In Search of the ‘Genea-Mythic’

Abstract

The term 'genea-mythic' is one I have coined to describe the interrelationship between the ‘penning’ of the narrative and the broader historical and familial connections that inform the lifeworld of the one who holds that ‘pen’. This chapter moves between the recent present and the past, and between the relative fragilities attending the subjectivities of two of the protagonists. Once again, I draw on the literary arts to augment the discussion, whilst celebrating the work of a poet relatively unknown to English-speaking audiences. As well as extending this inquiry into the auto genesis of this overall text, the chapter poses certain ethical questions about the appropriateness of protagonists’ inclusion when permission from those protagonists is not possible.

Heritage

On this pale strand between

sea and shore, stands

the white cottage of my

foremothers and fathers.

And within its walls

so many generations of

crofters and spinners, of

fishermen and sea-farers,

and sons and daughters

compelled to leave; as the

ground grows thinner and the

fish become fewer,

and the songs are seldom sung

at the Ceilidh house…

Then the incomers buy

ruins in the village,

the walls are rebuilt,

and their children bring

a different tongue. But

this thinnest of strands

between sea and shore

demands a truer trace

of its place

at the margins

of land and water.

And soon the newcomers learn

the older words

of rock and bracken,

and sing the strand back

to itself again.

(Wilma Fraser , 14/01/16)