The Wee Wild One: Stories of Belfast and Beyond (Irish Studies in Literature and Culture) Book

Born in Ballycoan, Northern Ireland, Ruth C. Schwertfeger represents history and memory in an impressionistic memoir of her childhood on a farm and attending a girls' school in Belfast. Through the author's girlhood and discovery of her own national and religious identity, this humorous memoir is shaped significantly by images of Schwertfeger's father--"The Wee Wild One"--who spent his childhood on the same farm in Ballycoan. Schwertfeger provides her own interpretations of characters existing before her time and connects these and her own childhood memories in Ireland to her life today. These stories, unmistakably from North Ireland, are unified by a common language, which also emerges as a touchstone that draws all Irish home. Schwertfeger's voice reflects a shared and persistent desire to return to one's roots, all the while appreciating the experiences that took her beyond Belfast, traveling and studying German literature. She also explores many facets of social life in Northern Ireland that are often hidden behind the stereotypes of history and public rhetoric. Her stories convey a passionate and articulate woman seeking to connect the scars of her native land with her understanding of the Holocaust, which has been her focal area of scholarship as an academic.Read More