Aged 21, Colum McCann, the author of TransAtlantic moved from Dublin to New York to write “the great Irish-American novel”. McCann’s novels typically dwell on multiple storylines, diverse perspectives and wide sympathies- all usually arranged around an awe-inspiring human feat. TransAtlantic follows this pattern by dramatizing three historical Irish-American encounters and linking them through a fictional element to deliver an important message.
The first section of TransAtlantic is a retelling of the first ever nonstop flight across the Atlantic, from America to County Galway. Two aviators, Alcock and Brown, set course for Ireland from Newfoundland in 1919 aboard a converted bomber.The second Irish-American encounter is that of Frederick Douglass in Dublin 1845, as he promotes the abolitionist cause and the Great Famine ravages Ireland so much so that it is astonishes even an American slave.
In the third part of TransAtlantic, McCann gives a brief, admiring account of American Senator George Mitchell’s efforts to broker the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. McCann weaves into these historical accounts a fictional family of remarkable women that ties these moments in history together to relate an important message that even the most unassuming moments of grace have a way of rippling through time, space and memory.
