy who, despite his jadedness with the world, still gets his hopes a little too high. He's gonna get hurt. And so's Jim if things keep going the way they are.

[kindnessinsilver]

Reading At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill.

Good so far, even if it is a bit complicated to read. I have to say one thing though.

That poor flute band! First Brother Polycarp and now Anthony MacMurrough? Poor Jim and Doyler will never have any peace!

I'm hoping that was vague enough that anyone who hasn't read it but wants to won't have anything ruined for them.