Just Another Day In Limerick

The other day, I'm with Mom and Dad in a Limerick cafe. We stopped in to take some tea and scones and check out some maps to plan their trip. Fumbling with maps must be a giveaway that we're a long way from home, so a guy at a table next to us asked if we needed help getting somewhere. So, we start talking to him for awhile, about Ireland, the States, politics...a whole spectrum of topics. He was at a table with two other buddies, and eventually one of them chimes in, and we start talking to him. Turns out, this buddy of the first guy, his name is Gerard Hannan, a well-known Limerick author, journalist, and broadcaster. You've surely heard of Angela's Ashes, right? You know, Frank McCourt's memoirs on growing up in Limerick that earned him a Pulitzer prize in 1997. Anyway, this Hannan guy is infamous both here and in literary and media circles around the world for his public dispute with McCourt about the authenticity of his memoirs. When he was writing what would become Angela's Ashes, McCourt had his friend Hannan read the manuscript, and Hannan absolutely loved it. After going through publishers at Simon & Schuster, however, the finished product was hardly recognizable to Hannan's eyes. Citing the publisher's desire to "spice it up a little bit" as the reason for the divergence from the original, and claiming that McCourt painted an untrue representation of Limerick life at the time, while touching a serious vein by degrading the names of some of the local legends and heroes, Hannan couldn't believe what he read. He published a work of non-fiction of his own, entitled Ashes, that painted the opposite, and according to Hannan, true, picture of people who were more than happy to stay at home in post-war Limerick and help build the city. Finding himself interviewed by media centers across the world, including Larry King and CNN, Hannan wouldn't relent in his assertions. Eventually, he got an opportunity to have a televised debate with McCourt. Frustrated at what Hannan was saying, McCourt threw a fit and stormed out of the studio, and immediately issued an injunction against the footage being aired. And to think, we just happened to run into this guy when we went in for a small snack. An hour into the conversation, the staff is stacking chairs behind us, and we're still talking to this guy. The conversation even spilled out onto the street for a little bit before we parted ways. Truly fascinating stuff. I'm in the middle of Angela's Ashes right now, and after I finish I feel like I have to read Hannan's version. He said he has a bookstore in the area, so I'll try to stop by and pick that up someday soon. You really never know who you're going to run into in a small cafe in Ireland, I guess.