The work of late Edna O’ Brien has not enjoyed the same level of longevity as that of other other Irish writers. This is something Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story attempts to rectify. O’Brien’s books, particularly The Country Girls, depicted a vision of Irish women that contrasted to the nymphettes that dotted James Joyce’s works.
O’Brien contributed to the documentary, although – she was a nonagenarian at the time of production – many of the interviews had to be kept short. More crucially, the picture utilises some of O’Brien’s diaries, which are read out by actress Jessie Buckley. Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story also uses archive footage, where the writer comes off as a feistily intelligent person. Asked if it upset her that every one of her books was banned, O’Brien pointed out that the Irish judges and bishops that had attacked her works had one commonality: they were men.
Whether or not she was the first feminist Irish icon, O’Brien stood up as an unabashed Celtic woman who loved her island as much as she renounced it. Which didn’t mean she wore her celebrity lightly: as emigré in London, she re-invented herself as a bonne viveuse, partying with 1960s’ hunks such as Paul McCartney and Michael Caine. But the raucous lifestyle never overshadowed her work, and a scene in which Gabriel Byrne reads an extract of her writing only serves to showcase the timelessness of it. There was a lyricism to her work which provided the blue print to Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People.
Ireland in the 1960s was still under the stronghold of the Catholic Church, a time when women were encouraged to be good mothers and wives. And nothing else. O’Brien’s frank depiction of female desire shocked men across the nation, although she was better received overseas. Her domestic life was met with challenge, particularly as her career eclipsed that of her husband Ernest. Sons Sasha and Carlo recall this turbulent era: a marriage based on fertile creativity, which ended in divorce by 1964. “This thing of falling in love,” she reflected, “it’s such a nuisance.”
Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story showcases a complex titular character: a rural woman from Clare proving her worth against writers from Cork and Dublin, but burdened by memories of a childhood scarred by alcoholism. O’Brien, who died in July 2024, speaks confidently, although she looks shrill and frail, interjecting the pauses with awkward head turns and coughs. Understandably, much of the heavy-lifting is conducted by the other talking heads, a roster that includes scribes Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Anne Enright.
But O’Brien’s presence is noteworthy, not least when she’s asked about the trauma in her life. The author, pondering on whether or not she processed it, shakes her head, and mutters “no, no, no!” in an effort to showcase the seriousness of the situation. Gallingly, her ex Ernest claimed to have written the work himself, an unfair rumour that haunted O’Brien for much of her life. How any man could have probed into female desire with as much authority as O’Brien is a question that never concerned Ernest.
It’s something of a relief to know that Edna O’Brien lived long enough to merit inclusion as an Irish icon. In 2012, she was given an award for her work as a notable woman from the island. President Mary Robinson was a fellow recipient. She wasn’t always the most likeable person, as is evident from her lack of frugal instincts and penchant for a quarrelsome interview, but O’Brien deserves her place on the pantheon of Ireland’s biggest writers of all time, regardless of her gender.
Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story premiered at CPH:DOX, when this piece was originally written. In cinemas on Friday, April 18th. On various VoD platforms on Friday, July 14th.
