Remembering George Moore

Moore Hall, County Mayo, Ireland 20 July 1990 Stephanie Krauss Remembering George Moore EDWIN GILCHER Moore's Bibliographer SEVERAL YEARS AGO an erstwhile George Moore expert (who abandoned scholarly pursuits for the "real world of business") indicated that GM is all but forgotten, asserting "no one reads him for his own sake, but only for his association with other authors." While this may be true in the United States, in spite of the articles about him in literary quarterlies such as ELT, he is far from forgotten in his native Mayo in the west of Ireland. There last July at Moore Hall, in its environs and neighboring communities, he and his family were fondly remembered and honored in a four-day celebration, called "A George Moore Extravaganza"—not, as the Irish Literary Supplement noted after the event in a five-line brief headed "Moore News," "an academic conference (thank God!)." It certainly was not just another gathering of pedants, mulling over minor textual differences and interpretations. Unlike the annual Yeats International Summer School in neighboring Sligo, it was a gathering together of some members of the family, area residents, and a few particularly interested in the author and his works. The "extravaganza" began Friday evening in Castlebar with registration at The Traveler's Friend Hotel, followed by the assembled guests being piped down the hill with an honor guard to the Mall for an opening ceremony at the grave of GM's grand uncle, John Moore, a particular Irish hero. He had joined the French forces when they landed at Killa in the failed Rebellion of 1798 and been proclaimed "President of Connaught" after the initial English rout at Castlebar. Soon, however, the resurrection failed, and Moore was captured and died in Waterford while awaiting trial. In 1960 his grave had been discovered in Ballygunner Cemetery, Waterford, and the next year his remains were exhumed and reburied in Castlebar with full military honors. Acting as master-of-ceremonies at the grave site was Mayo author Michael Mullen whose recently published novel, Rites of Inheritance, has 419 ELT: VOLUME 34:4, 1991 as its chief setting a renamed Moore Hall, with two of the characters vaguely based upon GM's father and grandfather, and some of the action more specifically related to racing exploits of horses from the Moore stables. The ceremony honoring John Moore included the blessing of the family's colors and the investiture of the exuberant Lord Mayor of Galway, Michael D. Higgins, as the honorary second President of Connaught to serve for the duration of the extravaganza. This set the tone of friendly family comradeship that prevailed throughout the celebration. Back at the hotel, in the John Moore Room, there was an opportunity to meet other guests, prior to welcoming remarks by the president of the George Moore Society, sponsor of the weekend events, followed by a talk on "Moore in France" by Professor Jaques Aubert of the University of Lyon, an expert on Joyce and Irish literature. Saturday the group gathered in the Carnacon Community Center, next to the parish church where the Moore family had worshiped and to which they had made substantial contributions to its cost when it was built in 1835. The morning program, devoted to local history, enabled community members to share memories of the Moores and the "big house," relating stories passed down by parents and grandparents who had worked on the estate, as well as their own recollections of GM's nephew, Maurice "Rory" Moore, who had come from his home in California thirty years before for the reburial of John Moore. One of the panel, Keven Coyne, spoke specifically of GM's father, George Henry Moore, quoting some of his early poetry, noting his service in the English Parliament as a representative from Mayo, his interest in racing, and his benevolence as a landlord, pointing out that when his horse "Corona" won the Chester Cup in England he used the purse and money gained wagering on his horse for the relief of his tenants during the great famine. A particularly interesting video was shown, taped in Nova Scotia at the home of Kenelm Gow, a grandson of GM's...