Sebastian Barry (Dublin, 1955), one of the most respected writers in Irish literature, often works in a former vicarage in County Wicklow where he used to write the sermons of a former Protestant minister. The room is small and radiates heat, as can be seen from the computer image. A few years ago, his magnificent novel ‘Days Without End’, which will surely become a movie, became a Booker finalist (he has two more nominations) and made him known in our bookshops. His latest work, ‘From time immemorial’ (AdN), explores the traces left by the Catholic Church’s abuses on Irish institutions. He does this through the critical lens of the author, a Catholic who married what he calls “a Protestant girl,” the actress Allison Deegan.
Why did you want to write such a sad story?
61 years ago, when I was six or seven, my mother and I moved to the castle where the novel is set. My parents had just separated, and my sister and I would see a man staring off into the distance in front of the sea. At that time I imagined that I was the happiest man in this world and this made me write this difficult and sad story about someone who was sexually abused in the past.
In Ireland’s darkest history we can place the old actions of the IRA, but also the pedophilia of the Church. What motivated you to write about this topic?
As children in Ireland we are told never to talk about child abuse. There was a terrible case in my family and they would tell us to keep quiet. This reminds me of when they shouted ‘silence’ in ‘Bernada Alba’s House’. Fortunately, my profession allowed me to speak out against this ban, and the character of Thomas Kettle, a recently retired police officer who remembers past abuses, allowed me a kind of Irish freedom.
The book is less about the abuses committed and more about their consequences.
Yes, it’s the story of a survivor with a complicated life. One of my grandparents was devoted to landscaping, and I would like to say that I am also devoted to landscaping of the mind. Tom loves the world, but terrible things keep happening to people who love the world.
Do you think the Irish Catholic Church has done everything it should have done in relation to the victims?
My upper-middle-class family includes a bishop and several nuns and priests, but in my humble opinion I believe the Catholic Church should be disbanded. In the Irish case, they did not want to pay financial compensation to the victims; This is a terrible situation at a time when the number of religious criminals is so high. And the problem is not that there are two or three bad apples in the barrel, but a third has spoiled and further spoiled the rest. If there are still children in danger, and I believe there are, I would like to raise some alarm with this novel and make people be more careful about the danger.
Do you think you can now talk about this issue more freely in your country?
Nowadays priests do not have the power they had in the past, they can no longer tell you how to act or what to think. Two of my children are gay, and I get angry when they say that being gay is not a sin, but being homosexual is a sin. The Church should be prohibited by law from expressing their views on people’s sexuality because all they do is cause harm.
How novel In his own country?
I received many positive reviews. Bernard Shaw said that evil multiplies when people do nothing. If I had thought of writing a novel on this subject 30-40 years ago, my neighbors would not have greeted me. Today Ireland is a better country and that’s why I love it. Moreover, I am definitely not a pioneer. What I have received is the result of the courage of others, such as Sidney O’Connor, who was ridiculed for challenging the Pope in the ’90s. I was lucky enough to be his neighbor for two years.
You often use your family members as characters in your novels, and you often make up stories for them. Here, his own experience as a child victim of separation is contemplated from afar by the protagonist.
I try to look at all the terrible things that happen to us with a certain compassion. For a long time, I tried to write the story of my parents, with the most complicated mathematics possible, but I could only do it thanks to Tom. I couldn’t do this directly.
Did you mean to say that your father was also an abuser?
Not really. The truth is that I didn’t go to him often. She passed away last year and I hadn’t seen her for ten years. The only thing he showed to his children was indifference. I don’t think I ever understood him. I’m his son, but in a way it’s like he’s not my father. I have four children, and for me the person you go to for advice is dad – yes, I admit I am a bit emotional – but the last person I would go to would be my dad. Only he could answer your question and I’m so glad it wasn’t me.