According to A.T. Lucas, in his book Furze, A Survey and History of its Uses in Ireland (1960), “There are two general English names [for gorse] current in the country. A line drawn from east to west across the country from the neighbourhood of Drogheda to that of Westport approximately divides the territories where these names are in use. To the north of that line the name used is ‘whins’, to the south of it ‘furze’."

Gorse changed the title of the publication for this issue to whins and furze to indicate loosely the division of the book between North (whins) and South (furze). The cover shows a close up of a border division on a map, north of the line is Whins and south of the line is Furze. The two covers line up side by side to show a longer stretch of the border and they can also be arranged in an endless repeat of a divided landscape. A linguistic divide is much more ambiguous than a geo-political border, it suggests a much broader in-between and a gradual cultural blend rather than a definitive hard line.

Contents:

North/Whins

‘Like all walls it was ambiguous, two faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon whih side you were on.’ – Ursula K Le Guin, The Dispossessed

Editorial: ‘This is Not an Exit’ | Darran Anderson | Jonathan C. Creasy | Alan Cunningham | Jarlath Gregory | Róisín Power Hackett | Nathan O’Donnell | Bridget Penney | Lee Rourke | Rike Scheffler & SJ Fowler

South/Furze

‘When people believe in boundaries, they become part of them.’ – Don Cherry

Editorial: ‘No Maps for These Territories’ | Rachel Andrews | Francesca Brookes | Orla Fitzpatrick | Lauren Foley | SJ Fowler & Rike Scheffler | Órla Foyle | Niven Govinden | Katie Holten | Sarah Lundy | Tim MacGabhann | Colm O’Shea | Jona Xhepa

Published by Gorse
Softcover
296 pages
198 x 130 mm
ISBN 9781999621919