International Literature Festival Dublin
Dublin’s annual celebration of the best of Irish and international literary talent
Flâneuse by Niamh Mongey: Self-Guided Audio Walk
“For the perfect flâneur, for the passionate spectator, it is an immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude, amid the ebb and flow of movement.” Charles Baudelaire
A flâneur is a man who saunters about, observing the city. A romantic and a thinker, he can blend into the city space without fear for his safety: a luxury that men and women don’t share equally. Dublin is a very walkable city; from the Docklands to the gates of Phoenix Park in less than four kilometres. From the Rosie Hackett bridge to the women of the Easter Rising, and the Moore Street traders to Outhouse, discover the hidden stories of women who lived in the city on this fascinating audio walking tour.
A freelance PR and journalist, Niamh Mongey works in communications, campaigns and outreach. Communications projects include the Women on Walls campaign with Accenture Ireland, and the Irish Times’ Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks.
Sara Philips is Chair of TENI, she has served on the government’s committee for the Gender Recognition Review and is as a founding member of the Dublin Trans Peer Support Group
Donna Cooney is a Green Party Counsellor, community activist and Chair of the Lord Mayor’s Forum on Moore Street
Joyce Garvey is a visual artist, writer, award winning filmmaker and author of Lucia Joyce: The Girl Who Danced in Shadows
IMAGE/ARTWORK: Joyce Garvey
Route Description
From the Rosie Hackett Bridge, proceed along Bachelor’s Walk until you come to Liffey Street Lower. Once you reach Liffey Street, turn left onto Strand Street Great.
Feel free to wander along Strand Street Great while listening to Sara Philips.
When you’re ready, turn back onto Liffey Street, proceed to Mary Street and then onto Moore Street… take some time here while listening to Gemma Howe and her granny Ellen.
Next, depart for the GPO where you’ll hear from Donna Cooney.
Final stop, the James Joyce Centre, where you’ll hear from Joyce Garvey and the life of the woman who danced in shadows – Lucia Joyce.
Dublin is a very walkable city. We like that about Dublin.
A walkable city is a luxury, but something we might not really consider is who gets to enjoy this luxury.
The city isn’t an inclusive space. If we think back to the history of those who walked in the city, the luxury was designated to males. Flaneurs,
The definition of a flâneur is a man who ‘saunters about observing the city’. The flâneur is a romantic, a thinker, a man who has the luxury of blending into the city space without a fear for his safety.
This term, coined by the poet Baudelaire in the early 20th Century endowed men with this title. “… For the perfect flâneur, for the passionate spectator, it is an immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude, amid the ebb and flow of movement” – Charles Baudelaire.
A recent Irish Times article, interviewing women living in Ireland a woman is quoted saying:
‘I spent decades believing it’s my right to be anywhere I like, at any time, in any place, but I’ve now resigned myself to the fact that women and girls will never be fully safe…’
Let’s come back to where we’re standing for a moment. Take a look to the right and down the river again on the North side of the Liffey, we have Bachelors walk. How apt. Granted, we’re standing on a bridge called Rosie. But we didn’t get there without a debate.
This guided tour is a tribute to women who lived in the city. We will take the flâneur and subvert the word into the feminine flâneuse, to demonstrate how women – through necessity – have walked and stood as a demonstration of retaliation, as a desire for greater equality and as a political act.