Catching on to Europe – Kate O’Brien and Mairin Mitchell on Spain’s Civil War
Introduction Kate O’Brien and Mairin Mitchell were Irish writers active in the 1930s. In 1937, both published books – O’Brien’s Farewell Spain and Mitchell’s Storm over Spain – that commented, by way of travel writing, on the Spanish Civil War, by far the most important military and ideological conflict in interwar Europe. In these works, the
Saltar al contenidoCatching on to Europe – Kate O’Brien and Mairin Mitchell on Spain’s Civil WarTomando conciencia de Europa – Kate O’Brien y Marin Mitchell en torno a la Guerra Civil españolaMartin TyrrellQueen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland|16 July, 2026|ISSUE 21. 2|Pages:16-28PDF|DOAJ|DOI 10. 24162/EI2026-15099|1views2026 by Martin Tyrrell | This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the author and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged for access. Kate O’Brien’sFarewell Spainand Mairin Mitchell’sStorm over Spainwere published in 1937 while the Spanish Civil War was still in progress. This essay considers these travel writings in their wider European and Irish context and in the context of the lives and times of their authors. Close contemporaries, Mitchell and O’Brien were first published in the years during which Ireland – or at least the greater part of the island – progressed from being a territory of the United Kingdom to a fully independent state. Throughout the lifetimes of both authors, Catholicism was a fundamental and defining aspect of Irish national identity alongside an official, secular culture based on language revivalism, traditional music and sport, literature and the visual arts. Both O’Brien and Mitchell were active in this culture, albeit critically so and without ever succumbing to insularity. On the contrary, both are European in focus, seeing in Europe a place where Irish people might, as in the past, come to express both their distinctiveness from Britain and the anglosphere, and their commonality with the mainly Catholic or post-Catholic national states of the continent – O’Brien urges that Ireland catch onto Europe, Mitchell suggests that Ireland was never more independent than when it was engaged with Europe. The recommendation is complicated by the fact that the Europe onto which they wish Ireland to catch was bitterly divided. Este artículo analizaFarewell Spainde Kate O’Brien yStorm over Spainde Mairin Mitchell, ambas publicadas en 1937 mientras la Guerra Civil española aún estaba en curso. El estudio sitúa estas obras de literatura de viajes en su contexto europeo e irlandés más amplio, así como en relación con las vidas y circunstancias de sus autoras. Contemporáneas cercanas, Mitchell y O’Brien comenzaron a publicar durante los años en que Irlanda – o al menos la mayor parte de la isla – pasó de ser un territorio del Reino Unido a convertirse en un Estado plenamente independiente. A lo largo de la vida de ambas autoras, el catolicismo fue un elemento fundamental y definitorio de la identidad nacional irlandesa, junto a una cultura oficial, de carácter secular, basada en la revitalización de la lengua, la música y el deporte tradicionales, la literatura y las artes visuales. Tanto O’Brien como Mitchell participaron activamente en esta cultura, aunque desde una postura crítica y sin caer nunca en el aislamiento. Por el contrario, ambas adoptan una perspectiva europea, considerando Europa como un espacio en el que los irlandeses podían, como en el pasado, expresar tanto su diferencia respecto a Gran Bretaña y al mundo anglosajón como su afinidad con los Estados nacionales del continente, en su mayoría católicos o post católicos. 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