The Epsteins of the world would have us be Englishmen: naïve, civically minded, conformist, trusting, decent, reticent to rock the boat. Let us defy him. Let us be Irishmen: wary, uncouth, defiant — like the men of Soloheadbeg.

The polarity between the rigidity of norms, customs, and appearances, on the one hand, and the anarchic quality of our chthonic desires, on the other, is a cardinal motif.