Friday, March 18, 2011

And for Saint Patrick's Day, Something Completely Different

I'm afraid that my St. Patrick's Day celebrations yesterday were rather limited as I had to attend a public hearing of the Community Preservation Act Committee and then attend to other business. Thus this post also follows in the wake of the holiday.

The Library of Congress does its ever-diligent yeoman work with some great finds such as a piece Irish-American history in song and another on St. Patrick's Day for the Irish Brigade in the Union Army (this being the start of the big Civil War anniversary commemorations). Last year, I managed to talk about fountains, film, and cultural symbiosis in song. I thought I'd offer something simpler and completely different this year:  a sort of satirical tribute to the greats of modern Irish literature.

Without further ado, then, the adventures of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett playing miniature golf:

2 comments:

Joe Thompson said...

Thanks for pointing out this wonderful piece. Everyone with whom I shared it has enjoyed it. One person, thinking of the photos of Beckett as a craggy-faced, wild-haired old man wondered if the actor really looked like him. I found a photo of the young Beckett and it turns out the actor was pretty close.

Jim Wald said...

Glad you liked it! A friend shared it with me a couple of years ago, and I've been sharing it ever since. There is just something right on the mark about the dramatist of the absurd and the great innovator of the modern novel in this most mundane of situations.