Insight Text Article Brooklyn
BROOKLYN
Colm Tóibín
Insight Text Article by Virginia Lee
This Insight Text Article is protected by copyright under Australian law.
It cannot be copied, transmitted, or placed on the internet (including wikis) or on a school intranet without the written consent of Insight Publications.
One complete copy may be printed for the personal use of the individual who has downloaded this Text Article from the Insight Publications website.
The Copyright Act (1968) provides that up to 10% of this article may be copied for the purposes of research or study.
Copyright © Insight Publications 2013
Insight text article on Brooklyn
Article by Virginia Lee
BROOKLYN
Colm Tóibín
Background & context
Brooklyn is written by Irish writer Colm Tóibín and draws on the experience of Irish immigrants who settled in America in the 1950s. It is set in
Brooklyn, the second-largest and most populous of New York City’s five boroughs. Situated south of Manhattan, at the western end of Long Island,
Brooklyn is densely populated and ethnically diverse. Throughout the nineteenth century various groups emigrated from Europe, fleeing poverty and persecution – Russian Jews, Italians, Poles, Germans, Scandinavians, and large numbers of Irish – and settled in places such as Brooklyn.
By the 1950s Brooklyn’s Irish population was well established, as second and third generations had intermarried with other migrant groups.
In the text, Diana Montini, with her Italian father and Irish mother, exemplifies the mix of ethnicities that lived in the area. All contributed to the multicultural flavour of the city.
Certain elements united this eclectic community. A parochial loyalty towards the Brooklyn Dodgers, which Tony Fiorello and his brothers share, was one such element. The Dodgers’ games were held at Ebbets Field and linked the many tribes of Brooklyn in a common, if volatile, allegiance. The novel also alludes to the shift in Brooklyn’s demographic as its industrial base of manufacturing and shipping
Colm Tóibín
Insight Text Article by Virginia Lee
This Insight Text Article is protected by copyright under Australian law.
It cannot be copied, transmitted, or placed on the internet (including wikis) or on a school intranet without the written consent of Insight Publications.
One complete copy may be printed for the personal use of the individual who has downloaded this Text Article from the Insight Publications website.
The Copyright Act (1968) provides that up to 10% of this article may be copied for the purposes of research or study.
Copyright © Insight Publications 2013
Insight text article on Brooklyn
Article by Virginia Lee
BROOKLYN
Colm Tóibín
Background & context
Brooklyn is written by Irish writer Colm Tóibín and draws on the experience of Irish immigrants who settled in America in the 1950s. It is set in
Brooklyn, the second-largest and most populous of New York City’s five boroughs. Situated south of Manhattan, at the western end of Long Island,
Brooklyn is densely populated and ethnically diverse. Throughout the nineteenth century various groups emigrated from Europe, fleeing poverty and persecution – Russian Jews, Italians, Poles, Germans, Scandinavians, and large numbers of Irish – and settled in places such as Brooklyn.
By the 1950s Brooklyn’s Irish population was well established, as second and third generations had intermarried with other migrant groups.
In the text, Diana Montini, with her Italian father and Irish mother, exemplifies the mix of ethnicities that lived in the area. All contributed to the multicultural flavour of the city.
Certain elements united this eclectic community. A parochial loyalty towards the Brooklyn Dodgers, which Tony Fiorello and his brothers share, was one such element. The Dodgers’ games were held at Ebbets Field and linked the many tribes of Brooklyn in a common, if volatile, allegiance. The novel also alludes to the shift in Brooklyn’s demographic as its industrial base of manufacturing and shipping