Out of Time..............................Author Laurence McKeown  Beyond the Pale Publications

Review by John Nixon

Anyone who wishes to gain a unique and revealing insight to the mindset of the Provisional IRA republican cadre should read Out of Time. Irish Republican Prisoners Long Kesh 1972-200. Nothing is compromised. This is it … warts and all. It is not a composite or definitive history of republican prison struggle. The author doesn’t intend it. There will never be a definitive history of Long Kesh.

The subtitle is somewhat grandiose, misleading and is a misnomer. It should of course read 'Provisional IRA Prisoners' for essentially this is what the book is about. It is a one -dimensional history of the political and ideological evolution of a movement which discovered itself to be incarcerated in more ways than one.

Of the twenty-five prisoners interviewed by the author none of them come from other republican or socialist organisations which make up the saga of Long Kesh/H Block. For the author 'Big Lorney' McKeown it is a personal odyssey back to the crucible of the H Blocks, the blanket and the hunger strikes. In this respect Lorney is best placed to write this history. Maybe it is about time.

Out of Time provides unique insights to the changing political landscape of the Provisionals: 'through unstructured interviews show how they made sense of their imprisonment; what it meant to them; what goals they set out to achieve; how they overcame attempts to criminalise them; how they structured the social organisation of their communities; and, what the main influences were behind the social, political, and educational developments within their communities. In other words, the social reconstruction of an Irish republican prisoner community as understood by the prisoners themselves'.

Twenty years ago (or less) the washing of Provo 'dirty linen' would have been frowned upon and scorned. Attitudes have changed and much of the driving force of change has ironically been borne out of the uniqueness of prison experience:

'Republican prisoners have over the years developed a vibrant culture of mutual criticism and a readiness to speak openly about their policies and culture that previously would not have been open to scrutiny'. Maybe so within the experimental milieu of the prisons but whether this has permeated to other environments is debatable.

This book has an added dimension of importance as it examines, debates and analyses the organisational, political and ideological metamorphoses of incarcerated Provisional IRA volunteers and for the first time exposes openly and in detail 'their politics, their aims and objectives as republican prisoners; their strategies and tactics; the battles they waged with the prison authorities; the development of internal social and organisational structures; their programmes of education, the schisms that developed within that community; and how through creative, literary, and dramatic productions they re-constructed the image of the republican prisoner in the late Nineties'.

The layman may find Out of Time somewhat top-heavy in jargon as Lorney draws on his academic background and experience to comment on and analyse the narratives. Heavyweights referenced include Antonio Gramsci and Max Weber. Other literary influences include 'the pedagogical theories of Paolo Freire' whose writings/philosophy have clearly impacted on the author.

If anything this has proved a positive influence on Out of Time and free from restrictions, the corollary is a more composite tapestry revealed extensively via Lorney's own experience and within the narratives. Subjectivity is a major asset.

One query on precedents. Why was Brian Campbell, one of the narrators (Lorney's co-scriptwriter of The Laughter of Our Children and H3) allowed to comment on former hunger striker Tommy McKearney's narrative with no reciprocal 'status' being afforded to the latter.

Out of Time is ultimately a testimony to the current measure of progress and tolerance within the Provisional republican movement that has resulted from contemporary prison experience.