Writers in Residence

MIRACLE AT MONACO
by Dr. Gerry Smyth : Academic-in-Residence : Princess Grace Library

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Having attended a symposium at the Princess Grace Library in Monaco in October 2004, I was very happy to be afforded an opportunity to revisit the venue some two years later. Whereas the first sojourn in the Principality lasted only two days, my tenure as The Ireland Fund of Monaco Academic-in-Residence was to be for a whole month. I settled into an apartment in the Palais-Josephine in Beausoleil (which is actually just over the border into France) with the intention of working hard and playing hard. So, by and large, it proved to be.

The 'work' took care of itself. I am writing a book on the role and representation of music in contemporary fiction; such a study requires me to read a lot of criticism (which I did during the day) and a lot of novels (which I did at night and on weekends). I had a room to myself in the Library where I read, took copious notes, drank coffee, and tried to resist the distractions of the many wonderful first editions with which I was surrounded. Any reader who is also a writer will appreciate the value of having access to 'a room of one's own' such as this - quiet, comfortable, eminently conducive to the focus necessary to develop large-scale academic projects.

The 'play' aspect of the visit was more ... comment dire? Creative? Demanding? Telling?! My tenure coincided with another symposium (on the subject of modern Irish poetry), amongst the attending delegates at which I had a number of friends, and during the course of which I made some more. Intense day-time debate was inevitably followed by dedicated night-time conviviality. Nobody parties like a poet - perhaps they know something the rest of us don't!

The other major event which took place during my stay was The Ireland Fund of Monaco Gala Dinner at the Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo, at which His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco was the chief guest of honour. I attended with excitement and not a little trepidation, dressed in the smoking (which is to say, 'dinner suit') that I was obliged to locate (which is to say, 'rent') for the occasion. The evening was both enjoyable and stimulating in so far as it provided experiences I would not necessarily seek out in the normal course of things - as my old mother would say: 'Tis far from dinner suits in Monte Carlo that you were reared!'

I have found that the abiding memories of people and places are made of the small experiences that impress themselves upon the senses, and of these, my time in Monaco has provided a plentiful supply: the sounds of the early morning market beneath my apartment window; the sudden coldness of the sea-plunge off the Plage des Pêcheurs, and the revitalising heat of the unexpected October sun on the beach afterwards; the thrillingly glamorous view of the harbour from up the Rock when the big ships are in; the heady aroma of an early evening French red, full of anticipation and opportunity; the taste of strong coffee taken first thing in the morning or last thing at night. These, and a myriad similar sensations, comprise the 'Monaco' that I shall recall during those long winter nights back in Liverpool.

Monaco is a miracle - as much in terms of its political existence as of the day-to-day experience of living in this geographically blessed strip of land washed by the inscrutable waters of the Mediterranean. I feel extremely fortunate to have had the chance to spend a month living and working there, for after all: who wouldn't wish to witness a miracle?

Gerry Smyth, October 2006