What the Aisling books have told us about Ireland and ourselves

Analysis: Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen's books have deftly captured a unique Irish archetype and modern heroine

By Síle Ní Choincheannain, Mary Immaculate College Limerick

As global trends unfold and social media dominates, a significant decrease in shared Irish experiences and perspectives can be felt. This desire for the good old days - the backward look – is by no means a new concept in this country. It was very obviously expressed in 17th and 18th century Irish bardic and post-bardic poetry regarding the hope for the future, prophesying a return to the old ways. This is most obvious in the aisling genre of poetry, in which Ireland is represented as an otherworldly woman who bewails the current state of affairs and predicts an imminent revival of fortune.

Were Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen aware of this when they were choosing the name of the protagonist for their Aisling series of books? The authors have deftly managed to capture a unique Irish archetype, a country-girl millennial, whose Mammy turns on the electric blanket for her at weekends, and who, unfortunately perhaps, is becoming more and more of an otherworldly figure as each decade passes. Anybody who reads these books and had a similar upbringing and/or is of a similar age to the protagonist will no doubt feel an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for this unique archetype of the Irish soul.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

From RTÉ Radio 1's Nine O'Clock Show, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen discuss the fifth and final book in their hugely successful Aisling series

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, can be credited for leading and developing the concepts of archetypes, particularly how they often represent a collective unconscious. Unlike Jung's universal archetypes that have stood the test of time, Aisling’s relative universality is specific to a particular time and space in Irish life. In creating the character of Aisling, Breen and McLysaght have encapsulated a specific type of heterosexual, Irish female by using social satire and real-life experiences that move the heart.

What then, are the very noticeable traits of an 'Aisling’? She is the kind of girl who walks really quickly to work wearing her runners while carrying her work shoes in a battered Brown Thomas bag. She loves a ‘good hotel breakfast’, she owns a shopping trolley token, appreciates good drying, and doubles up on contraception. As she says herself, ‘you never know!’

From RTÉ Radio 1's Nine O'Clock Show, Aisling Byrne on the appeal of the Aisling series

While the satire is glaring, the books themselves are more of a love letter to this type of girl and this time and space in Irish society. She is still a modern heroine and arguably a strong-willed feminist too, even if she is strait-laced and her obsession with getting engaged in the earlier books could be viewed as a bit heteronormative. She moves through the rapidly changing Irish landscape with its American influences of brunch and gender-reveal parties with ease whilst never losing the run of herself with 'notions'.

Aisling has traits that are very often under-appreciated. She is reliable, dedicated to recycling and exceptionally resilient. She is both humble and confident. She also gives us a subtle insight into the contentious issues of our time. A close reading of the book series sees Aisling explore political topics such as women’s health, the rural-urban divide, and global warming, all the while flawlessly organising hen parties and baby showers.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Ray D'Arcy Show, what's behind the success of the Aisling series?

Aisling is an important archetype as she allows for a strong emotional response from the readers due to the deep subconscious connection Irish society has with her. Reading these books is a shared and unifying experience. It is this unifying experience of a time in Irish life that is slipping away.

While we may not be able to replace the ‘life-changing’ cultural moments of Aisling’s life that a particular cohort of Irish people can relate to, the Aisling series offers a vision (pun intended) and insight into that era with authenticity and credibility. For Irish twentysomethings and thirtysomethings who look for it, it's something they might remember when they’re older, the way we still remember Westlife's split or the hiding of biscuit tins before Christmas.

"Are there biscuits hidden somewhere? I wouldn’t even know where to look –that’s your mother’s domain,’ he says, heading for the kitchen to first check the USA biscuit tin that we were convinced was a sewing kit. Turns out Mammy had been using it as a kind of double-bluff in her quest to keep anything ‘good’ away from us."

From RTÉ Radio 1's Book Show, Emer McLysaght answers questions about Oh My God What A Complete Aisling

The community of characters in Ballygobbard (or Bally-go-Backwards as it’s more often referred to) is also quintessentially Irish. Aisling is never given a surname in the books, further highlighting her universality. She's stands alongside Majella and John, Mad Tom and Murt Kelly and all these secondary characters which shape the protagonist’s journey through her late twenties and early thirties.

Readers are nostalgic for this type of Irish society, which boasts both innocence and an incomprehensible madness, when they read the Aisling series. It's the same way, arguably, thaty visionary poets of the late 17th and 18th centuries hoped for the return of the old Gaelic order.

Dr Síle Ní Choincheannain is a lecturer in Education with expertise in Irish at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

More stories on