He never writes about his siblings or his father except for one very brief, and traditional account of his death. It is a most striking story but at the same time provides very little information that we do not already know. In a manuscript, which I believe he left behind him, he has included some interesting observations about his childhood, and his father’s influence on him, but he gives us very little more than this.
I read the book aloud to my children and they instantly recognized a character from a children’s book I had read years before. The strange thing was that when I asked them who the character was, they could not. It is hard to imagine how little children can remember so much from a story they were told many years ago.
The background was about Muir’s mother who had been born in Ireland. According to her, Muir’s father was an Englishman, while the family was of Irish origin.
As a child, Muir aspired to write, but his father refused to let him do so. Perhaps he did not believe his son would be able to succeed in the American literary world. Some of the children in the book tell their father that they want to be writers, but he still refuses. Apparently, at this point in time, there was little influence on him by his father.
The difference between the English language and Irish culture must have had a profound effect on him. He obviously had a great deal of respect for this culture, which was very different from anything hehad grown up with. Of course, he is fascinated by the people of Ireland and continues to talk about them, but it is interesting to note that his interest in them was based on their heritage, rather than anything else.
Learning Irish can be extremely rewarding. I have written a book about it, which will soon be published. It was a natural progression for me, but the idea of writing about Irish culture came about because I could see other people enjoying this part of their heritage. That is, they were actually learning something about it.
Another interesting part of the book is his interest in his mother’s homeland. She was very proud of her Irish ancestry and often traveled there, living in the old country. We learn that he wanted to go to her home country one day, but that she died before he could make the trip.
I learned a lot about Robert Muir from this book. The Irish people have much in common with the Irish in our own culture, and many of the customs and traditions, as expressed in the book, are similar.
Perhaps this book was what inspired others to take up Irish in their own writing. In any case, I learned a lot from it, which made it possible for me to learn Irish.
I have also read many books about writing and its importance to a writer. I believe that writing a manuscript is very important to the process of learning how to write, and I learned a lot from this book. I did not realize how little I knew about this part of the process.
Robert Muir’s book taught me a lot about Ireland, but it also taught me a lot about the importance of having a manuscript in hand to begin with. It may be necessary to get a manuscript by the time you begin writing, but if you do not have one, then it makes sense to buy one as soon as you can.
