“Green Shadows, White Whale” by Ray Bradbury

With Ray you never know what is real and what is imagined. This was supposed to be an autobiographical novel but Bradbury always leaves space for magic in his works, so the reader now is able to enjoy a good piece of fiction with autobiographical notes in it.

“Green Shadows, White Whale” partially consists of stories reprinted from other collections, like “The Haunting of the New”, “The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge” or “Banshee”, and partially of new sketches describing the time Ray Bradbury spent in Ireland in 1953 when John Huston, a famous Hollywood director, invited him to work at the script for the screen version of Melville’s “Moby Dick”. For more than six months the White Whale has become a daily companion for the writer and a ticket to the country that he would favour for the rest of his life.

“There is no figuring us,” said Finn. “We Irish are as deep as the sea and as broad. Quicksilver one moment. Clubfooted the next.”

Ireland is a land of contrast and you can notice it from the very beginning of the novel, when the narrator leaves the ferry and sees the emerald hills all around him. He is dumbstruck by the surrounding beauty but suddenly a lightning splits the sky and tones of water begin to pour down colouring everything with grey. The weather is either splendid or a complete disaster – that’s what the Emerald Isle wants the narrator to learn at once. But not only the weather is contrasted here. The Irishmen themselves are full of fascinating paradoxes.

Every Irishmen regards it as his duty to criticize his own country: the weather, the government, the poverty, the women, the church – everyone and everything is to blame. Still most of them are unbelievably patriotic, it never occurs to them to live their motherland in search of a better place and those who did leave, well, were they really Irish? Very doubtful indeed. In addition they are willing to protect everything they have just criticized in front of everyone else. Only the Irish have the right to discuss Ireland, and if someone else doesn’t like it here – well, the ferry leaves in the morning. These people can run away from the sound of their anthem and simultaneously be proud of their nationality.

“For you must never ask an Irishman to get to the point. The long way around and half again is more like it. Getting to the point could spoil the drink and ruin the day”.

The matter is that they just like to talk, to discuss and to argue so what could be a better topic than their own country? The origins of such eloquence are to be searched in pubs. Pub culture is a very important side of Irish mentality. Pub is the centre of their universe where all the problems are solved, all the issues discussed and any event, large or small, is accompanied by drinking. Bradbury very ironically describes the relations of Irishmen with alcohol. One of the chapters depicts the funeral of an old duke whose last wish was to be buried in a coffin made of wine boxes and have all the specimen of his wine cellar by his side.

Still pubs are not only and not mostly about drinking. It is a place of communication from which the people of this surprising country take their inspiration and positive attitude towards everything. It brings all the people of the land together, regardless of their social position, and lets them speak frankly to each other.

“The Irish. From so little they glean so much: squeeze the last ounce of joy from a flower with no petals, a night with no stars, a day with no sun. One seed and you lift a beanstalk forest to shake down giants of converse. The Irish? You step off a cliff and … fall up!”

It is generally known that people of Ireland are not particularly fond of newcomers. Well, that is only half truth, for they are really suspicious of foreigners but only one compliment to Irish culture can melt their heart. Bradbury assures the reader that once you have deserved their respect, they become very friendly and helpful. But for the conquerors and invaders the Emerald Isle has no mercy. Not only the inhabitants are ready to protect their land, just like Mars in “The Martian Chronicles”, the country acts as a living being which can stand up for itself.

For instance, the author criticizes the Americans who buy old Irish estates to show off and come there to set their own ways. One of the stories tells about a castle that ousts its owner because she and her guests disrespected it with their behaviour. Just like in Wilde’s “Centerville Ghost”, where an American businessman buys a castle with a ghost because such possession can show everyone his wealth and eccentricity. Sadly, the ghost doesn’t want to live with people for whom everything can be bought and sold. In a similar way Bradbury tries to show the reader that culture and tradition should be cherished and valued, an ancient castle is not a place for partying just like art gallery would not be suitable for a dinner. Shortly speaking, in Rome do as the Romans do and don’t think that owning a piece of land could make you native to it.

The episode with the castle is not the only fantastic element in the book. Elves, fairies and brownies inhabit Bradbury’s Ireland, if only you have an eye sharp enough to notice them. If you walk late at night along the road you can hear a banshee crying, if a man has decided not to grow older, so he does. The fantasy is not always clearly visible, in most cases the author leaves the reader wondering whether the story was real or imagined and that is a part of Bradbury’s charm.

Beggars and music is the other topic not to be overlooked and those two are closely linked to each other. Bradbury marvels at how so many talented musicians are reduced to wasting their talent on the passers-by who mostly fail to value it. However, the author has to admit that you never can tell a real pauper from the people who just chose begging as an easier way to earn money using their acting talents. Some may really have no other way to survive, others paint their faces and fake injuries to deceive people in the streets. Ireland is unimaginable without beggars, but Bradbury has no ready ideas of how to treat them, I suppose it is up to each of us to decide whether we are ready to share our money or not.

Although expressing Bradbury’s love and respect to Irish culture and people is the main aim of this novel, we shouldn’t forget that it is also a wonderful example of metaprose, i.e. a novel about creating a novel. Unlike many other authors, Bradbury doesn’t present the process of writing as a series of inspirations and insights, for him it is hard daily work, constant search and improvement. Being a writer you always have to observe, analyse and compare, inspiration doesn’t come from nowhere, you have to search for interesting characters and plot lines everywhere you can.

Working at the script the narrator continuously tries to compare Melville’s characters to the people surrounding him to make them more reliable and realistic, he reads “Moby Dick” over and over again to discover new meanings and extract the most important point. The White Whale is always present in the corner of his mind wherever the narrator goes.

The complicated relations between Ray and John are also represented in the text. The director in “Green Shadows, White Whale” impersonates all the typical qualities of Hollywood bohème and is much criticized by Bradbury. He is depicted as a spoiled and selfish tyrant who wants all the people surrounding him including his wife and colleagues to fulfil all his whims. John is eccentric in many ways from his manner of speech to his taste for strange jokes and tricks. He doesn’t particularly care about other people’s feelings and always says what he thinks, even I front of complete strangers. Bradbury admits that it took him much effort to finish the project with Huston, although in the end they both were satisfied with their work.

Thus, the mysterious White Whale and the Green Shadows of Ireland created a beautiful tandem. This book is neither a detailed autobiography nor an encyclopedia of Irish culture. Still it is a beautiful read, both humorous and sad, and after all who can truthfully describe any culture, especially if it is so full of complications and confusions. As Finn, the pub owner, says in the novel:

“We are a mystery inside a box inside a maze with no door and no key”.