Abstract: May I thank the conference organisers who invited me to speak. That invitation indicates not merely a charitable largeness of heart, but seriousness of professional purpose. For if I read the 'Great Oral History Debate of 1979-80' correctly, the controversy beginning in Quadrant' and both reproduced and considered in this Association's journal for 1982-83, I am - or was seen by some as the Enemy, a class traitor perhaps, and worst of all in an egalitarian world, an elitist. Have you politely and generously invited in something of a potential Trojan Horse? Not at all. Certainly I am critical of oral history. But I am critical of everything: my most sustained and vigorous criticism over thirty years has been of something 1 love and to which 1 belong - the Catholic Church. Nor do I share the policy of thorough which I find in the Melbourne-based family history magazine the Irish Link of March this year: 'We pay little attention to telephone calls for only what is written or typed has any real or lasting value'. So much for The Age tapes or intercepted car phones - or Irish arts of conversation: the editor of the Irish Link is a dedicated Ulster Presbyterian minister and his stance may have some elements of the culture of Ireland's stern north, a realm of the book.
Publication Year: 1987
Publication Date: 1987-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 2
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